Asian Americans Suffering Amongst The Coronavirus
I am an American citizen. I was born right here in Utah like a lot of us. I grew up here. I went to school here. Yet, in the eyes of some, I’m not American enough. For some reason, because of my features, I can’t just be an “American”. I have to be an Asian American. My fellow people of color are in the same boat: they are African American, Mexican American, Latino, Native American, etc. In fact, the only people that can comfortably just be American are white people, because they are seen as the norm. There is power in labels, but they are also a way to differentiate and identify things outside of the norm, and that is particularly true for us minorities. After all, we’ve been the scapegoats of history. Japanese Americans were guilty of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Muslim Americans were responsible for 9/11. And in our current times we’ve moved to blame Chinese Americans, or frankly, any East Asian, for the Coronavirus.
In recent years, we have seen a huge decline in hate crimes against Asian Americans. According to data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, we have seen a 53% decrease in the number of hate crimes from 2000-2017. This is especially surprising when considering how Asian Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the US. Asian representation in the media is also at an all-time high. There are more and more TV shows and movies with Asian leads or directors, like Crazy Rich Asians or To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Parasite recently made history after becoming the first South Korean film to win an Oscar, and it didn’t just win Oscar, it won four. Just when everything seemed to be going great for the Asian American community, the Coronavirus spread rapidly and quickly became a global emergency.
As most people know, the Coronavirus that has pulled the world into a pandemic, COVID-19, is believed to have originated in Wuhan, China. At first, to most of us - to me - the virus didn’t seem like much. It was sad and tragic, and I understood that on an intellectual level; but I, like most people, was at a distance with the issue and didn’t really have a reaction. While I knew that it was a terrible thing, I couldn’t do anything and wasn’t personally affected by it. So I just moved on and continued to live my life. My peers even went as far as to joke about it in conversation and on the internet. Then it started to spread, and suddenly, it was in the United States. It happened so fast, and our lives were turned upside down by something we never saw coming. People panicked. They started doing stupid things to cope. Some people bought way too much toilet paper. Some people stocked up on hand sanitizer. Others went a much darker route and began to blame Asians for a literal submicroscopic particle. On February 14 in Los Angeles, California, an Asian American boy was attacked by his classmates because they blamed him. On April 19, in San Fransisco, California, a woman was told by a bystander to “go back to whatever fucking country you came from” and that “nasty people should stay in fucking Asia”. These are two examples out of the hundred that the Anti-Defamation League has collected, all of which occurred in the last few months as a direct response to the Coronavirus outbreak.
The United States is meant to be the land of the free. It is supposed to stand up for its people and work to protect us; however, it doesn’t seem to be doing that for its Asian American citizens. The continuous usage of derogatory and unnecessary terms like the “Chinese Virus” or the “Kung Flu” by major players in politics like President Trump perpetuate the hate that drives people to attack others on the subway because of their ethnicity. Some people might argue that the virus originated in China, so of course, calling it the “Chinese Virus” seems to be reasonable and harmless, but it only seems that way on the surface level. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued the best practices for naming new human infectious disease in 2015, where they specifically say not to use the geographical locations when naming a new disease. Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the Assistant Director-General for Health Security at the WHO, said that they made that guideline solely because, as he states, “We’ve seen certain disease names provoke a backlash against members of particular religious or ethnic communities, create unjustified barriers to travel, [and] commerce and trade ... This can have serious consequences for peoples’ lives and livelihoods.” The guide even continues to explain that it is important that world leaders abide by these rules so that the correct name will catch on rather than a name that may cause a backlash on any community. Yet, the administration of the United States refuses to recognize the importance of these instructions and continually ignores them, showing that they have a complete lack of regard for their non-white citizens.
As a citizen of the United States, I am American, through and through. The same applies to every citizen, regardless of their race. All citizens should be protected under our government, and yet, we continue to allow the Asian American community to be harassed and attacked for a disease that is in no way their fault. It is our job as American citizens to stand up for their liberty and justice, and demand that the government treat them with the respect that they deserve. We can no longer allow for a certain group to act as a scapegoat to make ourselves more comfortable or excuse their oppression. It is our generations that must put the stigma in these labels behind us and unite together as Americans to make a difference.
