By Matthew Villanueva, Features Assignment editor
In a press conference at the end of March, the president explained, “I talk about the Chinese Virus— and I mean it, that’s where it came from.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic has barged into the US, the president has continued to push the narrative that COVID-19 should be referred to as the “Chinese Virus.” Despite the fact that the virus did originate in China, when one of the most powerful people in the world abuses that rhetoric, it only results in hate and xenophobia.
In the past couple months, hundreds of Asian-Americans have been targeted in racially related hate crimes. They have been yelled at, spat on, assaulted and abused.
On a crowed New York subway, an Asian man was pepper sprayed to the ground while the abuser was recorded screeching out “He was standing right next to me!”
A Chinese woman in Brooklyn barely walked away from taking out her trash as her neighbor doused her with a substance leaving her with chemical burns all over her body.
In San Francisco, a Vietnamese woman was spat on by someone walking past her home.
Personally, during a run the other day, a woman had the chutzpah to pull over her car, roll down her window and squawk at me, “YOU’RE A F****** CHINK! YOU NEED TO WEAR A F****** MASK!” before subsequently vanishing down the road.
I had never been called that before and naively, I thought the Asian racial slur had been extinct since the mid-20th century, but the bigotry the United States has infamously been known for, brought back the insecure pastime of racism.
In a White House press conference last week, an “One American News” reporter moronically begged the president, “Do you consider the term ‘Chinese food’ racist because it originates in China?” Other right-wing supporters have sprinted to defend their demagogue, spewing out conspiracy theories that the Chinese developed the virus as a bioweapon or referring to it as “Kung Flu.”
Rather than attempting to place the blame on China, the only use for that rhetoric is to promote xenophobia across the country.
Along with toilet paper and groceries, sales of firearms in the Unites States have also been at an all-time high. According to the New York Times, March was the busiest month for gun sales in this century. Most of the people who are buying these weapons are first time gun-owners, and for the first time in American history, a majority of these sales are to Asian-Americans.
The alarming spike of gun sales is largely due to the fear of hate crimes and will in turn spark more fear into the country that has been the disgraceful world leader in gun-violence.
While many of these abhorrent actions may have happened with or without the president’s discourse, the resurgence of xenophobia across the country has coincided with his presidency.
I, along with other Asian-Americans are scared. I am scared to run now, something that I love to do. It is something that I have worked so hard toward, something that has kept me sane during this unprecedented era in American history. I am afraid of the outside now along with thousands of other Asian-Americans, and all of the blame goes to the man in the Oval Office.
Be safe, practice social distancing and please, be kind.
villanjv18@bonaventure.edu
