Anti-Asian American Sentiment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

From the onset, it would be prudent to point out that Asians, as Croucher, Nguyen, and Rahmani point out, happen to be America’s fastest growing population. However, the said population also happens to be one of the populations most susceptible to discrimination. This is a fact that has clearly revealed itself during the COVID-19 pandemic where there have been reports of increased discrimination against Asian Americans. This text will largely concern itself with anti-Asian American sentiment during the present pandemic. In so doing, it will not only track the nature of the said discrimination, but also chart its consequences. It will also highlight some of the solutions that have been suggested in an attempt to reign in the said discrimination. The present discussion also demonstrates that the pandemic appears to be just but an excuse to continue a well-established trend of discrimination against Asian Americans.
As Strochlic points out, from the moment the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, Asian Americans started becoming the target of negative sentiments – with some people asserting that the virus had originated from their homeland. Harassment (and in some instances assault) started becoming a norm as the virus spread across the country and as an unproven theory that the virus had originated in a Chinese lab began to gain some credence. As a matter of fact, this unproven theory was pushed by, amongst other people, the President of the United States himself. As Strochlic observes, President Trump was quoted several times in the media referring to COVID-19 virus as the ‘Chinese flu’ and/or ‘China virus.’ In the words of Strochlic, “by April, an IPSOS poll found that three in 10 Americans blamed China or Chinese people for the virus.” According to Kandil and Yam, the repercussions of referring to COVID-19 as ‘China virus’ have been immense on diverse fronts (Kandil and Yam).
As Kandil and Yam observe, reports indicate that within the last one year, discrimination against Asian Americans has been on an upward trend. Indeed, by mid-July, as per data maintained by the Asian Pacific and Planning Council, close to 2,500 persons had already complained of being discriminated against (Kandil and Yam). Croucher, Nguyen, and Rahmani are of the opinion that discrimination against Asian Americans has taken a wide range of formats in recent times – specifically since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Towards this end, the authors note that most Asian Americans have been victims of wrongful dismissal at the workplace, verbal and physical intimidation, racial slurs, etc. Others, as the authors further point out have reported being spat on.
The repercussions/consequences of discrimination against Asian Americans could in some instances be severe. The most obvious consequence has been loss of employment. It is important to note that according to Kandil and Yam, Asian Americans have been hit disproportionately by the present wave of unemployment. For instance, a report from UCLA indicates that in California, unemployment claims have been filed by a whopping 83% of Asian Americans since the beginning of the pandemic. This is in comparison to only 37% of the rest California’s labor force. The study focused on those with high school degrees. The situation has been made worse by the fact that most of the Asian Americans in employment work in areas that have been worst hit by the pandemic. The said areas are inclusive of, but they are not limited to; laundries, retail and related services, and leisure and hospitality (Kandil and Yam).
Kandil and Yam observe that in addition to the reported job loses, the radicalization of the pandemic as China-caused has led to closure of many businesses owned by Asian Americans. This unprecedented business failure has seen families lose their source of livelihood – effectively meaning that many Asian American families are staring at poverty in the coming months. At the personal level, most Asian Americans have also had to contend with verbal and physical abuse since the start of the pandemic. Indeed, as Kandil and Yam observe, “more than 500 new reports of microaggressions, bullying, harassment, hate speech and violence were filed from mid-June to mid-July.”
The present happenings, as has been highlighted above, are mere symptoms of a deep rooted concern. It is a pointer towards sustained discrimination against Asian Americans. Ho makes an observation to the effect that “anti-Asian racism has existed from the time the first wave of Chinese immigrants came to the U.S. in the 19th century.” It therefore follows that the bias, discrimination and harassment (and assault in some instances) that Asian Americans have been experiencing in recent times is just but an additional thorn to the flesh. As Strochlic points out, the U.S. has a rather long history of using its Asian citizens as a scapegoat for various ills. Thus, this unfortunate trend did not start with the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, in the 1880s, there was what was widely referred to as ‘yellow peril.’ This, according to Strochlic was the prevailing resentment against immigrants from China – based on the fear that they were prime providers of cheap labor and would, thus, destabilize the American labor market. This is what led to what came to be a discriminative act titled the Chinese Exclusion Act. As per the provisions of the said Act, immigrants (as well as residents already in America) were barred from obtaining the U.S. citizenship. Even after the 9/11 terror attack, Asian Americans found themselves on the receiving end with some losing their life as a consequence of actions that were essentially motivated by revenge. To be more specific, as Strochlic observes, following the terror attack, “Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, many of whom were South Asian, documented scores of revenge-motivated crimes in the U.S.”
These past events, and the recent reports of discrimination against Asian Americans indicate that there is a need to formulate and implement strategies meant to reign in the said discrimination. To begin with, at the individual level, Balvaneda, Roemer, Hayes-Skeleton, Yang, and Ying suggest a number of strategies that those who have been exposed to racism and discrimination could utilize so as to cope. These include calling out racist comments if and when they occur and seeking support when discrimination start taking a toll on one’s mental or physical health and wellbeing.
At the community level, key strategies suggested by Balvaneda, Roemer, Hayes-Skeleton, Yang, and Ying involve holding together in solidarity and making use of the available resources at the community level. In holding together, an entire community opts to address challenges on this front by standing together and ensuring that it is not torn apart by negative sentiments. Some of the resources that have been suggested by the authors are inclusive of mutual aid networks and community care funds.
There is a lot that the authorities could do to reign in the well-established trend of discrimination against Asian Americans – particularly during the present pandemic. Essentially, there is need for elected officials to stop associating the virus with specific racial or ethnic groups. This is particularly important given that as Croucher, Nguyen, and Rahmani point out, government officials have been quoted, on numerous occasions, blaming and stigmatizing Asians for the spread of the novel coronavirus. Elected officials also ought to suggest policies meant to protect Asian Americans from discrimination of this kind.
Works Cited
Balvaneda, Bryan, Lizabeth Roemer, Sarah Hayes-Skeleton, Amelia Yang, and Anna Ying. “Responding to Anti-Asian Racism During the COVID-19 Outbreak.” ADAA, https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/responding-anti-asian-racism-during-covid-19. Accessed 1 December 2020.
Croucher, Stephen M., Thao Nguyen, and Diyako Rahmani. “Prejudice Toward Asian Americans in the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Effects of Social Media Use in the United States.” Frontiers in Communication, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00039/full. Accessed 1 December 2020.
Ho, Jennifer. “Anti-Asian racism and COVID-19.” University of Colorado, https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2020/04/08/anti-asian-racism-and-covid-19. Accessed 1 December 2020.
Kandil, Caitlin and Yam Kimmy. “Asian Americans face dual challenges: Surging unemployment and racism.” NBC, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/asian-americans-face-dual-challenges-surging-unemployment-racism-n1235356. Accessed 1 December 2020.
Strochlic, Nina. “America’s long history of scapegoating its Asian citizens.” National Geographic, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/09/asian-american-racism-covid/. Accessed 1 December 2020.