COVID-19 and the rise in anti-Asian hate

The outbreak of COVID-19 in January 2020 fueled widespread fear—along with the rapid spread of misinformation. Throughout the pandemic, bad-faith actors turned to social media and used counterfeit documents from health organizations to drum up unwarranted anxiety and paranoia, with tragic results.

For more than a year, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders suffered from physical and verbal attacks, causing them to feel unsafe and unwelcome in public spaces. AAPI business have also been targeted. As of August 2021, more than 9,000 anti-Asian incidents had been reported since the beginning of the pandemic, according to Stop AAPI Hate.

Here are some examples of COVID-19-related hate incidents:

PUBLIC HARASSMENT

Physical Assault

• In February 2020, a man assaulted an Asian woman on a New York subway, apparently convinced that she was infected with COVID-19. Calling her “diseased” and shouting expletives, the man kicked and punched the woman in front of onlookers.

Verbal Assault

• Anti-Chinese sentiment is not exclusive to Chinese Americans, and members of other AAPI ethnicities are often categorized with Chinese Americans. In February 2020, a Thai woman was subjected to a racist tirade from a fellow rider on a Los Angeles subway. The man shouted at the passengers, repeating old tropes such as the idea that Chinese people were natural carriers of infectious disease: “Every disease has ever came (sic) from China… because they’re [expletive] disgusting.”

BULLYING IN THE CLASSROOM

The U.S. Department of Education reports that AAPI students already suffer from classroom bullying at higher rates than any other race or ethnicity. As a result of COVID-19-related hysteria, there has been an increase in anti-Asian bullying in schools around the country. We urge school districts and administrators to address bullying and disease prevention in a non-discriminatory manner, as required by Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. 

Here are some examples of COVID-19-related bullying and discrimination of AAPI students:

Physical Assault

• In a Los Angeles-area middle school, an Asian student was physically attacked by classmates, who were making unfounded accusations of his being infected with COVID-19. The boy’s injuries were serious enough to be sent to an emergency room.

Classroom Ridicule

• In another Los Angeles middle school, a teacher sent an Asian student to the school’s nurse’s office after he “coughed from swallowing water.” Other non-Asian students had been coughing, but they were not sent to the nurse. After being sent back to his classroom, the student faced ridicule from his classmates, accusing him of having COVID-19.