Coronavirus and Xenophobia

Xenophobia is traditionally defined as hate, prejudice, and dislike towards anything foreign or those from different countries. Xenophobia is in ways, very similar to racism, but is broader as people are discriminated for their nationality and background and not only for their race.

Recently, you may have seen this word mentioned frequently on social media platforms, and if you are wondering why the terms “xenophobia” and “xenophobic” has suddenly been popping up, it is because of the new Coronavirus. Though people are not exactly being xenophobic towards Asians or Chinese people in particular because of the Coronavirus itself, some have shown signs of xenophobia due to the origin of CO-VID19 or the theory behind it.

It is not fresh, exciting news that Coronavirus may have originated from Wuhan, China—but is this a sufficient excuse for people to hate, discriminate, and be xenophobic towards an entire race? Is anything, really, an excuse for being xenophobic?

People, especially those with caucasian origins living in the U.S. and many European nations, have been demonstrating xenophobic and racist actions towards Asians simply because the virus originated in Asia and that those people are afraid that any Asian can transmit the virus to them. They think of Asians as a whole as perpetrators of the virus, and not necessarily the victims. People in the West have been attacking random Asian people for their appearance that resembles their possible family origin, despite many Asian-Americans and Asian immigrants not having even stepped into their home country for years.

A Korean man was stabbed on the street by a Caucasian man in Montreal. An Asian family with two children was stabbed in Texas. And many more families with Asian heritage have been and are currently being attacked verbally and physically by those of other heritages because apparently to the perpetrators of these hate crimes, all Asian people come from China and everyone from China has the Coronavirus.

Another example of xenophobia is ostensible in various social media platforms, where people have been insulting and degrading Chinese people as a whole for eating wild animals. At first glance, you may think that the Chinese people did indeed eat bats and it was this consumption of wild bats that triggered the global pandemic.

Yes, it is theorized that the consumption of wild bats in China by a group—maybe even a single person—caused the transmission of the Coronavirus to humans, but is it appropriate to assume all Chinese people consume wildlife? Is it appropriate and respectful to degrade an entire nation and its people during a time when they are suffering the most? When this outbreak was first released by the press to the public, it was during Lunar New Year, one of the most important holidays for Chinese people. It is a time for them to unite as families and celebrate the accomplishments they have achieved in the previous year and to hope for the best in the following. While people are mourning over deaths and the pandemic during their most important holiday, others are insulting, degrading, and blaming them for this disease. How inhumane, disrespectful and hateful can such acts be? In addition, China is not the only country that consumes wildlife. Not to mention how many in the U.S. and Australia also consume wildlife such as Rocky Mountain oysters and kangaroos!

Another xenophobic act against Asians—the Chinese in particular—for the Coronavirus occurred when Trump publicly called the Coronavirus the “Chinese virus”. Yes, you read it right. The president of the U.S. physically crossed off the term “Coronavirus” written on his script, replaced it with the phrase “Chinese virus”, and read it out loud in his speech. There were many arguments made—some calling him out for being racist, while some defending him and stating how sensitive and overreactive people are over a simple poor word choice. But he is not the only one who calls the Coronavirus the “Chinese virus”. The racist intentions are quite apparent in these people, despite their justifications that they are calling it the “Chinese virus” because it originated in China, much like how they call the H1N1 virus the Spanish flu. However, the Spanish flu was only named that after World War 1 by The Allies, when the pandemic moved and influenced large areas of Spain and France. The influenza did not even originate in Spain! So, yes, calling the Coronavirus the Chinese virus is racist because the connotation of the word “Chinese” makes it seem as if people are blaming China for the outbreak, when China in reality is one of the most effective countries in controlling the pandemic today. In the U.S., nurses are fired for wearing masks to protect themselves, hospitals are understaffed and under-resourced, and doctors are fired for speaking out for the lack of medical support.

Acts of xenophobia are also demonstrated towards refugees and immigrants. There are still many individuals and families who are discriminated for their origin. There are people who escaped from their homes because of wars and danger, only to face discrimination and hate in the new land where they dreamed of hope and opportunities.

However, not everyone from the West—not every American, Canadian, or European—is being xenophobic towards Asians. Some Asians are xenophobic towards foreigners as well. It is always the small minority who exploit these chances to be racist and xenophobic. What are your thoughts on xenophobia? Comment down below!