Covid-19 is a threat to everyone’s health, but to Asian Americans, it poses a safety concern as well. Just earlier this month, Yuanyuan Zhu was walking to her local gym in San Francisco when a middle- aged man started shouting expletives about China at her, and then spit on her as she tried to remove herself from the situation.
Much of this outright racism could be drawn back to President Trump. Unlike President George W. Bush urged tolerance of American Muslims in 2001, President Trump is calling the coronavirus “Chinese” which is likely provoking racist attacks.
The article goes on to describe another racially motivated confrontation of Dr. Edward Chew, the head of the emergency department at a large Manhattan hospital who is on the front lines of fighting the coronavirus. When he went to Home Depot to buy protective gear, like goggles and face shields, for his staff in case his hospital runs out, he was harassed by three men in their 20s, who followed him into the parking lot.
Jiayang Fan, a writer for The New Yorker, was simply taking out her trash when she got cursed at for being Chinese by a random man walking by. “I’ve never felt like this in my 27 yrs in this country,” she wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “I’ve never felt afraid to leave my home to take out the trash bc of my face.”
There have been many instances of physical attacks on Asian Americans as well, but it is the hate speech that has no clear consequences. Hate speech is technically protected under the First Amendment which states Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech. And neither verbal abuse nor spitting on people fall under hate crimes because neither are a crime.
With the government unable to do anything to address these perpetrators, it is up to Asian Americans to defend themselves. A friend of mine recently saw a caption on Instagram that blamed China for the virus using the term “kung flu,” which originated from an official in the Trump administration. My friend then attempted to politely let the person who posted it know that this caption was insensitive, but many people simply mocked her comment or ignored it.
Questions:
What do you think can be done to protect Asian Americans, or any minorities facing any morally wrong but unprosecutable attacks? What do you think incites these attacks? How can these be prevented? Any other thoughts?
What do you think can be done to protect Asian Americans, or any minorities facing any morally wrong but unprosecutable attacks? What do you think incites these attacks? How can these be prevented? Any other thoughts?
This hatred to the Asian Americans is clearly uncalled for. They had nothing directly to do with the virus. Morally no one should experience this at all. I think the fact that the virus originated in china and spread out from china due to people migrating is what incites these attacks. These could be prevented if we look at the whole world as one and realize that China did its best to try and stop the epidemic. We should now realize that were all in this together and stop racism among everyone.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is extremely important for public figures to speak out and explain that the virus has no link to Asian populations other than the fact that the first cases were reported in Wuhan. It is completely and utterly unjust to lash out against specific ethnic groups just because of the origin of the virus, and there should be stronger penalties for crimes against Asian (or any other person, quite frankly) individuals, as well as an effort to stop the spread of misinformation. If angers are due to the idea that Asian Americans coming back from China were the ones who carried the virus to the US, this is also simply untrue, because plenty of other Americans returned from China during that time are just as likely to have been carrying the virus. This hatred is so heartbreaking to see in the midst of a crisis that effects everyone.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is very very powerful. It undeniably has the ability to do harm, but is also can do a lot of good. These past couple months, I have seen a lot of posts from activist accounts on Instagram that are shedding light on these incidents and condemning racism, especially during this time. Those of us who have social media accounts can share those posts to raise awareness. The action itself isn't huge and it certainly won't solve the problem, but I think that for us, it's the least we can do. Another thing we can do that is what Abby's friend did: stand up for people facing these attacks. It is harder to do in person, but any sort of activism goes a long way. Whether or not the effort changes the attacker's mind, it at least puts the thought on their radar and possibly starts the conversation.
ReplyDeleteAs an asian-american myself, and chinese no less, I'd be disappointed, but frankly, my disappointment has bottomed out and I could literally not get any more disappointed. Trump's complete U-turn from blaming the chinese to suddenly "thanking them for their bravery" was quite disgusting, considering the only reason we had to be brave was because of him, mostly. No matter what we do, it seems this kind of fear and injustice will forever be part of American culture, but at least we can still try to fight it.
ReplyDeleteWhile it truly is quite unfortunate that people are legally able to get away with doing things like this, there isn’t really anything that we can do to change the legal system to fix that quickly right now. What we can do is make this type of behavior socially unacceptable. As Amanda stated, social media has the potential for lots of harm and good. If these people are condemned on social media, it gets out the message that this type of thing is not condoned, which would hopefully decrease the number of these incidents in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe government should release some social media protesting the treatment of Asian Americans. There is no reason for any hatred towards the Asian American ethnicity. The people who are lashing out towards Asians are misinformed and simply incorrect. There is simply not much to do however for those people, as they do not listen to reason but we should still try our best to educate the community.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite sad to see that a virus like this is causing people to change their lifestyle as well as be physically and verbally harassed. This was the last thing people would have expected from such a confusing time already, but now it must be dealt with. I honestly do not think there is much the government can do to confront the problem. Like you said, hate speech is technically legal under the First Amendment. What I think needs to happen is that influencers from around the world need to speak out against people harassing Chinese people based on a false statement. We need world leaders to set a standard, which our current president is not doing. As the leader of the United States, many people are constantly watching what you do as president. As a result it has a great impact on what people say and think. Trump’s response calling it “Chinese” is most definitely a source of people looking to harass Chinese people. We need to change the precedent and look for other influencers around the world to come out and reprimand this behavior.
ReplyDeleteThese attacks to Chinese-Americans are not unlike the attacks on Muslim-Americans following the events of 9/11. This is the damage that fear-mongering and scapegoating causes to law-abiding Americans. Some right-wing media outlets are blaming the Chinese for the creation and spread of the virus, and even the president trying to rebrand the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus.” There is very little evidence to support that the virus was made in a Chinese laboratory or it was contracted by someone that ate bat soup, and spreading these conspiracy theories only spreads hate and violence. Now is not the time to spread hate across the nation: now is the time to be united against the virus itself as to not endanger the elderly and overwhelm the healthcare system. These attacks show that racism is still alive and well in this country, and the president should be doing everything to denounce these attacks and unite the country.
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ReplyDeleteI would be lying if I didn't blame these incites on the President. Since he called COVID-19 the "Chinese Virus", the nation has seen a spark in violent and discriminatory acts against Asian-Americans in the US. I'm honestly not surprised that this happened, though, because it happened already. Back in 2016, Trump began to attack Hispanics during his campaign for the presidency. During that same year, acts of violence and discrimination were being committed towards Latinos at a higher rate; It is very frustrating to see that many, instead of helping the people around them, try to point fingers. It also breaks my heart to see that another race gets targeted because of the president. I've been there, I've lived it, thus, I understand the fear and confusion many Asian-Americans are currently living in.
ReplyDeleteAs an Asian American myself, it is frustrating, infuriating, and sad to see this kind of racism happening in our community. It is important for public authority figures to set an example for the rest of the world and Trump calling this the “Chinese virus” does not help. At this point, putting blame on a group of people is just going to escalate fears. Just because the virus came from China, it does not justify inciting verbal and physical abuse towards Chinese people and it is frustrating that people don’t understand that. I think that if people have someone to blame for this situation, their anger and fears might be satiated (of course this does not in any way justify any attacks). This virus is affecting everyone in the world. Our world is literally on pause, and we can’t seem to come together during this crisis. Of course, it would be extremely difficult to completely eradicate racism but these attacks can be avoided if people were more open-minded and understanding of this crisis everyone is going through.
ReplyDeleteI say this a lot, but I agree with everything stated above. The white house attempted to justify Trump's comment of the "Chinese" Virus by stating how the Spanish Virus wasn't named in contempt of another either, but in fact, the Spanish Virus originated in Kansas. Although I see how he is trying to eradicate the conspiracy it came from America, he can do so in other ways I believe. I see a lot of subconscious and conscious racism within the nation, and even in our local community, scapegoating isn't the way a virus will be solved. Obviously we aren't perfect as humans, but we shouldn't use this pandemic as an excuse and justification to be stupid.
ReplyDeleteIt's disappointing to see that in the face of such a global pandemic that we are experiencing now, people still find the time to make racist attacks towards each other, especially towards Asian Americans. You would expect during times of crisis that people would stand as a collective and fight through this crisis but no, some people just need to make the world just a little worse than it already is, which unfortunately, is just the reality that we live in.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you wrote here. Its unfortunate whats happening to asian Americans right now but it also doesn't surprise me. Instead of blaming our government for not being prepared for a pandemic, many Americans blame people who look like they might be Chinese. It's dumb, and partially motivated by the President's rhetoric. ("Chinese" virus) You can't blame a race for a virus. COVID-19 doesn't have a race.
ReplyDeleteWhat's inciting these attacks is mostly just an aimless fear. People who don't understand the situation or who they can blame would turn towards the easiest targets: Chinese people, since their home country is where the virus started, even if many Chinese Americans haven't been to China in years and can't control the virus just as anyone else can't. It's much, much easier for people to find a scapegoat and blame it for all of their problems than accept that there may be issues with themselves or a system they believe in, and sympathy can sometimes be even harder. It might be impossible to really protect people from hate speech like this, but a shifting mindset, and active movements to accept and change, can go a long way towards making people sympathetic rather than hateful. What our administration is currently doing in terms of being racist and spurring on hate speech is the exact opposite of what should be done.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that it is fear and ignorance about the situation that drives people to be racist against Asian-Americans. After all, our own president called it the “Chinese” virus, as many have mentioned before. In times of uncertainty, people tend to blame things that don’t make any sense. As this virus affects everyone in the world, one would think that people might band together to fight it with combined strength, but instead it further divides us. Maybe these actions can be prevented by educating the public about the virus and not just pin the blame on the easiest target.
ReplyDeleteTo refute Tannous, China absolutely did not do its best to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. Looking back, the huge government censorship efforts and failure to swiftly react led to the global spread of the coronavirus. To be fair, they did a great job containing the virus later on, and ultimately are not the only ones complicit in the global spread of the coronavirus.
ReplyDeleteWith this, it seems that the anger towards Asian Americans is misdirected. People have the right to be angry at the Chinese government, the Italian government, or even our own government for failing for quickly react to a global pandemic. The issue is that people associate a race, especially one that looks "different" with a government that has little to nothing to do with them.
Despite Donald Trump calling the virus a "Chinese" virus may not have been intended to incite attacks on Asian Americans, the effects remain the same because people interpret it as that. In this society, the same words can be interpreted a million different ways, and one of the key duties of a leader is to think about how people will react to the leader's words, and in that aspect, Donald Trump has failed in his duties.
I truly can not believe that people are acting in this way. Everyone is affected by the Coronavirus, and in a time like this we need to come together to overcome it, not tear each other apart. I find it extremely sad that the president of this nation is not working to bring people together, but in fact promoting poor behavior. This virus is something we all need to be worried about, and if we are to blame anyone, it should be our own government for providing us false hope and not taking the threat seriously.
ReplyDeleteAs the past comments have stated, it is horrible that theses kinds of racial attacks with no reasonable basis are still going on. In terms of the verbal attacks, although it is really difficult to get any legal action preventing it, like Amanda stated, people have been spreading awareness of how insensitive the racist comments are. Unfortunately, I don't think much else can be done about the verbal attacks. I believe people who tend to make those comments are usually uneducated or unwilling to view their words as being as insulting and incorrect as they are.
ReplyDeleteThis racism and xenophobia towards Asians is outright horrific, especially during a time when humanity should be coming together, regardless of race or nationality. I think that these attacks have definitely been incited, at least partially, by Trump calling COVID-19 the "chinese" virus. The racism directed towards Asians is not borne out of Trump's rhetoric however, these people already had these ideas and ideologies, they just felt emboldened to act on their racist thoughts as a result of Trump's speech essentially validating their beliefs. White supremacists are really showcasing their stupidity during this time, as the virus is a VIRUS, not a sentient being that acknowledges race. Recently at the Safeway near my house, I saw "China Go Home" written on the sidewalk near the entrance. This initially shocked me, but as I read more about the various instances of hate crimes against Asians currently, I realized that this is happening more and more often as the virus gains notoriety. Honestly, people calling it the "chinese" virus or the "kung flu" or being racist towards Asians are plain idiots.
ReplyDeleteThis racism and xenophobia towards Asians is outright horrific, especially during a time when humanity should be coming together, regardless of race or nationality. I think that these attacks have definitely been incited, at least partially, by Trump calling COVID-19 the "chinese" virus. The racism directed towards Asians is not borne out of Trump's rhetoric however, these people already had these ideas and ideologies, they just felt emboldened to act on their racist thoughts as a result of Trump's speech essentially validating their beliefs. White supremacists are really showcasing their stupidity during this time, as the virus is a VIRUS, not a sentient being that acknowledges race. Recently at the Safeway near my house, I saw "China Go Home" written on the sidewalk near the entrance. This initially shocked me, but as I read more about the various instances of hate crimes against Asians currently, I realized that this is happening more and more often as the virus gains notoriety. Honestly, people calling it the "chinese" virus or the "kung flu" or being racist towards Asians are plain idiots.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is simply outrageous at the amount of racism that is revolving around our nation due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. The fact that President Trump called the virus a "chinese" virus only increased hatred more towards chinese americans and instigated more acts of racism which is a large mistake on his part. I think that government action should be taken and they should publically address this xenophobia and racism that has been continuing to grow. I think that an awareness needs to be spread not only across our country, but across the world that just because this virus originated in China, does not mean that every asian-american you see is at fault or at blame. In terms of the event that happened with your friends, I think that is absolutely horrific and completely childish and immature. It really is such a shame and just idiotic that people do not realize the impact and severity of their words.
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ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I think this is a reaction that can be expected, in times of uncertainty and fear people seek out certainties and things to confirm, for the root cause for something. It is unfortunate that it may have manifested itself in this manner, but regardless people should just as the saying goes let it be “water off a duck's back.” People can not and should not let every little comment the president says affect their mental state, or perturb them. However, with this said I think that it is important for the role of a president to encourage the people in the country to unite against a common enemy (the virus) and not sensationalize his comments as if it’s some reality show. In addition I believe that President Trump was somewhat ignorant and in a sort of denial to the severity of the COVID-19 threat. He claimed, “We have contained this. I won’t say airtight but pretty close to airtight”. In my opinion those are ludicrous remarks and are obviously not true; these remarks illustrate a sort of arrogance to the danger this illness imposes.
ReplyDeleteI think that scapegoating the Asian American population for the COVID-19 pandemic is not only racist, but also factually inaccurate and counterproductive to humanity's efforts to mitigate the crisis. By insisting on using the term "Chinese Virus" to blame the Chinese people for the virus, Trump is adopting a reactive approach instead of a proactive one. He is indirectly fueling needless microaggressions toward the Asian American community, and in the meantime, these prejudices do nothing to slow the spread of COVID-19. A proactive approach would be reminding everyone that we are all vulnerable regardless of race, and this is a time that we need to come together (figuratively) to foster an environment of care instead of hatred. Nobody anticipated the rise of this disease, and the Chinese population should not be blamed as if they intentionally created this disease to harm society.
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