Asians unite against virus racism

Asian Americans have experienced a sharp increase in racist verbal abuse and physical attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The STOP AAPI HATE reporting center, a multilingual website set up to document anti-Asian harassment, which was launched on March 19, has received more than 1,800 reports of coronavirus discrimination from Asian Americans across the US. The offenses include microaggressions, racial profiling, hateful incidents and in some cases, violence, according to the website.

Victims said that they have been spat on, stabbed while shopping, shunned for wearing masks and barred from entering ride-hailing vehicles.

"Incidents like these have been on the rise in recent weeks. And some have escalated beyond verbal assaults,' said Winston Lee, president of United Chinese Americans of Washington State.

"We've often thought this discrimination was part of our American history, something that was in the past, not something that affected us today," Lee said.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has directed bigotry and racism at the Asian American community, which has been scapegoated for the spread of the novel coronavirus," the American Jewish Committee(AJC) said in a newsletter on Tuesday, adding that the Jewish community also has been the target of conspiracy theories about the virus, fitting into a historical pattern of anti-Semitism.

To elevate the voices of those affected, the AJC organized a virtual conversation on Tuesday with United Chinese Americans of Washington State, the Council of Korean Americans, and the Japan Society of Washington.

"As you will know, the Chinese American community has lately been going through a lot. From worrisome confrontation between the US and China to our worsening atmosphere for our civil rights and civil liberties, now to this coronavirus crisis and its ramifications," Lee said at the discussion.

"The coronavirus crisis has once again demonstrated our vulnerability and our interdependence. It offers further evidence that in order for us to survive, we must once again come together to fight for our common destiny and common humanity," Lee said.

"This is perhaps the greatest global crisis that we are witnessing. Whatever difficulties, whatever divisions we have had in this country at this point, as long as on a people-to-people level we are together, we are going to survive," he added.

As the coronavirus death toll mounts and stay-at-home orders are lifted, the FBI has warned there could be a potential surge in hate crimes against Asians.

Lee called on society to act now "to strengthen the immunity of our societies against the virus of hate" and "our government leaders need to act decisively to address the trend".

"We obligate all of our nation to condemn racist discrimination, undertake measures aimed at eliminating racial discrimination in all forms, and promote understanding among all races not to sponsor or defend racial discrimination by any persons or organizations by any kinds at any time," he said.

"I think it's going to really have a very significant impact on our ability to trade and to create trade deals and to figure out how our two countries, which are the two largest economies in the world, are going to interact," said Beth Doglio, a member of the Washington state House of Representatives for the 22nd Legislative District.

"The institutional racism is just eating our country alive and also in terms of our relationship with China," she said.