Introduction:
Sometimes the world faces unexpected challenges which no one is ready for. In late 2019 early 2020 the world was impacted by a death threatening disease. Covid 19, this illness killed many individuals and affected many families worldwide. Countries enforced new laws and policies to decrease the amount of infections. The sickness was first diagnosed and reported as an outbreak of respiratory illness in China according to an article on Medscape. Although the outbreak impacted all citizens physically, Asians and Individuals with Asian descent were impacted worldwide negatively. Previously in the past Asians suffered discrimination and racism in the United States, Covid 19 fueled the situation beginning with our very own President. Not only did U.S citizens discriminate against those in the Asian communities, so did individuals in other countries. Asian Americans have faced discrimintation through the educational system, the work place, and fuel by the pandemic outbreak.
Did you know Asian Americans face discrimination?
The Educational System
Harvard was facing a lawsuit in regards to discrimination against Asian American Applicants. When people hear the words racism and/or discrimination it usually is assumed to be against people of color. But that is only one group of people who are affected in this sometimes cruel world we live in.
Black lives matter, immigration issues, and other discriminations are commonly known to all citizens in the United States. Nonetheless, Asians have also been impacted by discriminations and racism before the pandemic transpired. The educational systems are assumed to grant an equal opportunity to all students regardless of race or ethnicity. According to a scholarly article, “Asian American Discrimination in Harvard Admissions,” Asian were being discriminated when submitting college applications to Harvard University. This had been predicted and assumed for many years before the research was conducted but due to the scarce quantity of resources and reports it has been difficult to conduct research on this particular matter. It is shown that Asian American tend to be stronger academically than those of White students, which is a important factor behind the possible reasoning to preference and discrimination towards Asian Americans. The article goes into depth describing the divergent unethical reasoning towards this behavior. As if it was not enough, Asians have also experienced discrimination or faced rasicms in the workplace, especially women.
The Workplace and Asian Women
The Asian group makes up about 6.2% of the labor market in the United States but is the group with the least possible chances of becoming executives, Yu H. H, mentioned in their article. The Scholarly article studies the Asian American experience in the workplace, how they are discriminated against, and especially women. These citizens are part of a fast growing group and one of the most diverse as well. The article explains how there is a disadvantage and perceived discrimimantion in the workplace. It is not as easy to be promoted for an Asian American as it would be for a White citizen, and it clearly emphasises the impact on women. These citizens are being discriminated against and obstacles are faced all because of the way they look and their Asian background. As we can see Asians have been discriminated for many years, now the pandemic has enhanced the racsims and discrimination towards these citizens. All citizens should have an equal chance of getting hired or promoted regardless of a person's physical appearance nor racial background.
The Covid-19 Outbreak Fuels Discrimination
The pandemic began because it was reported first in China, which is why worldwide Asians were targeted. During the Coronavirus outbreak there was a high increase of discrimination and violence towards Americans, as reported by Neil G. Ruiz, Khadijah Edwards & Mark Hugo Lopez. According to the article, one third of Asian Americans feared of being threatened, physically attacked, and of discrimination. These individuals were innocent and did no harm to anyone yet they were being discriminated against because of their looks and Asian background. Just because the outbreak was first reported in China does not mean that they were the ones who created it or it came from them. Our very own President publicly called the illness the “Chinese Virus” which fueled the discriminations even more. The government had to take matters into their own hands because this was getting out of hand. No one should be called names in public, or be looked at in a weird or disrespectful manner just because of your physical appearance or race.
Governments needed to take action to protect their innocent citizens due to the unfair and unnecessary discrimination they were recieving. It is ironic that a country that vows to protect its people also attacks and creates these dilemmas to negatively impact their very own citizens. Just like our very own president who encouraged these terrible behaviors, other government or senior officials followed as well. The article, “Covid-19 Fueling Anti-Asian Racism and Xenophobia Worldwide,” explain how individuals with Asian descent have been targeted on the media with derogatory language, and how the terms “Chinese Virus” or “Wuhan Virus” did not help decrease the hate crime. On the contrary, something has to be done to eliminate the hate crime, derogatory language, and violence used against the Asian communities.
They were fearful
Although Asians and Asan Americans were targeted in the United States during the pandemic, they were also targeted worldwide. Asian all over the world were and are facing discrimination because of the corinavirus outbreak. According to the article, there were many reports recorded during the outbreak due to the discrimination, violence, attacks, harrasemnent, and bullying that Asians faced during this time period. Just like Italy, this was reported by France, Rusia, and Australia. In addition to these countries, it was also reported in the UK, Africa, and Brazil. Reports show that these individuals suffered attacks like being punched in the face and the verbal harassment and bullying, “GO BACK TO CHINA”. As if it was not already difficult before the pandemic, this was just the cherry on top for all Asians.
CONCLUSION
The world never expects these challenges to take place but unfortunately they happen. The covid 19 outbreak was a negative impact for all countries, for the whole world. The ones who were innocent and none deserving of discrimination and attacks were Asian Americans and those of Asian decent. Some governments were not the best at helping the disgusting situation that Asians were facing, and others were doing the best they could to help protect their citizens. Overall, it was unfair that only because the outbreak was reported in China that these people were targeted. We are all human and we are all the same, we all deserve the same treatment.
Credits:
Created with images by mohamed_hassan - "virus protection coronavirus" • SilverVid - "woman asian mask" • 11780443 - "asian japanese girl" • sasint - "caucasian people worker asian" • 11780443 - "asian japanese girl" • murphyj1 - "china jade carving" • Alexandra_Koch - "corona virus mask" • Philippsaal - "hong kong neon road"