Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Are Rising Amid Coronavirus in the United States

• In Event: Healing the Body and Healing the Soul: Testimonies of Asian and Asian Americans' Experience of Anti-Asian Racism in the United States

Abstract

Outbreaks of diseases have long been used to legitimize xenophobia:

HIV was blamed on Haitian Americans, the 1918 influenza pandemic on German Americans, the swine flu in 2009 on Mexican Americans. The racist belief that Asians carry disease goes back centuries. In the 1800s, out of fear that Chinese workers were taking jobs that could be held by white workers, white labor unions argued for an immigration ban by claiming that “Chinese” disease strains were more harmful than those carried by white people. (Anna Purna Kambhampaty, June 25, 2020)

While the U.S. struggles to combat a pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 120,000 Americans and put millions out of work, Donald Trump, who referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus” and the “kung flu” and his administration are not only feeding into rising racism against Asians but also legitimizing anti-Asian xenophobia and fueling public hysteria and racist attacks. Since mid-March, STOP AAPI HATE, an incident-reporting center founded by the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, has received more than 1,800 reports of pandemic-fueled harassment or violence in 45 states and Washington, D.C. The following are some of the major facts, but not alternative ones, which illustrate unprecedented racist sentiments against Asians have increased:

July 31 – Bronx, NY: A man was arrested after harassing an Asian woman on the subway. The man reportedly spat on the woman and yelled at her, "Asians caused the virus!" and "Go back to China! Go back to Manhattan!" (Source: New York Daily News)
July 18: An Asian American restaurant owner says he was attacked by a man who refused to comply with the restaurant's health measures. The man allegedly told the restaurant owner, "Fuck you and your chinky ass policy" and told him to "Go back to China, you COVID ass.” (Source: NextShark)
June 17 – Wyckoff, NJ: A Chinese restaurant was vandalized with graffiti that read, "coronavirus" and "COVID-19." (Source: NorthJersey.com)
June 14 – Newark, DE: Fliers targeting Asian and Asian American students were found at off-campus housing at the University of Delaware, Newark. The flyers included the message "Kill China Virus." (Source: WDEL)
June 13 – Queens, NY: A man at a Bayside 7-Eleven made anti-Asian remarks regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and then verbally harassed an Asian customer whom he also allegedly pushed. (Source: NY Daily News)
June 6 – Denver, CO: Two Asian American people were verbally accosted while walking on the street by a woman who told them they "smell like shit" and "You guys are all disgusting! You all!" (Source: Reported to ADL)

Author

• Min Yu, Wayne State University