American president Donald Trump referred to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus”. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling the coronavirus the “Wuhan virus”. Governor of Veneto Italy Luca Zaia saying that Italy will handle coronavirus better than China because of their “culturally strong attention to hygiene, washing hands, taking showers, whereas we have all seen the Chinese eating mice alive”. In Malaysia, authorities detained refugees and migrant workers, suggesting that the spread of the virus in the country was due to the migrant refugee communities, particularly those arriving from China.
These are just a few examples of the anti-Asian, anti-Chinese rhetoric that is being spewed to the masses. Since the origin of the pandemic was traced to China, many citizens and government alike have both, directly and indirectly, incited hate against those of Asian descent, encouraging hate crimes, racism, and xenophobia by using an anti-Chinese rhetoric. In addition to these more direct encouragements of racism and xenophobia, various governments have seized the turmoil resulting from the pandemic in order to advance their own personal agendas in regards to immigration, white supremacy, nationalism, anti-Semitism, refugees, prominent figures and other political leaders.
The current climate of the world in light of the COVID-19 pandemic is bleak, but like in many other cases, minorities are the hardest hit. Amongst these minorities, Asians and those of Asian descent specifically are facing threats to their safety that go beyond the health concerns associated with the pandemic. According to the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, “the pandemic continues to unleash a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering.”
This unfair blaming of this minority has resulted in a spike in verbal and physical attacks against this minority globally. According to an organization called Fight COVID racism, established as a result of the rising cases of anti-Asian hate crimes, there have been 891 incidents since the start of this pandemic. Statistics Canada released a report in July 2020 which stated that the largest increase in harassment or attacks against minorities was seen among those of Chinese, Korean and Southeast Asian groups.
In order to mitigate these attacks against this group, a two-pronged approach is required. The first is to ensure that those that are attacked or face some kind of racism or discrimination have a place where they feel safe to report the incident, whether it is hate speech online or a physical act of violence. This would allow for the proper justice to be served to those that instigated the attack. The second part would be the education of the masses. Ignorance of the facts allows politicians and other popular figureheads to distort reality in order to further their own agenda. We have seen how this plays out time and time again, people follow the words of those they are supposed to trust almost to a fault, if they are never given information that causes them to question those they listen to they will follow them blindly. Therefore by educating the masses about the reality of the situation, we can take away the power that these people have and instead encourage harmony amongst people in this time of need. Because, yes the virus originated from China, but the Chinese government and every Asian or person of Asian descent is not to blame for this,
If you or someone you know has experienced discrimination violence or racism as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, you can report the incident as well as find helpful resources at https://www.covidracism.ca/
References:
@antonioguterres (António Guterres). "#COVID19 does not care who we are, where we live, or what we believe. Yet the pandemic continues to unleash a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering. That’s why I’m appealing for an all-out effort to end hate speech globally." Twitter, 8 May, 2020, 12:22 a.m., https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1258613180030431233
Liu, Stephanie. "Reports of Anti-Asian hate crimes are surging in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic” CTV News, 17 Mar., 2021, https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/reports-of-anti-asian-hate-crimes-are-surging-in-canada-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-1.5351481. Accessed 28 Mar. 2021
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