Anti-Asian Hate Crimes During the COVID-19 Pandemic
This paper examines the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, tracing its origins to the outbreak in Wuhan, China, and the subsequent labeling of the virus as the "Chinese virus" or "China virus" by U.S. political figures. Drawing on media reports and empirical sources, the paper analyzes how xenophobic sentiment, government rhetoric, and historical patterns of discrimination converged to endanger the Asian American community. It further explores how pandemic-era fear amplified racial hierarchies, blurred distinctions within the Asian American population, and contributed to documented incidents of harassment and physical violence.
- Introduction: COVID-19 outbreak and rise of anti-Asian harassment
- Anti-Asian Hate Crime During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Documented hate crimes and xenophobic climate during pandemic
- The Genesis of the Hate: Racial labeling of the virus by U.S. officials
- Analytical Discussion: Historical and political roots of anti-Asian discrimination
- Conclusion: Unchecked prejudice increases risk to Asian Americans
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper connects macro-level political rhetoric — specifically the presidential use of "Chinese virus" — to micro-level hate crimes, grounding its argument in specific documented incidents and dates.
- It draws on a credible mix of peer-reviewed empirical sources (Gover et al.; Sundstrom & Kim) alongside media reporting to support its claims across multiple registers.
- The analytical section builds a coherent causal chain: pandemic fear → xenophobia → racialized labeling → hate crimes, giving the essay a clear argumentative spine.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively demonstrates the technique of contextualizing current events within a historical framework. By referencing longstanding policies such as immigration restrictions, land ownership bans, and segregation, the author situates the pandemic-era surge in hate crimes not as an anomaly but as a continuation of systemic anti-Asian discrimination — a move that strengthens the paper's analytical depth.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a four-part structure: an introductory framing of the problem, a section documenting specific hate-crime incidents, a section tracing the rhetorical origins of anti-Asian sentiment, and an analytical discussion that synthesizes political, historical, and social factors. A brief conclusion ties these threads together and warns of escalating risk if societal attitudes go unchallenged. The structure moves from descriptive reporting toward analytical synthesis, a sound organizational choice for this type of argument.
Introduction
The city of Wuhan, China, is believed to be ground zero of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, which began in late December 2019. The virus has since spread globally, with cases of infection reported in almost every country in the world. The United States, in particular, has been heavily affected, with a death toll in the hundreds of thousands and a still greater number of confirmed infections. Amidst widespread worry and fear over the viral spread, numerous reports of harassment and even physical violence targeting Asian Americans have emerged across the nation (Gover et al., 647). This paper uses a combination of media reporting and empirical sources to analyze the nature and effects of the hate crimes committed against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anti-Asian Hate Crime During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The fear generated by the rising number of daily infections in the United States created an atmosphere of distrust toward foreigners. This xenophobic disposition is considered one of the contributing causes of the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic (Berman). These hate crimes were brought to wider public attention through social media, which amplified awareness of racially motivated violence. Videos released by bystanders at the scenes of racial attacks prompted broader media coverage and encouraged witnesses to recount incidents of hate crimes against Asian Americans. One of the most notable hate crimes perpetrated during this period was a stabbing on March 14, 2020, in which a family from Myanmar was attacked in Midland, Texas. Three victims were stabbed in the incident, two of them children (Aziz).
References
Aziz, Sahar. "Anti-Asian racism must be stopped before it is normalized." Al Jazeera (2020).
Behrmann, Savannah. "'Chinatown is not part of China': Trump's tweet at Pelosi is met with criticism online." USA Today, April 16, 2020.
Berman, Robby. "COVID-19 and the surge in anti-Asian hate crimes." Medical News Today, August 2, 2020.
Fallows, James. "A reporter's notebook. A 2020-time capsule." The Atlantic, March 18, 2020.
Gover, Angela R., Shannon B. Harper, and Lynn Langton. "Anti-Asian hate crime during the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring the reproduction of inequality." American Journal of Criminal Justice 45.4 (2020): 647–667.
Sundstrom, Ronald R., and David Haekwon Kim. "Xenophobia and racism." Critical Philosophy of Race 2.1 (2014): 20–45.
World Health Organization. "WHO issues best practices for naming new human infectious diseases." Notes for the Media, May 8, 2015.
Zimmer, Ben. "Where does Trump's 'invasion' rhetoric come from." The Atlantic 8 (2019).
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