Shayla Nham

HUMA 1100

Catten

04 January, 2020

Xenophobia Uprise During the 2020 Pandemic in America

Xenophobia means the disliking of people because they came from another

country, so basically in simpler terms, racism. Due to the pandemic we are living in

currently, our first covid case was reported in Wuhan, China and after that has been

prominent all over the world. Since the first case was found in Asia there has been an

uprising of racism towards Asains American. This act of racism can be glares towards

Asians Americans in public or even threats towards these Asians Americans. The

article, “ When Xenophobia Spreads Like a Virus” on npr.org, shares some stories of

Asians American that have experienced racism out in public. One story Natalie Escobar

shared was of Allison Park. Allison shared that when she was visiting D.C., she was

riding the metro and noticed a male making glances at her as she was on the train.

Allison felt very uncomfortable so she would try to move away from this man but he

would not stop. Then suddenly he says, “ Get out of here. Go back to China. I don’t

want none of your swine flu here. “ And unfortunately Allison Park was threatened a

week later in San Francisco. Another male yelled, “ Go back to China “ ,at Allison and

even threatened to shoot her. This is one story of the 2,600 reported cases of Asians

Americans who have suffered due to xenophobia in the United States during March and

July of 2020. With these acts of hate towards this specific group of people has caused a

lot of fear within the community. Also another article written by the Petrie-Flom Center
Staff called, “The Two Pandemics Facing Asian Americans: COVID-19 and

Xenophobia” shares that some people believe more people feel comfortable showing

their openly act of racism due to the United States President, Donald Trump, Donald

Trump has publicly called the virus the China virus, Kung Flu, and Wuhan Virus. The

World Health Organization tries to steer away using distinct locations when naming any

disease due to negative acts towards the nation, economies, and people. The harm of

this is that it makes Asians Americans feel unsafe in a place they call their home. It

leads to being paranoid out in public. Some of these Asians Americans have never

been to Asia so they feel as if they are being mistreated based on their race. They do

have expectations to be treated as a human with feelings as anyone else would want to

be treated. Everyone has a reasonable expectation to be treated kindly and as a human

being. Asians American don’t want to be associated with an infectious disease. They

have felt dehumanized because of harassment. With these acts of racism, the Asian

American community expects better treatment.

We live in a racialized society, when events go wrong people find it easier to

blame a specific group of people to cope. Since some of the powerful structures support

these absurd biases it makes it feel more acceptable for people to act on the racist

behavior. Seeing people with power act a certain way and get no punishment sets a

mindset that it is acceptable to act the same way as them. In the article “ Fighting

Xenophobia in the age of the coronavirus” written by Ashlie Chandler, she helps explain

that xenophobia has been connected to infectious diseases. For example the Spanish

flu in 1918, it produced panic, political opportunism, and racism due to its name. The flu

was only named the Spanish flu because it was reported by a Spanish journalist. Many
believed the name was an inaccurate name which caused harm to social groups. This

issue of naming infectious disease contributes to the cause of xenophobia. The name of

the infectious disease is not the only cause of the problem, but it is also our leaders.

The act of racism is made up to be okay due to the surroundings and behavior of our

leaders. Such as Trump, “ 5 ways President Trump’s xenophobia agenda has

accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic” shares the times Trump have openly

showed xenophobia and how it has increased recently. With leaders who openly show

racism to the public it can set a tone that it is acceptable. But racism is never

acceptable and is not beneficial to both sides. There is no benefit to xenophobia, it

causes a lot more pain than anything else. The perpetrators do not gain anything from

their harassment. Their actions of racism towards Asian Americans cause a fear within

the Asian American community. Many feel paranoid that people don’t want them

around due to the stigma. Asians American have been intensely harassed throughout

the United States regardless of their ethnicity, location or age. The only thing that is

gained from xenophobia is fear.

The World Health Organization is an agency of the United Nations responsible

for international public health. They try to prevent this injustice by preventing naming

disease based on geographic locations. By doing this it can help minimize the stigma of

groups carrying the disease. They also want to prevent this because if the stigma is

known it can cause people to hide their illness due to the fear of discrimination which

can make them get the health care that they need. Their tactics are logical and have

intentions but they aren’t making a difference. With the Covid-19 it was not named after

a geographic location but yet people still tie it with Asia which leads to the nicknames for
Covid-19. With the stigma it causes a negative impact on social groups but that is not

because of the organization. The World Health Organization has good intentions at the

start with trying to prevent the issue but the issue still happens. Another organization

named Asian Americans Advancing Justice helps fights for civil rights and

empowerment of Asian Americans throughout America. They want to bring awareness

to the act of racism towards Asain Americans so that people know it does happen in our

community. They want to strengthen the Asian American community by supplying

resources to build up leadership and educating the public about them. They also want

people to share their story so they can track the hate. The Asian American Advancing

Justice created a website so that they can capture information about the hate people

have experienced. From their data they have observed that hate crimes, harassment,

and discrimination have increased since the election of 2016. They hope that having

people share their very own experiences that it can educate the public to help fight

against it. The organization wants to empower others so stop the hate crimes and how

to prevent it. Asian American Advancing Justice Organization’s work seems to be very

beneficial and educational. Based on the website it shares a lot of resources to help

everyone. It is not only made for Asian Americans but for anyone who would like to help

stop the hatred.

30, April, and Posted by Noah Gottschalk. “5 Ways President Trump's Xenophobic Agenda Has

Accelerated during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Blog, politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/5-

ways-president-trumps-xenophobic-agenda-has-accelerated-during-covid-19-pandemic/.

“Coronavirus/COVID-19 Resources to Stand Against Racism.” Asian Americans Advancing

Justice, www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/covid19.

“COVID-19: UN Counters Pandemic-Related Hate and Xenophobia.” United Nations, United

Nations, www.un.org/en/coronavirus/covid-19-un-counters-pandemic-related-hate-and-

xenophobia.

Escobar, Natalie. “When Xenophobia Spreads Like A Virus.” NPR, NPR, 4 Mar. 2020,

www.npr.org/2020/03/02/811363404/when-xenophobia-spreads-like-a-virus.

Staff, The Petrie-Flom Center. “The Two Pandemics Facing Asian Americans: COVID-19 and

Xenophobia .” Bill of Health, 1 Oct. 2020,

blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2020/10/01/covid19-xenophobia-asian-americans/.

Thursday. “News & Events.” Fighting Xenophobia in the Age of the Coronavirus | UW School

of Public Health, 2 Apr. 2020, sph.washington.edu/news-events/news/fighting-xenophobia-age-

coronavirus.