Jasmin Kim
Copy Editor
COVID-19 has sparked a lot of fear in people worldwide as it spreads continuously. That fear has led to panic-buying, self-quarantine, and xenophobia. Xenophobia is dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.
Racism towards the Asian community is not a new occurrence by any means but it has recently flared due to the fear caused by COVID-19. It has become more common to post racist comments and content on the internet and some have even taken it as far as to physically assault or harass Asian people.
A 19-year-old man tried to kill an Asian man and his son in a grocery store in Texas because he thought the family was Chinese and spreading COVID-19. The father and son both suffered stab wounds and are in the hospital receiving care.
An Asian woman was punched and verbally assaulted in New York for not wearing a mask. A Korean woman living in the Netherlands was almost punched off her bike and accused of being Chinese. President Trump called COVID-19 “the Chinese virus”, further encouraging racism against Asian people on a national level.
A classmate sent racist remarks to me, a Korean-American student, through a public chat box on Zoom during a video conference for my Physics course. He degraded me by sending messages like “We’re in this conference because you brought the corona from your country”, and “Shut the [redacted] up dog eater”, and “Go get me a pet bat so I could eat it.”
These occurrences have become increasingly common in the daily lives of Asian-Americans. The virus does not discriminate and neither should you. We are all going through tough times, so let’s be there for each other. #iamnotavirus