Racism is further sickening our country
It has been about a year since the pandemic started. But the racism Asians face because of it has only grown in severity.
Jenny Han / Asst. Opinion Editor / The USD Vista
A 64-year old grandmother assaulted and robbed. An 84-year old grandfather killed. 2-year old and 6-year old children stabbed. A 32-year old woman sexually assaulted. These are a few of the many people that were targets of Asian hate crimes in 2021. It’s been a year since the pandemic started, and the violence and hatred that the Asian community faces have only increased.
According to a study released by the Center for the Hate and Extremism at California State University Santa Barbara, “anti-Asian hate crimes surged 149%” on a national scale from 2019 to 2020. Unfortunately, the majority of these hate crimes do happen in California.
This report also features a study conducted by Ipsos, a market research company. This research featured answers from a sample of “1,001 adults aged 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawai’i” between April 16 to April 17, 2020. One question was “If you were out in public, how concerned would you be about coming close to someone who is of Asian ancestry?” A total of 24% of participants expressed some concern while 7%, in particular, stated that they would be “very concerned.”
For so long, the discrimination and racism against Asian Americans were seen as lesser than or even nonexistent because of factors such as harmful stereotypes and the model minority myth. How many people need to be spit on, verbally abused, assaulted, and murdered for this injustice to be seen as a valid one?
Now more than ever is it vital to stand up against the hatred against Asians and Asian Americans. Some of the best ways to combat this racism begin with yourself. Follow CDC guidelines by correctly wearing a mask, following social distancing, and avoiding large gatherings. Have an open eye, ear, and mind to the experiences that your fellow Asian peers may share. And if you catch someone, whether that is yourself or someone around you, making a comment about Asians in regard to COVID-19, call them out. Being racist means that you’re intolerant to those who aren’t like you and COVID-19 is a placeholder excuse.
Below is an op-ed The USD Vista published in February 2020. Over a year later, the message still stands.
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 WW3 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, 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?
The views expressed in the editorial and op-ed sections are not necessarily those of The USD Vista staff, the University of San Diego, or its student body.