Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: We Must Talk About Prejudice

The Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, created by Congress in 1977, celebrates the Asian people's accomplishments and contributions to the United States. We can learn about the History behind this celebratory month for the Asian Pacific American Heritage in the US on their official website. In this article though, we intend to demonstrate how all of us play a part in this issue and in what ways we can defeat racism that has been inflamed by Covid-19 pandemic against Asian people. 

In 2020, given the global Coronavirus outbreak, we must address an urgent and concerning issue: racism against Asian people lately. Even with all the information we have access to, many of us seem to ignore the proven reasons that led to the Covid-19 pandemic. Several episodes of racial hatred against Asian people have taken place, not only in the United States, but in other parts of the world. Anti-asian statements and hate speech are now part of their lives. In an era where leaving the house to grocery shop requires us to almost prepare to go to war, Asian people fear for their safety as well.

The internet has democratized information and has brought people together. On the other hand, it is a tool with which we can easily disseminate pretty much everything: from acceptance to isolation; from empathy to prejudice. That is why it is crucial to start conversations that nurture empathy and acceptance within all communities. After we finally seemed to fight for the rights of all people, regardless of their heritage, race, religion and/or sexual identity, we have witnessed online acts of racism against asian people. There are effective ways to fight these acts of hate back by good practices in our own virtual communities. We might think that certain actions are harmless, but they actually fuel prejudice and intolerance.

When a crisis takes place, it is inherently human, and easier, to look for someone or something to blame other than holding ourselves accountable for the part we played in it. The perpetrators of hate acts tend to blame Asian people given the fact that the Coronavírus pandemic began in Wuhan, China. What they fail to acknowledge is that this worldwide crisis is a result of years of dismissiveness with our mother nature resources and lack of accountability from several nations across the globe. The excessive mass production of all sorts of goods; the extraction of sources from the Earth without a proper plan to replace them; and the expansion of large metropoles invading into the natural habitat to name a few. The combination of these factors have culminated in the decimation of entire ecosystems and affected others to move from their habitat. The pandemic started in China, but it could have started anywhere else in the world. 

In a crisis, it is normal to develop a sense of humor in order to conquer anxiety and fear in face of the unknown and social media is a vast source of humoristic tools to achieve that; however, it is important to pay attention to the memes we make and share online because they not only reinforce wrong assumptions between Asian people and the Coronavirus outbreak, but they also open the door to racist jokes that ultimately culminate in acts of hatred. We often hear the pandemic being called "China vírus" or "Wuhan vírus" which are misleading concepts. It is our social duty to educate those around us about this subject. For instance, we can correctly educate our children about Covid-19 and make sure they don't perpetuate hate speech or bullying in their classroom. They may actually be encouraged to offer support and compassion to their school peers who may be experiencing that kind of bullying.

Another way to help is to check on our Asian friends, see how they are doing during all of this and ask how we can help. It is frightening enough to live in the midst of a global outbreak and have had our world turned upside down in a blink of an eye, it is even harder if we have to also live looking over our shoulders all the time.

Conclusively, we must look after our beloved ones and after people in general because that is what constitutes our society. Amongst the several layers of privilege each of us experience or not, the only way we are going to survive this pandemic is if we stand for one another; if we take care of each other with the tools we have at our disposal; if we consider somebody else's struggle while making decisions during this pandemic; if we offer what is in our power to help. After all, it is not only about me or you. It is about all of us.