Covid-19 and Asian Hate — the follow-up
The pandemic brought waves of racial discrimination against Asians to the forefront, but how do communities rebuild in the face of hate?
Image by Teseum from Flickr under creative commons)
In February 2020, Jonathan Mok, a University College London (UCL) Law student and fellow Singaporean was left with fractures on his nose and cheekbone following a racist attack on Oxford Street. "I don't want your coronavirus in our country" were the words hurled at him by his assailants. Such were the early days of the pandemic. Since then, incidents of violence against Asian people have continued making headlines.
Earlier this year, a University of Southampton lecturer and Chinese national, Mr Peng Wang, was assaulted while jogging. Four men in a car shouted abuse like “Get out of my country” and “Chinese virus” and, when he shouted back, they left him with a bloody nose and mouth. More recently, another student was similarly verbally and physically assaulted in Sheffield at the hands of a racist man.
The emerging link between Covid-19 and racism forced many of us to reckon more broadly with the dreary contradictions of Britain’s relations with minority groups. A country that purports chicken tikka masala as its national dish is the same one where brown kids alter their own names to fit the palates of white friends. Where thousands of people clapped for NHS staff, Southeast Asian nurses across the nation continued to face harassment and wage discrimination.
The pandemic has even undermined the unspoken, yet widespread, “Model Minority” stereotype. The phrase refers to when members of an ethnic minority demographic are perceived as having a greater degree of socioeconomic success than the average population. This success is typically measured by educational attainment, occupation, and income. Many East and South-East Asian (ESEA) communities living in the west, especially the older generation, have tended to lean into this stereotype, maintaining an attitude of working hard, staying quiet, and keeping one’s head down to avoid trouble. However, Covid-19 has blown the lid off this notion, forcing anyone who even looks Chinese in the UK to be wary of racial discrimination. A survey conducted by Ipsos MORI in 2020 found that one in seven people in the UK intentionally avoided people of Chinese origin or appearance.
The pandemic shrouded us in tragedy, both private and collective. In between mourning loss, adjusting to our altered routines, and trying to process the last two years, many of the voices advocating against the slew of anti-Asian sentiment lost steam after these high profile incidents. In May 2021, people in the US celebrated Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage month, and in August, Britain’s South Asian Heritage Month passed by quietly. However, the work of creating an anti-racist society continues. Voice ESEA, a grassroots organisation, are one of many groups seeking to uphold the right to equality and amplifying the experiences of East and South-East Asians in the UK.
Although there are already laws in place to prevent discrimination against race, they have evidently fallen short. Organisations like Voice ESEA are asking the government not only to condemn the recent racist attacks against ESEA but, in addition, to provide the support needed for impacted communities, charities, and initiatives helping to fight racism. Their call includes support funds for businesses; for example, restaurants in Chinatown that saw sales fall dramatically last year after the virus was linked to a food market in Wuhan. Their petition has already garnered over 22,000 signatures.
Voice ESEA’s broader ambitions to tackle racism are summed up in ‘Educate and Exchange’, a principle exemplified by their Instagram page. While many of us are wary of social-media activism, together with its oversimplified infographics, one-sided takes, and virtue signalling, Voice ESEA largely avoids these pitfalls. With detailed dives into government reports, policy analyses, and interviews, Voice ESEA balances macro and micro-narratives to spotlight ESEA content & culture. Behind the well-crafted reports and resources, there is also a dedicated data team, which works with volunteers to understand and highlight the scope of anti-ESEA discrimination in the UK. As part of this, Voice ESEA has issued Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests to over 40 police bodies across the UK to determine the rates of police-reported hate crime against ESEAs in 2019 and 2020 in different regions.
Many have felt anger, fear, and despair in the face of Covid-spurred anti-Asian discrimination. Equally, there is often a sense of helplessness that comes with feeling like a small fish in a big pond. Organisations like Voice ESEA are the product of when marginalised communities come together and champion solidarity. Every time the status quo is rocked, society is at a fork in the road. We can restore things as they were, or take the next step and have difficult conversations to stimulate change. I hope more of us will choose the latter.
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