A random pedestrian spit on a 26-year-old woman on her way to the gym in her San Francisco neighborhood. In New York, a stranger chased and struck down a woman who appeared to be of Asian descent. And in Texas, a man stabbed a family of three at a store because he thought they were Chinese Americans spreading the coronavirus.
Donald Trump fanned the flames of this anti-Asian hostility by repeatedly calling Covid-19 the “Chinese virus.” And we can expect more racist rhetoric. According to reports, the National Republican Senatorial Committee advised candidates to “attack China” as a mainstay of their campaign messaging.
As members of the nonprofit Young Elected Officials Network, which is predominantly made up of people of color, we take the fight against racism to heart. Our millennial generation grew up believing deeply in social justice. We also believe that when the challenge is unprecedented, as this pandemic is, it helps not to be wedded to the status quo.
Our own cities have experienced disturbing incidents.
One of us, Janice, a first-generation Chinese American woman living in San Francisco, was harassed and shoved at a bus stop. Across the city, people have broken into and vandalized Chinese-owned businesses.
As mayor of Ithaca, New York, Svante is confronting verbal attacks on Asian Americans and situations in which people were physically menaced.
Talk to our young network, and one word emerges as we talk about our role in this crisis: education, in which cultural awareness is a vital ingredient.
As Ohio state senator Tina Maharath said, “There is no cultural heritage for any virus.” Marahath is the first Asian-American woman elected to the Ohio state Senate. Most Asian residents in her district are South Asian, as she is, and many have been bullied.
Some immigrants fear they will be targeted for deportation, and a lack of multilingual resources leaves people in fear of the unknown. Maharath is speaking out, informing her constituents in a newsletter and online.
Georgia State Representative Bee Nguyen says she and her colleagues are pushing the governor’s office to ensure that Asian communities in her state have the information they need to be healthy and safe.
“A lot of the information out there is very hodge-podge,” she says. People need multilingual information about the virus and how to mitigate its economic impact, including how to access benefits or what to do if your utilities are shut off.
Beyond these immediate adjustments, more action is needed to defeat all forms of embedded racism. We want everyone to stand in solidarity with communities of color as disproportionate impacts of the crisis strike us.
Even as we confront the ugliness of this crisis, we see great possibility. The pandemic has laid bare racism against Asian communities that some might have thought was a thing of the past. That awareness will inform our policymaking in the future.
Our network is in constant communication about what works best for cities, for schools, for deploying police and firefighters, for offering economic relief to residents — and yes, for combating bigotry.
When we emerge from the war on this virus, we will extend what we are learning to all the other “wars” we have — on poverty, addiction, and injustice — in a new way.
Meanwhile, in the states, cities, and towns our young officials lead, we are proud to celebrate the rich contributions of Asian Americans in this Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. This year, it is more important than ever.
Svante Myrick is the youngest-ever mayor of Ithaca, New York and the Director of Youth Leadership Programs at People For the American Way (PFAW) Foundation. Janice Li represents District 8 on San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors and is a member of the PFAW Foundation’s Young Elected Officials Network.
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James says
Typical Left Wing Democrats, can’t be responsible for anything they do. Always blame it on someone else. President Trump was telling it like it is. I don’t care what they have accomplished, why don’t you do a column on a young Republican that has accomplished at least what they have, probably more.
Non snowflake says
It’s called the Chinese virus by some because it originated in China….that’s not bigotry,that’s not racism.Its just fact..Wasn’t there also the Spanish flue?The bird flue was racist towards birds?Nope,were it originated.The swine flue?Do NOT be racist towards those pigs!!Its were it originated smh.This is just more over sensitive cupcake,snowflake,pansy propaganda,nothing more
Pierre Tristam says
The only reason the Spanish Flu was called as it was in 1918 was because unlike newspapers in France, Britain, or the United States, only newspapers in Spain reported on the epidemic free of censorship or–cowardice and Wilson Administration repression prevailing in the United States at the time–misplaced fears of panicking the public, or diverting attention from the war effort. No one is certain where the 1918 pandemic originated, but some of the stronger evidence points to barracks in Kansas, though of course no one calls it the Kansas flu, the American flu, or the anywhere-but-America flu, leaving it to its great current misnomer. And no, the current epidemic isn’t called the Chinese virus because it originated there, though there’s no disputing that it did. But because our racist president and his piss-ant disciples with the backbone of amoebas, some of whom feed on bigotry like leeches on blood, see in China-bashing the same sort of electoral base appeal they see in bashing Mexicans, Muslims, blacks or whoever else makes up their cannon fodder of the moment. Likewise in Europe only far-right nationalists nostalgic for the days when “Yellow Peril” was still acceptable speech in putrid society are aping Trump’s slur. The commenter’s insecurities, to put it politely, and immunity from irony seem to have claimed the better of him, though of course he’s got plenty of company in a country that once proudly passed a Chinese Exclusion Act and more recently ratified Trump’s Muslim Exclusion Order. No, no bigotry at all here.
Russel says
Bigotry is a part of a free society, some choose to participate, others do not. Free country, grow up.
Jim O says
Pierre, wow a little fired up… Nice I like that. Now on to the issue. This article is so bull shit it must have embarrassed you and got you a bit heated. That is only because it is complete and utter non-sense. You somehow know this as well. You just want to get your jabs at the POTUS.
Capt. Murphy says
Even thou I’m a white man and called Whitey, Cracker, Vanilla Wafer, Irish Trash, Potato Eater, etc., I don’t hold any grudges. Heck, I buy Chinese lunch twice a week from a local Chinese carryout. I buy Mexican food once a month from a local Mexican restaraunt , and I buy old Motown Records that where recorded by Blacks. ………… The only real problem or “Bigotry” I have is against radical islamic SCUM tht come here from middleast countries and that try and degrade OUR CONSTITUTION and WAY OF LIFE thru their liberal websites .
Pierre Tristam says
Priceless.
JimBob says
How he is not a republican congressman baffles me.
Outsider says
I’m pretty sure Pierre was raised a Catholic, but for the record, yes he is a liberal, but as American as they come.
WhackAMole says
I hope no one contracts a flue since that seems painful, but the flu, yeah pretty much we’ve all had that. I normally don’t stoop to the level of children but hey, a spade is a spade. Bigots are the first one to say there is no bigotry. Racists are the first to scream, “I’m not racist but…”
Blinders over the eyes, and fingers in the ears, the sheep will follow their leader, and the sheep will eat the leaders poo, even if it’s on his shoe. The leader says, “Dear Sheep, trust in me I’ll keep you safe,” while he hides his shears, and gutting tools somewhere beneath his quacking beak. The sheep they smile, full of glee, while their leader Tweets and Twats, he fires up the furry beasts, until they march and march. They raise their flags, and Nazi signs, while brandishing their weapons. They threaten the lives of all those around, while shoving common sense into the ground. Please wear a mask, some people say, and the sheep’s eyes turn red with blood. They take out their guns and fire away, or break someone else’s arm. Their words turn hateful and ugly, saying things that would make the Devil blush, and yet these people proclaim, they are the very best of us. The sheep scream the loudest when they fear no repercussions for their action, for the one they love and admire most, encourages these hateful factions. The sheep herder has allowed for this emergence of open hate, the words, the open guns, and the insanity they create. One day, the Force will rise again, and defeat the Imperial Army of Sheep, for good always wins, and evil loses, especially when judgement day begins.
jake says
“Donald Trump fanned the flames of this anti-Asian hostility by repeatedly calling Covid-19 the “Chinese virus.” Stating a fact regarding the origin of Covid-19 has not “fanned the flames” of anti-Asian hostility.
“According to reports,” means this is made up bull shit.
Considering the authors of this article are from San Francisco and New York, where most of these alleged incidents occurred, maybe they should look in their own back yard before painting all of America with a wide brush of racism.
Instigator says
Where did it come from? China.
Who lied about the virus and allowed their people to travel internationally and infect the world? China.
The World has been attacked by a biological weapons grade virus. Can’t change the facts no matter how they spin it. Deal with it.
A Concerned Observer says
Sorry if the facts offend your sensibility….. This virus originated in China. Full Stop!
Karen says
We, the anti trumpers, react this way because trump has a history of promoting divisions against different kinds of people & groups – against any person , any state, any country, any organization (US or international), who disagrees with him.
He publically, usually thru tweets or at rallies, says harmful and inflamatory things about these people attempting to disgrace them when they don’t agree or question what
he says.
He is a liar. He lies every day. A disgrace for a president and totally unfit to be OUR president. He is a “toddler” president who acts and talks like a 3 year old!
joe says
AMEN! The fact that this life-long fraud and con-man has conned so many is a tragedy. He is in no way a mature leader; in fact, he is so clearly not even a mature man…but, somehow, those being fleeced still worship him.
Thankfully, the blinders are coming off some – apparently the effects of the pandemic and his pathetic lack of leadership are too much for some.
Anna Mac says
Trump is a life-long NY Democrat. Granted, he’s not a Marxist, he’s a classical liberal. He has championed issued, mostly made up from the left his entire life. The only reason people are piling on now is because he ran and won the presidency as a Republican. Get over it.
Everybody wants to be a victim, but there’s no dignity in it.
Gary R says
This article reminds me of when people wearing MAGA hats were or are attacked. Is that racist?
LetThemEatCake says
We “assume” it came from China, yet in Wuhan, China, they have what is referred to in the genome as the “B” strain. The “B” strain is a mutation from the “A” strain, which is most closely related to the version found in the host animal. Where was the genomic “A” strain found? Why in the USA and Australia. Funny that. There was an “incident” at Fort Detrick last year where they had to shut down. Not long after they shut down, a nearby nursing home reported an increase in strange non-flu caused cases of, pneumonia. What’s that now? It spread through the entire nursing home and the staff. It took it’s time too infecting people but they were able to stop it before it spread in the community. How? The “A” strain has an R0 of less than 1. Flash-forward to Wuhan, and word that a virus emerged spreading from person to person quite easily. The “B” strain has an R0 of 2-3, so yes, the spread happened quite quickly in Wuhan. Now, we jump warp speed to Europe and the genomic “C” strain, a mutation of the “B” strain, which spreads very easy, very quick, with an R0 closer to measles, which is 10+. These are some awful fast mutations for a virus that “just so happened to occur in Wuhan” in December of 2019. Yeah, I think not. Those types of fast mutations are not normal, therefore this virus has been around in a less deadly, hard to transmit fashion for a LONG time, probably as far back as late 2018 or early 2019 because it takes several generations of virus for these mutations to occur. We “assume” it started in Wuhan because that is where the first rapid spread of virus took place. But saying that Wuhan is the source, the creator, and the purveyor of this, is ignorant and shows a lack of knowledge about epidemiology and virology, which I understand most people do not understand. This is why the Twitters, Instagrams, Facebooks, and the like are worse than the virus. It allows people with no knowledge to suddenly pass things on as though they have found science, and it creates a disease of hate, misinformation, assumption, and fear. Until all genomic samples have been studied, compared and analyzed, and we find patient zero with the “A” strain, I will never say this originated in China, but instead here, in the USA, at Fort Detrick. Think China is the the only country that manipulates viruses and creates bioweapons? Yeah…think again.
Space Cadet says
Well, your half right. The part you missed is that extra-terrestrials beings dropped the virus while abducting Wuhanians for their Wet Market on Planet Oclettina .
Stephen Smith says
When People start to physically attack members of a race, religion, or political ideology, because of hatred and fear instilled by the media, organizations or politicians, that’s Racism. No doubt in my mind about it.
Veteran says
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Ebola (named after the Ebola river where it originated). Diseases are named after their origin, like Covid 19, which came from CHINA!
Johnny B says
The “Spanish Flu” of 1918 originated in Kansas.
Pogo says
@Janice Li and Svante Myrick (with thanks to FlaglerLive)
Good work. Don’t quit. Ever.
Nobody is ever sent to Hell: he or she insists on going there.
— W. H. Auden
Trailer Bob says
I am so glad that so many of the comments are defending China or attacking Trump. Way to go New World Americans.
Phillip says
Seriously ? New World Americans ? Did they teach you that in Harvard ?
Sherry says
Whether this horrible virus originated in China or not. Having trump state that he is NOT responsible of any part of the catastrophically incompetent response to keep us all safe from this pandemic is bad enough. BUT, then he just had to find someone else to blame. Let’s see, how about China and President Obama. Obamagate! Right? Let’s just throw blame against any wall and see what members of “the CULT” are suckers enough to believe.
Since the Chinese people are not lily white and Christian it will be easy to point to them as a great distraction from trump’s own culpability. Ginning up the “CULT” members to hate other non-white human beings is so easy and perfect. In this way, trump gets his mindless supporters to look the other way and absolve him of the unnecessary pain, suffering, job losses and deaths of well over 93,000 human beings in the country for which HE IS RESPONSIBLE. For evidence of his success in controlling and orchestrating the words of his “CULT” members. . . just take a look at the daily messages of fear and hate on this site.
Once again. . . it really all boils down to trump lashing out, wiggling out, faking out, bullying his way out, lying his way out of doing anything at all that is truly good for the American people!
Outsider says
It will always be possible to find a few yahoos behaving poorly if you look hard enough, but it hardly represents America overall. V I wonder if China will allow you to publish this piece over there, as it seems they have a bigger problem with racism than we do:
https://thediplomat.com/2020/04/racism-is-alive-and-well-in-china/
@LetThemEatCake: Assuming you are correct, the animosity towards the government of China has less to do with it originating there than their self-serving response to it. Of course viruses have many origins, but they lied to the world on many levels and actually promoted the spread of the disease internationally, while acquiring supplies to help fight it in their own country. This is undeniable when considering the fact that they banned domestic travel to and from Wuhan, but not international trips. There have been some plausible arguments made that they did realize they would take an economic hit from the crisis and didn’t want to be the only country affected financially, thus leaving them weaker than other countries in the world. The Chinese government only cares about one thing: the Chinese government and it’s aspirations of world domination.
James Manfre says
Of course blame China for not monitoring its wet markets that sell wild animals infected with the corona virus.
Of course blame China for hiding the severity of the transmission of the virus.
Of course blame China for hoarding PPE and then selling it to the world at inflated prices.
Of course blame Trump for not heeding the advice of his own national intelligence warnings in January of a possible pandemic and its possible catastrophic health consequences to the American public.
Of course blame Trump for not listening to his Chief Economic Advisor, Peter Navarro, who warned in January of the grave economic impact that a pandemic would have on the US economy.
Of course Blame Trump for not shutting down the country on February 16 rather a
than March 16 because he did not want to negatively affect the US stock market which could have reduced the health and economic impact to the US by 90%.
Of course Trump and his supporters say he is not responsible and accountable for this or any of his immature, inept and idiotic behavior, but Obama and that tan suit OMG.
ASF says
Perhaps people should be a little less fired up about the particular country that this virus originated from (this time) and more actively concerned about how we can prevent such Pandemics from starting and spreading in the future–from anywhere. That means people (and governments) from all nations coordinating their efforts towards that worthy goal.
Land of no turn signals says says
I agree,we should call it the Pelosi virus.
Sherry says
Yes, of course, the Chinese “government” should be held accountable for their part in NOT being transparent enough in the beginning of the spread of the virus. However, focusing ONLY on blaming China is NOT saving lives here! It’s not “EITHER , OR”! It’s BOTH!
ALSO, that does NOT excuse any “racists” acts against anyone simply because they may be Chinese! That is crimes against humanity!
ALSO, blaming China does NOT excuse the pain, suffering and lives lost because trump and his cohorts have FAILED catastrophically to ACT quickly and effectively. . . with decisive planning. . . to protect the American people against this pandemic. trump is, and always will be, much more concerned about the stock market, and HIS self interest, than our lives!
There are a multitude of horrific mistakes here at every level of our government, and within the growing segment of our society that is filled with hate of anyone who is not Lily White.
VOTE!
Ben Dover says
So then I should be killing these ignorant inbred rednecks not wearing masks in stores ? I don`t understand what they dont`t get about they could be a carrier spreading the disease , are they truly ignorant to this fact , or they just don`t care if they infect and kill someone else who`s immune system cannot handle the virus like theirs does, I`d bitch slap them, but ……shit splatters, I know most think well Trump doesn`t have to wear one so neither will I…Do you get tested every single day? …Trump does…..Do you wear make up that you don`t want smeared … Trump does , in fact that is the one and only reason that fat candy ass, draft dodging , traitorous pedophile doesn`t wear one , his clown make up might smear….Stores need to make new signs No Shoes, No Shirt ,
No Mask….., No Entry!
Sherry says
Right On, Ben! “NO SHOES, NO SHIRT, NO MASK= NO SERVICE”. . .
People who refuse to wear a mask in public places should be social outcasts!