When I walked to a taxi at Minsk, Belarus four days ago, the taxi driver, who doesn’t speak English proficiently, suddenly locked the door and shook his head at me:
No. China. Virus.
Quickly I got used to the stares and whispers when walking into a restaurant, or being singled out at the airport for further investigation. This morning when I finally made it back to San Francisco from the eventful business trip and went through the custom, the custom officer, at the sight of my Chinese passport, hastily put on his mask, asked me to step back and grunted “what’s wrong with you”. I assured him that I’ve not been to China in the past 14 days, as US bars the entry of foreigners who’ve recently visited China. He insisted that I go to the detention room for further screening, which is a requirement much more reasonable than his previous behavior. Luckily, the officer let me go soon after checking my travel record.
A quick browse on social media led me to an infuriating abundance of more maliciously discriminatory and hostile acts targeted at Chinese and Asian ethnicity happening everywhere.
In NYC subway, a Chinese woman with mask was called a “diseased b**ch” and beaten on her head;
Parents at a primary school at Christchurch received an email telling all “disgusting Asian virus spreaders” to keep their kids at home;
A Korean-American journalist was shouted at “stay away from that Japanese chick if you don’t want to get the coronavirus” on her way home;
A French newspaper used the inflammatory headline “yellow fever” alongside a photo with a Chinese woman wearing a mask with Forbidden City as the background.
And, of course, numerous twitters running the gamut from lecturing Chinese to “stop eating bat” to suggesting bombing the city of Wuhan.
It’s not funny. It’s RACIST. Even more disappointingly, it’s not the first time a disease became the perfect excuse for racism.
In 2014, people of African descent were stigmatized for Ebola.
In 2009, Mexicans and Latinos were scapegoated for H1N1.
Now Chinese.
If you happens to read any news in addition to the fearmongering and hysteria-triggering twitters, Chinese, maybe except for that one or two who got transmitted initially from interaction with wild animals if we are being strict, are the biggest victims instead of culprits of coronavirus. Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemics and with 1.3 times the population of New York City, is completely locked down from the external world to prevent the further spread. Not only those unfortunately infected and those bravely combating virus on the front line at risk of being infected, billions of Chinese are also plagued with immeasurable inconvenience — restaurants shut down, public transportation suspended, flights cancelled. Small businesses are on the brink of bankruptcy due to plummeting traffic and cancelled orders. Those who have visited Hubei province are asked to self-quarantine at home before going to work. Meanwhile, those who have not visited Hubei, or even China, or even who have no affinity with Chinese at all, are being feared, attacked, isolated and expelled in places where not even one case of coronavirus is announced yet.
Admittedly, we are all susceptible to stereotyping and profiling to some extent, particularly at times of panic and anxiety. But times like this calls for more solidarity than stigma, more empathy than exclusion.
I wholeheartedly appeal to those who came across this thread,
If you are impacted by such racist and xenophobic acts,
Call them out. Expose them in social media. Reach out to your company, school or community for support, investigation and condemnation.
If you are worried about coronavirus,
- Wash your hands
- Show some empathy to your friends from China because they are a million times more worried about their friends and family at home who are actually in risk
- But do that only if you can tell who’s Chinese.