COVID-19 Stories of Asian American
By Helen Lê
(Human Nature, Spring 2020)
The 2020 global pandemic has struck nearly all countries around the world, some more than others. Unfortunately, communities who exist in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, such as within the US, leading in social and economic inequalities, are the most impacted by the viral outbreak. Institutional and structural corruption has been elucidated by the pandemic now more than ever. The faults of capitalism and greediness have finally lost their deceitful disguise and are being criticized with increasing disapproval by Americans each passing day. The social structures that have been historically implanted by exploitative motives of past money-driven leaders, are foundationally weak and puts communities against one another, feeding into inequality, discrimination, social stigmas, and poor health.
Stories of Asian American hate crimes are unavoidable today, more so through word of mouth and social media within the Asian American communities. As an Asian American myself, I can confirm these experiences. Those who appear Asian fear for xenophobic threats when leaving their homes. Some are deciding to stay home and lack resources than to bear the burden of being treated as an alien. Asian Americans are not the only ones who are socially constricted. Fear and insecurity walk throughout the streets of America, crowded neighborhoods, and those who live in poverty. A deprivation of resources and obstruction of security is the root cause of poverty and inequality, which brings about weakened immune systems from abiotic and biotic stresses. These structural inequalities become embodied in our biology and spiral into an inevitable syndemic. Because of their great vulnerability to illness, these communities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
There are a number of articles, social media posts, and personal experiences that I have gathered to support these conclusions. These will be cited at the end. The aspect of the pandemic I will reflect upon are the social and racial stigmas that have been put against Asian Americans and will stem into the structural and economical inequalities that expose the issues that discriminate minorities in the US.
Asian Americans have historically taken on the role of being the “Model Minority,” a problematic title that separates them from other minorities, sweeping the discrimination they face every day under the rug. They are broadly stereotyped as those who usually keep to themselves, are socially tolerant and quiet simply because they don’t tend to “shake things up.” As a first generation Asian American, reflecting upon this notion and witnessing the xenophobia first handedly, has highlighted a possible theory of mine in which non-Asian Americans use this sentiment as a security blanket to attack and discriminate Asian Americans without consequences. It seems to be a method of coping with the anxiety provoking pandemic by pointing the blame on a group of people. Hate crimes against Asians has created a false sense of security for people who do not identify as Chinese. This has been proven to be unproductive and slows down the effective emergency health responses. San Francisco State University has reported a 50 percent rise in the number of news articles related to anti-Asian discrimination amidst the coronavirus pandemic. (Tavernise, Oppel) This does not report on all the actual hate crimes that do take place. Many reports are described by being spat on, stabbed, pushed to the ground, and verbal abuse. The slandering has not only hit Chinese Americans, but all other ethnicities such as those from Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines and all others who share similar faces. Asian Americans report to friends and their community that they no longer feel safe enough to go grocery shopping, traveling alone in public places, or to simply go outside. Wearing a mask out in public as an Asian American poses a threat more so than catching the virus itself. Many have decided on not to wear a mask in order to protect themselves from unwanted attention.
A Chinese American doctor, Dr. Edward Chew, head of an emergency department in Manhattan, who had gone out to collect masks and gloves in bulk for his staff was followed, given a look of disdain, and shouted at by three men. He described that he feels like he is being invaded by hatred, “It’s everywhere. It’s silent. It’s as deadly as this disease.” (Tavernise, Oppel) An increase of Asian American customers at gun shops has reflected the fear and insecurity welling up within their community, and most importantly, the need to protect themselves.
Photo credit: understandingrace.org
Many Americans of different “races” and communities are treating the Chinese as if they are the virus by calling it the Chinese Virus. Historically, this has been done with the “Spanish Influenza” and the “African Virus” or the Ebola Virus. This disregards how viruses simply do not discriminate between races, how one “race” is not built to be more vulnerable than any other individual. This especially disregards geographies and demographics. The virus does not originate from Asian Americans who do not live in, nor have recently traveled to, or have not been in contact of the area in which ongoing spread of the virus is. (CDC) Reflecting on guest speaker Alan Goodman, race in this context is being used to justify discrimination and to rationalize superiority and inferiority. Race is not real; it is an idea solely used to describe physical differences and or culture. The relationship between race and human genetic variation, is analogous to Asians and the virus. Race does not equal nor describe genetic variation. There are more differences in one race than there are between two different races. This is due to the geographical relationships of communities and the way genetics are swapped through time. Those groups who are geographically close and brought up closer, have more genetic similarity than those that are of the same “race” and those who live on opposite sides of the world. There is continuous variation among individuals; relationships are dependent on clines. When applying this relationship between race and genetic variation, it also explains the relationship between Asians and the virus, in which both are not exclusive to one another. Two people of two different races or ethnicity can be equally exposed to the virus, however two people of the same race but who live in opposite sides of the globe do not have equal exposure.
Photo credit: Un banquete de comida china. Gtres
Another eye-sore in social media is the cultural discrimination put against Asian diets. The media has curated a highly targeted offense against Chinese individuals by grouping videos of non-Americans eating live mice, bat soup, and other dishes seen as taboo and “repulsive” in the eyes of American culture. These videos are misleading in the fact that they are sourced from different countries and are old videos not directly linked to China. These videos have been stapled to the justification of placing the blame on Chinese people, stating that the Chinese are the cause for the global pandemic because they “can’t stop eating weird stuff they are not supposed to eat such as bats, maybe if they stop eating those animals there would not be a problem.” The problem here is that non-Asian identifying persons are looking through this pinhole lens and forming an analysis of other cultures in comparison to their own. In other words, it seems to be that everyone is practicing ethnocentrism. Unfortunately, this limits their ability to understand other cultures. What they should be practicing is cultural relativism, to try to understand Chinese diets in Chinese context/perspective, not American context. The mass population of Americans and other globally, must realize that one cannot form an accurate analysis of another group’s culture nor judge, without having analyzed the social structure and culture within its context (ethnography). Other cultures and societies may look into American diets that largely consume cattle and pork as taboo, and may look down upon that, however this is unrecognized in light of American ethnocentrism.
With an increasing amount of discrimination in the Asian community, it brings up the notion of increasing insecurity, stress, and lack of resource. This stress is extended into other minority groups as well. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), “stigma can lead people to hide symptoms of illness to avoid discrimination. They may not seek health care when they need it and may further isolate themselves, which comes with its own health risks.” An example of this account is when my dad who is diabetic, experienced ketoacidosis one morning but refused to go to the hospital to receive help because one, the coronavirus, and two, fear of discrimination. I myself have been reluctant to let my parents go out to grocery shop in order to decrease risk of viral exposure, but to also eliminate the risk of being attacked. I am not sure if my parents have been emotionally impacted yet, but personally I have been experiencing a lot of stress through the insecurity of safety, finances, and health. As someone who has been managing household finances for my parents due to language barriers, managing with schoolwork, and discrimination, my cortisol levels have been through the roof. Persistent elevation of cortisol, a stress hormone, has been shown to negatively impact the immune system and increase vulnerability to disease. Decades of research show that discrimination (socially and structurally) is associated with poorer health and mental health among LGBTQ, Asian American, African American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Muslim American, and Latinx populations according to the APA. In recent reports, the outbreak has been disproportionately affecting Latinx and African American communities. There are several reasons why this problem is occurring, and it roots from structural violence – social arrangements that put certain communities in harm’s way due to political and economic organization within the society that lead to social insecurity, denying these groups access to rich and helpful sources. Several of these factors can be described as limited access to clean water, clean air, health care, and money. Those who live in cities are most likely to be living in crowded households, where crowding is “intimately related to lack of living wage and unaffordable housing.” (Chotiner) These crowded living conditions increase the risk of exposure and transmission, never mind how most apartments do not have their own washers to clean and reuse masks. Cities are also a major destination of air pollution, which increases vulnerability to COVID-19 due to viral attachment to particles in the air. A big population of homeless people are found within cities. These people don’t have a home or place of safety to follow stay at home orders, let alone access to washers or baths to maintain hygiene during the outbreak. Those who cannot speak fluent English have a difficult time disputing bills that are supposed to be covered by their insurance or government, applying for unemployment, and other forms of help. A Latinx woman who didn’t speak English was charged for a covid test that was supposed to be covered. These are all factors that stack on a load of insecurity on minorities and those who live poverty – their lack of resources and access to adequate living conditions and health care is hindering their health, let alone their weak immune systems. “African-Americans are less likely than White Americans to have the option of working from home and to receive high-quality medical care, and more likely to have preexisting medical conditions that lead to worse outcomes from the novel coronavirus.” (Chotiner) This is also described as a syndemic, where the most vulnerable people often suffer from multiple health problems. This negative synergistic interaction between living conditions and insecurity actually heightens and worsens preexisting health conditions that may have arisen simply due to the stress of stigmas and social discrimination. This is why there is a higher mortality rate in socially discriminated minority groups.
The corona virus pandemic has exposed the inequalities and flaws within the American social and structural system – be it in economics, healthcare, and more. These are just several problems that many medical anthropologists are elucidating today, and several personal accounts that the greater community may be experiencing as well. This illustrates how culture and structure within a country and various communities within it, can greatly impact the biology, the health, the epigenetics of individuals.
Citations:
APA. “Combating Bias and Stigma Related to COVID-19.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, www.apa.org/topics/covid-19-bias.CDC. “Reducing Stigma.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 Mar. 2020, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/reducing-stigma.html.Chotiner, Isaac. “The Interwoven Threads of Inequality and Health.” The New Yorker, www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-coronavirus-and-the-interwoven-threads-of-inequality-and-health.Ennis-McMillan, Michael C., and Kristin Hedges. “Pandemic Perspectives: Responding to COVID-19.” Pandemic Perspectives: Responding to COVID-19 - Open Anthropology - Stay Informed, www.americananthro.org/StayInformed/OAArticleDetail.aspx?ItemNumber=25631&utm_source=informz&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cta.Tavernise, Sabrina, and Richard A. Oppel. “Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans Fear for Their Safety.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/chinese-coronavirus-racist-attacks.html.
