Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the Asian American community has suffered an increase in hate crimes due to the Chinese origin of the virus.
Large cities such as Los Angeles and New York City have seen an increase in hate crimes against this group of people as a result of racist terms being used due to the pandemic. According to the Los Angeles Times, the city has experienced a 114% increase in hate crimes against the Asian American community in 2020 compared to the previous year.
During the pandemic, there have been reports of individuals being violently attacked on the street, being called racist slurs and having businesses refuse service because of their ethnicity, among other horrific reports.
As the reports and information concerning the pandemic were being broadcasted, terms such as “Kungflu” and “Chinese virus” were being used by former President Donald Trump. However, these racist terms have added fuel to the hate some have for the Asian American community.
“I think that the terms ‘Kung Flu’ and the ‘Chinese virus’ are dehumanizing and demoralizing terms that are ridiculing an entire race of people,” said junior English major Troy Jennings.
“The biggest way to stop these terms is to become aware that these phrases are negatively impacting people and start spreading awareness around campus,” Jennings said. “We can put up signs around campus or send out announcements in the weekly emails from Winthrop about awareness and prevention.”
As these hate crimes increase, it is necessary that people begin to advocate for the Asian American community as these crimes are fueled by hate and racism. “The place of origin of a pandemic does not make racism okay,” Kai McCormick, a sophomore art major, said.
Different organizations have begun creating GoFundMe accounts in order to raise money to help the victims of these hate crimes pay their medical expenses. “In order to reduce and eventually eliminate these, and all, hate crimes, we have to educate our students more diversely,” McCormick said, “we have to teach inclusion and acceptance earlier in our schools.”
As a result of the increase of hate crimes against this particular community, USA Today reports that Russel Jeung, the chair of the Asian American studies department at San Francisco State University, created the Stop Asian American Pacific Islander Hate Tracker. This tool allows people to report violence, harassment or discrimination.
The disgusting and horrific hate crimes being experienced by the Asian American community all relate back to the false and racist narrative that it is the communities’ fault that we are experiencing a global pandemic. Although the pandemic is hard for everyone, it is simply not okay to react toward others through violence, discrimination or harassment.
“More than likely these people are using the Asian American community as an outlet for their anger and resorting to violence instead of taking a step back and evaluating their emotions toward the entire situation,” Senior early childhood education major Ashley Westbrooks said.
Moving forward, it is necessary that we advocate for the Asian American community and have tough conversations with those who are using racist terms and discriminating against others due to their ethnicity or appearance.
