A Call to Action: New Yorkers, We Need To Do So Much Better

“New York City is a melting pot.”

This is one of the iconic lines used to describe New York; specifically in reference to the vast number of racial and cultural groups that make up this city. The analogy is used to describe how different types of backgrounds all blend together in this city; however, an ongoing health scare is proving this not to be the case.

Currently, there is a fear of a virus spreading around, dubbed Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This virus was initially discovered in China, and can cause a series of illnesses like the common cold, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). As of now, medical professionals are still not exact on how the virus spreads; although, it is theorized that it spreads through respiratory droplets when an infected person sneezes or coughs.

Unfortunately as history has shown time and time again, fear and the threat of a dangerous illness don’t make for a civil society. As response to the Coronavirus, East Asian communities around the world are experiencing extreme instances of racism, xenophobia, and violence.

 For instance, rapper Kash Doll received a lot of flack for posting what many deem a highly racist tweet of the Coronavirus. In said meme, various Disney Princesses, like Cinderella and Jasmine, are seen wearing medical face masks and distancing themselves from Mulan, who is notably not wearing a mask. The meme presents the statement, “Sorry “MULAN” but we never know.” Many on Twitter immediately called out the Tweet as being prejudiced against people of East Asian descent. 

Jeannie Mai, one of the hosts of daytime talk show The Real, who is of Vietnamese-Chinese descent, commented on how she and her boyfriend, rapper Jeezy, received prejudiced comments on their Instagram pages while in town for NYFW. Statements such as, “Don’t be catching that corona, Jeezy” or “She got that corona that latched him in”. 

There have been multiple instances of vocal and or physical harassment against people of East Asian descent happening worldwide. On February 2nd, a woman was assaulted on a New York City subway, which witnesses stating that the attacker shouted, “diseased b*itch”, then hit the woman over the head. 

The xenophobia has risen to such a high level that citizens who present East Asian features are being ostracized and attacked. 

On his Instagram page, Chinese Canadian actor Simu Liu posted a picture of himself wearing a mask, calling out the racist and violent behavior that has been occurring towards East Asians globally as a response towards the Coronavirus. On social media, the hashtag “#IAmNotAVirus”, written in various languages, has been trending to vocalize the need to see East Asians for what they are, humans. 

While New York City has one of the highest Chinese/Chinese-American populations out of any city in the United States, and one of the richest histories with this community, we have also been some of the biggest perpetrators of this malicious thinking.

Right now various businesses in Chinatown, especially restaurants, are suffering because of an un-based fear that one will catch the Coronavirus if they are near people of Chinese descent. Authorities have already taken precautionary measures to contain citizens in China who are already or may be infected with the Coronavirus, and to contain spreading of this disease via airports and other traveling venues. Aside from making sure to sanitize your hands regularly and other precautionary measures such as avoiding touching dirty surfaces, then touching your eyes or mouth, there is little else that people can do to prevent catching this virus. Simply put, not only is avoiding and harassing people of East Asian descent inhuman, it is also completely unnecessary.

While the Coronavirus is frightening; what’s even more frightening is the idea that as a society we are so eager to take hold of mob mentality. We need to take an active look at our bias, conscious or not, and think about what it means that we as a society are willing to be prejudiced and downright malicious to entire groups of people. Especially New York, with such a rich Asian/Asian-American history, we have to hold ourselves responsible and help one another in a time of crisis, not attack blindly.

Written by: Nicole Kirichanskaya