제 10 호 Covid-19 Fueling Anti-Asian Racism Worldwide
Kicker: WORLD (ZENOPHOBIA)
Covid-19 Fueling
Anti-Asian Racism Worldwide
Zenophobia Spreading All Over the World
By Dong-wook Kim, Editor, Sol-Hyang Park, Reporter
smartpodo@kakao.com, cookie7152@naver.com
Since the Corona pandemic, the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 has exceeded 140 million worldwide, and more than 3 million have died. As Corona is prolonged due to the lack of a suitable cure, people worldwide are replacing this disappointment and anger with hatred for someone. Especially for Asians.
Asian Zenophobia is Spreading
There have been constant issues of hatred and assault on Asians since the Corona pandemic began. In March 2021, an American was arrested for spitting and punching an old Korean man, also, Jeremy Lin, a Taiwanese basketball player, confessed that he was called "corona virus" instead of his name at a U.S. stadium, and it is said that 80% of Asians have been verbally or physically attacked in Germany, according to a survey of 700 Asians from July to December last year done by, Humboldt University of Berlin, and Liberty University of Berlin. Especially, in the U.S, hate crimes against Asian Americans in major U.S. cities rose 149 % year-on-year last year, according to the Center for Hate and Extremism Studies.
a German radio host Matthias Matuschik & BTS “Fix You” stage
Even for BTS, which is loved worldwide, a German radio host said, "BTS is a corona virus, I hope there will be a vaccine against them," after watching BTS’s cover stage of "Fix You" to console those suffering from Covid-19.
With the prolongation of Corona, the fear of infection is turning into "Zenophobia." It is a term coined in ancient Greece, meaning "fear or disgust of strangers, foreigners, or something foreign." Zenophobia is the spirit and term of a concept related to emotion or consciousness based on a sense of superiority or inferiority over other races, such as "we are different from you." The Black Human Rights Movement (The Black LIVES MATTER), is also deeply related to zenophobia. It occurs through collective psychological formation that distinguishes “us (homogeneity)” from” them (homogeneity).”
The Asian zenophobia due to the Corona pandemic appears in a variety of forms, such as writing down threatening letters in front of the house where Asians live or notifying Asian students studying abroad that they cannot take classes due to corona. Like this, people in many countries tend to see Asians as potential corona carriers and loathe them unconditionally.
How do Western People React to the Unconditional Hatred of Asians?
Within the United States and around the world, unconditional hate crimes against Asians have been on a roll since COVID-19 started to boom. Even elders are being assaulted by the residents. In March 2021, an eighty-three-year-old Korean-American grandmother got spit and got hit in the face from an American woman. The violence has crossed the line and the conflict is at the climax. In this state, it is quite interesting how other residents think about this situation. What are the public opinions of the residents? What do celebrities and politicians around the world do to stop retaliatory crimes?
According to the survey based on 1040 Chinese-Australians, more than 37% of the people responded that they have experienced race discrimination. 18% responded that they have been physically abused and threatened. Majority of the subject responded that the reason why Asian hate has increased in a short period time is because of COVID-19 and the bad relationship between China and the Australia.
Courrier Picard, Explains an Asian Woman as “Yellow Alert”
Europe is no exception when it comes to Asian hate. It is hard to get an exact opinion in some European countries like France, Germany and Belgium because of historical issues. However, one of the civic groups ‘Security for All’s’ spokesperson said that “I do not like Asians”. By this, the racism in Europe is quite opened to the public. The politicians and the press have the fault to encourage public to hate Asians. In a German TV broadcast, the announcer described Asian girl as a “Waitress who works at a restaurant”. French local daily newspaper, courrier picard posted a picture of an Asian woman and expressed it as “Yellow Alert”.
U.S. Republican Chip Roy, caused a firestorm at a hearing about Asian-Americans and hate crimes by invoking lynching. He said “We believe in justice. There’s an old saying in Texas about find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree. You know, we take justice very seriously, and we ought to do that. Round up the bad guys.” He also added that he is not ashamed to tell that he is a Chicom; a disparaging comment about the Chinese communists. After Donald Trump, a former president of U.S. used the term of “China Virus” in front of the press, the usage of hashtag “China Virus” has increased to more than 83%. Along with the hashtag, above the 780,000 twitter posts, about 50.4% post included anti-Asian hashtags.
Celebrities take a great part to make the society clean. There are some celebrities who comes out to speak out for no racism. Due to a string of shootings involving three Atlanta-area spas, eight people were killed in the attacks, with six of people were Asian descent. In a response to this crime, pop star Ariana Grande shared an Instagram story poster saying “The media needs to be held accountable. Call these “INCIDENTS” what they are: Hate crimes against Asian Americans”. Pharrell Williams also posted a quote about the incident and not to discriminate Asians. Famous NBA player Lebron James tweeted his condolences to the victims of the shooting incident calling them senseless and tragic.
Celebrities’ Twitter Posts About the Incident in Atlanta
Discrimination on a specific race is a new troublesome issue came out during the pandemic. We can specify the area that the disease has occurred, however the reasoning should not turn into an unconditional hate and also other similar race should not be the target to a ridiculous crime. The whole world should unite as soon as possible after making a herd immunity from the virus. Otherwise, the solidarity of the people will hurt as well as the humanity.
