New Delhi: The deadly new coronavirus, which has so far claimed the lives of 425 people in China, has not just led to fear and concern across the globe, but also to racism against those of Asian appearance.
Asians took to Twitter to narrate how people are avoiding “Chinese people with a cough” and that how they are “concerned about racism than catching the actual coronavirus”.
I find myself washing my hands more & not sharing food because I worry that if I catch even a cold, people will assume it’s the coronavirus. Yes, I am more concerned about racism than catching the actual coronavirus.
— Nancy Wang Yuen (@nancywyuen) February 1, 2020
Fellow Asians, brace yourselves for racist, fear-mongering garbáge as news and misinformation of coronavirus fly across the timeline. “Yellow Peril” has been a thing in Canada — and other Western countries — and yes; people have asked me if I eat bats. https://t.co/C0SYHosqp5
— Evy Kwong 鄺文詠 (@EVYSTADIUM) January 28, 2020
i had to deal with people making passing comments about eating dogs and saying “Ching Chong” to me my entire life. now i go onto social media only to see it’s plagued with jokes about avoiding Chinese people with a cough, and barely anyone lifts an eyebrow.
— maia (@mxmtoon) January 29, 2020
In Canada, a woman recounted how her half-Chinese child was cornered in school by students who wanted him to get “tested” for coronavirus.
Today my son was cornered at school by kids who wanted to “test” him for #Coronavirus just because he is half-Chinese. They chased him. Scared him. And made him cry.
I was the same age when I was bullied for being Pakistani.
It’s 2020. I thought things had changed by now… ?
— Dr. Nadia Alam (@DocSchmadia) January 30, 2020
Asians in France too complained of racism
French Asians complained of racist behaviour on public transport and social media. They took to Twitter to express their discontent with a trending hashtag #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus (I am not a virus).
Je suis Chinois
Mais je ne suis pas un virus!!
Je sais que tout le monde a peur au virus, mais pas de préjugé, svp.#JeNeSuisPasUnVirus pic.twitter.com/38bUTNWj3t— Lou Chengwang (@ChengwangL) January 28, 2020
There was also an outcry after French newspaper Le Courrier Picard used provocative headlines “Alerte jaune” (Yellow Alert) and “Le péril jaune?” (Yellow Peril) with an image of a Chinese woman in a mask.
‘Yellow Peril’ is a racist colour-metaphor that the people of East Asia are an existential danger to the Western world.
Realising that it had played into the most problematic of stereotypes, the newspaper later issued an apology.
Cette leçon de racisme décomplexé vous est offerte par le @CourrierPicard #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/jhcoNmsmm5
— Madjid Messaoudene (@MadjidFalastine) January 26, 2020
The University of California, Berkeley, also faced backlash when, in an Instagram post, it listed xenophobia as one of the “common reactions” that students might be facing in the light of the coronavirus outbreak. The university later deleted the post.
Confused and honestly very angry about this Instagram post from an official @UCBerkeley Instagram account.
When is xenophobia ever a “normal reaction”? pic.twitter.com/hH4AgQKluM
— Adrienne Shih (@adrienneshih) January 30, 2020
Indian Twitter users also targeted the Chinese and asked them to stop eating dogs, bats and snakes in order to contain the outbreak.
#NoMeat_NoCoronaVirus
Hello China
Stop eating meat!China is suffering the fatal effects of corona virus due to eating meat by breaking the constitution of God pic.twitter.com/vAiGEJ8Gy2
— Aditya Satlok (@AdityadasSatlok) February 2, 2020
https://twitter.com/Kabeerisgod/status/1223827559143489536?s=20
Despite the World Health Organisation saying that it doesn’t recommend travel restrictions in light of the outbreak, 22 countries have now imposed restrictions on people coming from China.
Also read: This is how coronavirus is infecting the global economy