by Apurva Mahajan ‘22

Coronavirus disease is a new strain of a respiratory disease first seen in Wuhan, China, and has continued to spread internationally, causing a mass panic among people all over the world. Since the disease originated in China, people have been openly harsh and even racist to East Asians, as if they are the ones to blame for the widespread disease. This pattern of xenophobia, or the prejudice or dislike of people from other countries, is showing signs that history is repeating itself, and not in a good way.

On January 28, a Chinese man died from cardiac arrest outside of a restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown. There were many bystanders, but all refused to give CPR because they were afraid of getting coronavirus. If their prejudice hadn’t been there, the man could have been saved and would be alive today. However, this is not the first time an event like this has occurred. In the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, racism against people of African descent caused them to be denied jobs, become victims of hate crimes, and be dehumanized. Even President Obama was targeted in a series of racist attacks during this time period. “it’s important to never forget the people who are at the epicenter of these outbreaks, the impact it has on their families and their culture,” said Dr. Craig Spencer, who was diagnosed with Ebola during this time, stated in an interview with TIME. Spencer now worries that racism will only worsen the Coronavirus crisis.

 Stereotyping Asian Americans without a basis of information is also not a new occurrence, and it is not talked about enough. During World War 2, Japanese Americans were put into internment camps when none of them had anything to do with the war. This dehumanization keeps happening, meaning history is repeating itself. Now, all Asian Americans, not even just Chinese-Americans, are facing social ostracism because of factors they have no control over. The pattern of stereotyping on the basis of a disease is not a coincidence, and causes people to be scrutinized without a viable reason.

On UC Berkeley’s official Twitter, xenophobia was listed as a “common reaction” to the coronavirus, excusing and normalizing racism. “This just in from the number one public university in the world: it’s okay to be xenophobic as long as you also feel sort of guilty about it,” one person tweeted in response to the university. Berkeley has since apologized, but only after public outrage. Misinformation like this is the root of the problem in categorizing people solely because of their race or skin color, when they are much more than that.

Before stereotyping an entire race as “diseased” and discriminating against them, people need to research the information about the disease. If the news hadn’t been misconstrued, and spread without context then this narrative would not have been pushed against an entire race of people. Being informed and looking at all sides of a situation is the best way to avoid repeating this pattern of stereotyping large groups of people, and would advance society as a whole.