Chinese nationals and other people of Asian descent shared their stories online on how they experienced racism and xenophobia as the new coronavirus strain spreads across the globe.
Sarah Kim, a contributor at Forbes, said a group of men shouted, “see that Japanese chick over there? Stay away from her if you don’t want to get the coronavirus!” while looking at her direction.
“This sentiment was wrong on so many levels. One, I am Korean-American,” Kim said.
She also explained the 2019-nCoV originated in Wuhan, China, but she is a Brooklyn resident who hasn’t traveled overseas in recent months.
“And lastly, the xenophobic words of the group of men reaffirmed Western culture’s treacherous habit of grouping all people of Asian descent into the same ethnicity,” she added in her article.
In Singapore, Singaporeans are calling for a total ban on all Chinese nationals travelling to their country. A young woman even started a change.org petition “to temporarily stop Chinese nationals and travellers from China from arriving our shores.” The petition garnered 122,000 signatures in five days with xenophobic comments from those signed.
A similar petition in Malaysia gathered 400,000 signatures in less than a week.
East Asian in France reportedly experience discrimination, whether they are not Chinese or have not been to China recently. Twitter hashtag #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus (#ImNotAVirus) began trending online. Cambodians and Vietnamese also reported they experienced racism amid the new coronavirus outbreak.
Also read: Chinese woman first case of 2019 novel coronavirus in the Philippines
New coronavirus spreads, so do racism and xenophobia
In France, a local newspaper headlined “Yellow Alert,” which echoes historic Western racist and derogatory term, “Yellow Peril.” The paper later apologized in a tweet.
In Japan, #ChineseDon’tComeToJapan has been trending on Twitter.
In the United Kingdom, Sam Phan wrote in The Guardian, “In light of current events, we east Asians in the UK are on high alert, paying close attention to how people interact with us. It is not their concern about health that is problematic, but the stereotyping of all east Asians as a coronavirus risk. At times such as this, even a simple bus trip can feel like a hostile environment.
As it spreads, the virus has revealed more and more stereotyped judgments about Chinese people. I have also heard accounts from east Asians, even if they are not Chinese, who have recently been profiled while travelling at airports or on trains due to the ignorant perception that all east Asians are Chinese.”
As for the Philippines, Senator Bong Go said President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to impose a temporary ban on travelers coming from Hubei province in China, but no official advisory was released yet.
As Sarah Kim said, “Not all Asians are Chinese, and not all Chinese carry the coronavirus.”