Racism is a belief system that cannot be completely eradicated. Although many institutions, public health administration, racial justice organizations, and individuals work to take actions against racism, it is still prevalent in the United States. And this year, we, as a country, took a step back from creating a safe and fair environment for the people of color (POCs).
Innumerable incidents this year resulting from the pandemic illustrate that racism is still a serious issue in the United States.
Because the origin of the coronavirus was China, the stereotype developed that Asians and Asian-Americans are the carriers of this virus. This has led to countless incidences of hate crimes, discrimination, and stigmatization against Asian and Asian-American communities across this country.
The initiation of this Anti-Asian racism can be traced back to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1880s. The anti-Chinese racism had created prejudice that China was the “sick man of Asia.” With the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese laborers were blocked from entering the United States, in part because white people thought they carried virulent diseases. Then in 1900, when the bubonic plague swept San Francisco, the blame was once again put on the Chinese people because this disease was thought to have come from a rat on a Chinese ship. This is exactly what we are seeing today — putting the blame on China. This racism toward China has also caused racism on other ethnicities of Asia, in part because people think they are also Chinese. As a result, in this country we have seen countless hate crimes against people of Asian origin.
Read the complete article at: Addison Independent
