Race is no joke
Racism is more contagious than the coronavirus
Jenny Han / Contributor / The USD Vista
Our generation is no stranger to using humor as a coping mechanism. Memes and humorous comments about the tragedies of 2020 from the possibility of World War 3 to the death of Kobe Bryant pop up spontaneously the moment they happen and it fills our nihilistic hearts with joy. However, some of the content produced in light of the most recent pressing issues, the coronavirus, shifts away from amusing to racist and that is not okay.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “health officials believe the outbreak originated in a large animal and seafood market in Wuhan, China.” It’s due to these Asian origins that some inaccurately believe that all Asians must be carrying the disease. I first encountered this maliciousness when one of my friends back from high school vented to me about their frustrations about the racist comments and posts they’ve been seeing in regards to the coronavirus. Curiosity took over me as I searched “coronavirus” in the search bars of both TikTok and Instagram.
To put it simply, I was disgusted. A prime example of this racism that I found were the comments on a TikTok featuring a voice message of a medical staff in China. Overall, the racist comments could be categorized into two categories. The first category featured comments that attempted to be funny but ultimately would come off as insensitive and ignorant — comments like “I just had Chinese food yesterday.” The second kind of comments were blatantly malicious and intentionally cruel, saying things like, “Let natural selection do its thang … keep the gene pool strong” or “I mean it’s kinda good. It’s overpopulated anyway.”
Some of you may be wondering why any of these comments are demeaning and why I personally take offense to them. Before you say anything, I do have a sense of humor and I do appreciate a “it’s Corona time!” TikTok from time to time; I am not arguing against people who joke about the coronavirus itself. But what I do not appreciate is my ethnicity being the target of that coronavirus joke because we are just as susceptible and worried, and if anything more scared, about the whole situation. Every time I sneeze during class, I am terrified of the reactions I might get because they assume I have an illness that I do not have. I am very lucky as of now to say that none of my peers have treated me this way, but the fear is very much implanted in me. The bottom line is that any illness, including the coronavirus, does not discriminate. An Asian person is just as likely to get sick from a non-Asian person and vice versa.
If you are worried about getting the virus, there are several precautions that you can take. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, washing your hands with either soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer especially before eating and after going to the bathroom or blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing are some of the things that you can easily do. Being racist is not one of those options. I hope that everyone affiliated with the University of San Diego cares or at least acknowledges this because I would like to believe that we promote and represent a college that accepts each other for what we are. If you catch someone else, or perhaps yourself, making a joke about Asians in regards to the coronavirus, ask this question: are you really afraid of the virus or are you actually afraid of those who are unlike you?
To learn more about the coronavirus and its impact on the USD campus community, read “Students in isolation”