Xenophobia in the US v.s. Geographic discrimination in China
It is not surprising that President Trump’s statement of COVID-19 irritated some people and news media in the US but even in China, discrimination against people from the place of the outbreak is even worst.
Xenophobia in the US
I have to say that I was not happy when President Trump would like to spend tax payer’s money to build the wall at the southern border but not recruit more law enforcement agencies to balance their daily tight schedule. When I heard that the detained centers were overwhelmed by the undocumented immigrants with a short supply of materials and staff, I didn’t feel any surprise.
People should be treated fairly even they come here illegally. It is against the law but they are not criminals as thugs on the street. You can still leave the country without penalty even if your visa is expired in 180 days. Targeting the minority of immigrants is probably not a reasonable decision to resolve American’s complicated immigrant issue since it involves millions of families.
However, being a resident who lives in both East and West. I have to say that calling a virus with its origin of place may not appropriate but interpret as xenophobia would be too far. Many media such as The Washington Post, VICE News and The New York Times started to publish the articles against President Trump’s statement. (Ironically, China expelled all American journalists from The Washington Post and The New York Times first as retaliation to the recent US decision for not renewing visa of Chinese journalists in the US. It seemed that the government of China chose the wrong media to target.)
The issue, of course, is not about to irritate China or fear the attack launched by the communists. It is far from that. Anyone who has a sense of America’s defense power would realize that China doesn’t have an immediate military threat to the US right now. Not in 2020, but maybe a few years later if China can survive from the great financial recession and instability of the political structure.
Then why we should not use the name of the “Chinese virus” instead? The major concern is due to the long history of xenophobia in American history. Well, if you don’t want to use “xenophobia” such a big word, we have other offers for you: racial bias, microaggression (famous one in recent years) and prejudice. All those words can be used to target a minority group like the female, Semites, LGBT, lower-class people, racial minorities…etc. You name it!
Hard to believe, but the US was once a country that still had a legal slavery system inherited from Britain. Still, the impact of slavery remained even now a day. It is not hard to find a mass shooting in the US associated with racism or anti-something. It is too common for people in the US to pursue gun violence against a certain minority group. Such an incident always makes me think that we are still in a hunter-gatherer society without a proper legal system and everyone has to challenge each other like Achilles v.s. Hector until one is down.
Not surprisingly, more and more violent incidents (such as verbal or physical assault and vandalism with racist terms on the property) or hate crimes against minority groups are increased after the pandemic outbreak in the US.
Unfortunately, people are blind to the truth and most Americans can’t even differentiate between Asian Americans and foreign Asians from other countries. For most people, it all looks the same except the English accent. It is hard to acquire an American accent if you are not born there not to mention there are multiple variations due to geographic difference. But this simple truth is frequently ignored and most people would just assume that you speak good English. It is not, of course. The ability of language can’t be acquired from anywhere if you didn’t grow up in that area.
This hurts the melting pot of the US and the foundation of the nation as an immigrant country. That is the main reason why we need to stop using this bias term to name a virus.
But this is for the side of the US.
How about Asia? People live happily together just because everyone is Asian? Unfortunately, this is not true either.
Geographic discrimination in China
This is not a simple question to answer. But most people in Asia can tell you whether you are raised in the US or truly from somewhere in Asia.
But how?
If you have a chance to take linguistics lessons, you probably would realize that English is included in the language family of Indo-European which is the major language group in Europe and the Middle-East. But that is not how Asian languages work.
Korean, Japanese and Chinese all belong to different language groups even though they may have some similarities. However, their difference in pronunciation and grammar are so large that it is hard for anyone in each group to learn other’s languages immediately without years in practice. And even in China, different dialects in the different geographic areas still exist as remnants of the long history of Asia. Those dialects are like dialects between Welsh and London, but even more divided. People from the south of China can’t communicate with the people from the north of China if they only use their own dialects. And that is the main reason why people can tell you that you are an outsider even you reveal nothing.
This is convenient to know someone without asking too many private questions which can be offended sometimes. But it also brings some problems.
Separate but Equal
After the outbreak of coronavirus, people started to differentiate and discriminate against the residents from Wuhan or Hubei province (North of Dongting Lake) to prevent the spread of the virus. Any public transportation started from Wuhan of Hubei province was not allowed to enter other cities even no new case was reported after 3/18. Residents of Hubei province are forced to use the separate restrooms or not even allowed to enter the buildings or certain areas. Companies would rather lay off those people even they are fine to work.
Even though the Chinese government said that the disease outbreak was under control and all residents in Wuhan and Hubei province can travel freely in China, the public just won’t buy it. Several places including Shanghai refused to let any transportation from Hubei province to enter the city. And the public even organizes the protest to prevent the vehicles to enter the province.
While the Chinese government continued to push out the responsibility of the outbreak, refused to recognize the mistake of deliberately concealing the epidemic and accused the US of using the improper term on coronavirus, it can’t even solve its domestic discrimination against the residents from Wuhan or Hubei province.
In conclusion
Asia’s history is probably distant for most people. Even myself, I had to study extra books to understand that part. However, there is a big difference between the US and China. The public in the US can discuss freely whether using the “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus” is racism or not. There is no discussion about whether residents of Wuhan or Hubei province should be treated equally in any social media in China. Any report related to Wuhan or Hubei province is always like “Go! Go! Wuhan”, “People supports you !”, “You are the most lovely one !!” that makes others believe there is no negative statement against Wuhan. But based on the information leakage, we now know that this is not true.
The reason? Because all the social media and news media in China are controlled by the government of China and the Chinese communists. Any statement that can hurt the reputation of Chinese communists will be censored and deleted.
However, the government of China may not realize what actual meaning of “liberty” and “equal”, while blaming the term “Chinese virus” but allowing geographic discrimination in their country. They simply care about themselves as a party not their people.
And just after a few days, President Trump promised that he won’t use the term “Chinese virus” but when did you see an official apology from the government of China for any public issue? I doubt that it won’t happen in my lifetime.