Racism Towards Asians Isn’t Dead

Lunar New Year 2020 was on January 25. What should’ve been the happiest day in the year for Asians turned into a tragedy…

A new coronavirus, causing symptoms similar to flu and pneumonia appeared in China with the city of Wuhan at its epicenter. Disease and viral emergence is not a new thing; new diseases in humans frequently evolve from animals, due to our proximity to them. For example: Swine Flu from pigs and birds, HIV from other simians, Ebola from bats, and Zika from monkeys. Yet, although diseases can originate anywhere (Swine Flu originated in Mexico, Ebola in what is now the Congo, Zika broke out in Brazil, SARS came from China, 1918 Spanish Flu came from Kansas), the media disproportionately bashes China. Nothing has been supportive. No, when Notre Dame burned, it was a tragedy. When Swine Flu killed thousands, it was a disaster. But when it was a coronavirus from Wuhan, it’s a deserved consequence for those “Dirty Chinese.”

What Was More Viral, the Racism or the Disease?

As of today, China is in a health crisis. Medical supplies and masks are in shortage. Hospitals in Wuhan are overloaded. Around 1,357 have died from the virus, and more than 60,000 are infected, as of February 12, 2020.

It’s a medical debacle, and the Chinese Government should take blame. There was undeniable incompetence and fuck ups.

But if we’re going to blame, we should understand the Chinese Government. How does it work? If I asked you, right now, to describe the Chinese governmental system, could you do it? I mean, if you were educated about the Chinese government, you would surely understand that there is a division between the Central and local forms of government, that there are 23 provinces, 4 municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), five autonomous regions (like Xinjiang), and 2 specially administered regions (Hong Kong, Macau). If you knew about the Chinese government, you would understand the 8 divisions of the central government, notably the National People’s Congress, the President, the State Council, Military, and the Supreme Court, along with how many of the local governments operate. You might also understand the Communist party and how it works, how there’s a politburo and within the politburo, there’s a Standing Committee. You would also know the gist of several thousand years of Chinese history and current Chinese social life. You would understand the Chinese constitution and other crucial pieces of Chinese politics.

I’ll bet you didn’t know most of that. But, reporters and journalists with less understanding still deign to go on and make propagandic statements about China. Those reporters need to ask the right questions in the first place: which government was it? The local Wuhan government? The Hubei Provincial government? The Central Government itself? All three? And according to who’s metric, are these governments corrupt or inefficient? I mean, what right do us Americans have to say about corrupt government? In my opinion, most American politics is corrupt and inefficient too, with a history of Jim Crow Laws, Grandfather clauses, literacy tests, gerrymandering, etc. as testament. On top of that, the media doesn’t have many direct sources. Treating reports of China that use secondhand information and mistranslations is unreliable and nothing less than lying. Bashing and indiscriminately commenting on the ineffectiveness of the Chinese government is hypocritical, since it implies the American government isn’t. All the rhetoric flying around is a coded language game of “Communism bad”, “Red is evil,” and “Chinks are dirty.” It’s scapegoating, allowing Americans to point a finger and get distracted, as our own ineffective government scrapes by. An appalling and cowardly trick of the media.

I think the Chinese government, both local and Central have a lot of fault for the Wuhan outbreak, but it’s nothing close to what American media has made it out to be. The Central government’s position prompted the local government to purposefully disregard the initial concerns of Wuhan doctors to the outbreak, and that made the situation worse. But new viral outbreaks are a tough thing to do anything about, and although the Chinese governments tried to do some good, they can’t win this media battle. American journalism twisted the Central government’s choice to close off the city and quarantine as a totalitarian decision that chokes out freedom, completely ignoring the fact that it is practiced by literally every country, everywhere, throughout all of history.

Most media casually mentions China’s Central government’s construction of two hospitals in a matter of two weeks. They ignore the stories of the brave men and women who are working themselves to death, trying to prevent more death, in order to bash China. And of course, the biggest fact that the media ignores is that China’s response … HAS WORKED. The virus has, for the most part, been contained in China, and the other cases outside of China are under control. Furthermore, treatment is improving some of the sick. Adding to that nobody can remember 2009 Swine Flu which spread worldwide from America in a matter of months and killed about 575,400 globally, with 61 million in America alone being infected. Compare the proportions, and you see an even more pronounced bias: about 19.8 percent of Americans were infected by the 2009 Swine Flu, while for China, 0.004 percent are infected. In more understandable terms, America was 4,950 times more incompetent compared to China in its handling of Swine Flu. But nobody will mention this.

Meanwhile, the ability of Americans to break out in racism, like smallpox boils on the skin, becomes visible. American media became purposefully lazy regarding this outbreak, citing a video of a Chinese person eating a bat. First off, that person isn’t in China, she’s in Palau. Secondly, the video was from 2016! It’s obvious the implications say that because us dirty, foreigner Chinks eat animals of all kinds, like dogs, cats, and bats, we got this virus deservedly, nevermind the fact that most us Asians don’t eat any of them. Regardless, most White Americans picked that up and engaged in indiscriminate Anti-Asianness, openly calling us “Chinks” on twitter, bullying children in schools for just being Chinese, with even a very Asian-populated university by the humble name of U.C. Berkeley calling Xenophobia (the cowardly term for racism) a ‘common reaction’ (not to mention that their ‘apology’ twitter post which had most comments locked). And all along, America generalizes the hatred to other Asians: Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mongolian, etc. Though our cultures are vastly different, in the eyes of America we are all the same; we are all Chinks to them. In fact the plague of racism infected the entire Western hemisphere. A top European school of music closed up applications to all “Oriental” students (Oriental is equivalent to N*gro for Asians), without caring about any of our differences. A Chinese man in Sydney died from a heart attack because everybody was too afraid to administer CPR, fearing infection.

But what did we honestly expect? We, meaning us Asians in the West. Racism is a White man’s disease, and Colonialism and Imperialism are the other two. Like chickenpox, they infect the West and Whites when they’re young, and when they grow up, it breaks out more severely. Racism was always going to happen.

This Isn’t New

Asians have always been second-class in the West. The Chinese exclusion act (which targeted all Asians indiscriminately because we are all the same to them despite coming from the most diverse continent in the world), Yellow Perilism, the Red Scare, Japanese internment, erasure of culture, misrepresentation or a lack of it altogether (although I have complaints about the entire call for representation in the first place), the Model Minority myth, and our ethnic insults of Chink, Gook, Chinamen, Jap, Slant-eye, and Yellow Nigger*, these are all the legacies of racism towards us.

Don’t forget, us Yellow folk would be drinking from the same colored fountains as the other People of Color 60 years ago. America’s always been a racist, sexist, and a homophobe, but when someone disappoints you over and over again, it becomes hard to truly be disappointed by them again. So when America failed to prevent another outbreak of racism, I wasn’t surprised at all.

What did surprise me was our own response, the Asian American response. What a fucking pitiful shitshow! We have people on social media claiming that racism is not “justified,” and that peace and love and other shit is the correct response.

No shit, Sherlock, you just realized?

And what’s more, what does posting anti-racism messages on social media really do? Logically think it through. You are trying to convince the few racists in your audience that bother to listen to you (because let’s face it your audience is predominantly Asians who understand how racism is bad), and you are trying to shout at them across a screen to change their belief that you and I and every other Asian is literally inferior to them. Wow, what a change you’ve made.

Another common response: “Overcome and prosper.” Okay, that’s also stupid. You think that allowing racists to continue to spew racist shit somehow reduces the total amount of racist thought and consciousness that floats around America and the West? Are you fucking delusional? Have you never dealt with a racist before? I have, and speaking from experience, you have to punch those motherfuckers in the face. You have to make a stand for yourself. Racists carry on being racists. Most just take racism to the closet in the current social climate. This “overcome and prosper” response does NOT reduce racism at all. All it does is change its form to something much harder to detect. Inaction lets it spread.

Another stupid response that just shows a failure to understand your place in this country: the “I’m not Chinese” card. In other words, the “I’m a good Asian” card. Yeah, so if you were privileged enough to grow up around closeted racists who took the time to understand the difference between a Korean Chink, a Japanese Chink, a Chinese Chink, and a Vietnamese Chink, you will have succeeded in getting them to call you your appropriate label of Chink. If you’re not so lucky, in other words, you are in the Midwest or American South, you’re still screwed. You do realize one of our racist stereotypes is that we look the same, right? This response does nothing but spread racism around, and propagates hatred towards Chinese people from other Asians. Scapegoating, in other words.

But the most heinous and hideous and cowardly response I’ve seen …

Is Agreeing!

This is the worst thing we as Asians can do! You literally are handing the Whites and racists the permission and privilege to bully and diminish us. “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” only works for a White person, not for us Dirty Yellows! Agreeing makes you a race traitor, a cowardly White-worshipping Chink! If you’re an Asian male, you’re an Uncle Chan. If you’re an Asian female, it makes you an Auntie Lu. I don’t like the terms, but they’re what describe these people, like how Uncle Tom is the insult for Blacks who denigrated before Whites.

Listen, racism is not dead. It will never be dead. Being Yellow does not mean you get to forget your place in this country of Whites. And trying to run and become second-hand honorary White is fucking stupid and naive. You’re Asian. Take a look in the mirror. See that? You’re Yellow. Chink is written over your face and skin.

We as Asian Americans have to change the way we deal with racism, because otherwise, in another 10 or 20 years, when our children are out there on the playground, they’re going to be dealing with new insults and names, along with the old stuff. They’ll be made fun of for eating bats and dogs and cats, for having tiny eyes and tiny dicks. For being dirty and Communist. We need to help them deal with this, not just sit around kicking rocks and whining.

The Solution

The biggest reason why Asians get pushed around is our lack of cultural identity here. Hell, even asking someone to define Asian culture gets you a divided response. As Asian Americans and Asians in the West, we need to figure out our unique culture. This is our home, and we intend to stay, so let’s make it ours.

Asians in America are always presented two options: be White or be Asian. To Hell with that, we should be Asian Americans! Yes, America has done horrible things, but we can reshape it to our image and make her into something better. But that starts with discussion, agreement, solidarity and standing up and not taking bullshit. We have to remember our place in American society, and we should accept it and push for more. We need to recall our racial trauma and develop a racial consciousness. I don’t have all the answers, and I’ve probably offended most who’ve read this. But I don’t care, because what’s important is to discuss. It doesn’t matter if everybody’s shouting, so long as the conversation doesn’t stop. Otherwise, we’ll be waiting another few years for another viral outbreak. The viral outbreak of Asian Racism, that is.

*The reason I do not censor Yellow Nigger is because it is an insult towards Asians, not Blacks, although it co-opts the N-word to insult us.