by Jess Taylor
LOS ANGLES – COVID-19 continues to sweep through America, and so does, according to organizations studying the issue, xenophobia—maybe because the public watched the virus shut down much of China and then hit the U.S. the hardest, observers suggest.
But people in the U.S. of Asian descent are apparently feeling the backlash of the virus, as seen by the surge of xenophobia since the Trump Administration began repeatedly condemning China for the pandemic.
Manjusha Kulkarni is the executive director for Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON) and has confirmed that COVID-19 has indeed provoked xenophobia.
“The steady pace of incidents of anti-AAPI hate being reported from across the country, unfortunately, tracks with the recent IPSOS poll which found that 30 percent of all Americans witnessed someone blaming Asian Americans for COVID-19 and 60 percent of Asian Americans witnessed this behavior,” she said.
Additionally, she stresses, “What concerns me is the open hostility and animus that our community is encountering and with concerted efforts to blame China and the Chinese government, Asian Americans will be subjected to more hate.”
In alignment to Asian Americans being blamed for the pandemic, international students are now subject to persecution. The U.S. has over a million international students with close to three-quarters of them being from Asian countries.
ICE, who is in charge of international programs, has announced that “Nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full 
online course load and remain in the United States.”
In other words, if international students cannot transfer to a campus that will have in-person instruction they must leave the country. If they do attend school in-person, they can only take a maximum of one class but may take a full course load if they can find a hybrid program.
The leadership board for Stop AAPI Hate, involving Kulkarni, Cynthia Choi, and Russel Jeung, are appalled by this new policy. Together, they addressed this issue, in the following statement:
“Stop AAPI Hate strongly condemns the discriminatory new rules on foreign students, which could lead to unwarranted deportations of thousands of students, the majority of whom are of Asian descent.
“These rules serve no public health purpose but are part of the Trump administration’s campaign of racial scapegoating to distract from his own mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. Unless checked, the president’s racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies will cause irreversible harm to foreign students as well as all fomenting discrimination against all immigrants in our country. We demand that ICE reverse this decision immediately.”
A3PCON and Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) have been using a communal website as an outlet for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) to report hate crimes against them. The reports sent into them produced an account illustrating a number of hate crimes occurring in the U.S.
The CAA said that within a mere six weeks it received more than 1,700 incident reports from the AAPI community. The following are just two of the reports:
“I was walking my dog at night and a car swerved toward me on the sidewalk, two guys started shouting, ‘Trump 2020, Die Chink Die!’”
“White man in his 50s, approximately 6 feet tall, dragged an elderly Asian man out of the store by the arm and proceeded to shove him outside the store, causing the elderly man to fall on his head and back. Victim was a 92-year old Asian man.”
There has been a plethora of reports of hate crimes towards Asians since March covered by news outlets of every kind.
The CDC noted that the majority of Asians in America were born here, and many have never been to their ethnic homeland; since this is not common knowledge the CDC made an announcement in April because of this xenophobic wave.
“It is important to remember that people- including those of Asian descent- who do not live in or have not recently been in an area of ongoing spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, or have not been in contact with a person who is a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 are not at greater risk of spreading COVID-19 than other Americans.”
This statement alone, in effect, suggests there has been an unrest towards Asians since the impact of COVID-19 in the U.S. that they may be potential carriers of the virus simply because of their ethnicity – the statement by the CDC shows, in fact, that Asians “are not at greater risk of spreading COVID-19 than other Americans.”
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Seems to me this article is conflating outright racial hate incidents and ICE policy. I don’t understand the ICE policy, as moving people around internationally in any direction right now isn’t a good idea, and being online isn’t a problem, but maybe the reasoning is something different – like is there a reason to be in the US if you don’t need to be on campus? – and does it specifically target Chinese people? The racial hate incidents listed are just plain haters given an excuse; the one where they dragged a guy doesn’t even make sense, as if they are afraid he has the virus, touching them and getting in their vapor-zone isn’t a good way to avoid the virus. I think we can all agree to hate the haters (or forgive them with God’s holy grace if that’s your thang) who inflict violence on people for race or any excuse – these are mentally ill violent people. Xenophobia can be much more subtle and not involve violence.
What I don’t understand is why anti-Asian xenophobia is being called out, but staff of the DV, newspapers, county supervisors & health officials have publicly pointed out that the CV-19 is spreading especially in “the Latino community” in Yolo County. I mean, if that’s where it’s happening, I think it’s OK to point that out so that community can be especially cautious. But I’ve been surprised that announcing this publicly has been done without criticism and without calls that this could create xenophobia against a particular community in Yolo County. I truly don’t understand why one group association with the CV-19 is condemned and the other group association is not condemned. Can anyone explain this?
Anti-Asian xenophobia is being trigger by the conspiracy theories of the origins of COVID
There goes UCD’s “gravy train”, perhaps “motivating them” to hold at least some in-person courses (regardless of the increased risk of COVID that would result).
On the other hand – demand for student housing would be significantly reduced, if they didn’t pursue those non-resident dollars.
Such conflation is not limited to articles such as this. That conflation encompasses the topic of immigration, in general.
With the implication being that only racists are concerned about the impacts of immigration, for example.
> the implication being that only racists are concerned about the impacts of immigration, for example.
Good point. Like the fact that conservative Mexicans who immigrated legally are often against illegal immigration.
You watch, though. Regardless of what UCD does in the short-term, COVID is going to have a permanent impact on UCD and the town, itself. It’s going to cause some permanent shifts, long-after COVID has left the scene.
Similar to the permanent rise of telecommuting, thereby shifting the costs of providing an “office” to employees, themselves. (For that matter, it may even change the “type” of housing that is desired. Micro-units and shared space aren’t going to cut it, when folks permanently work or study at home.)
As a result, folks have already been moving away from city centers (e.g., to suburbs), for example. Thereby causing rent to drop significantly in places like San Francisco.
I think it is totally appropriate to bring these two threads together. The way these students are being treated in this country is a disgrace and we must see this current action for what it is: it is forcing universities to re-open and using international students as pawns. And it is clear that this is a tactic: the administration’s own interim DHS head made that clear and it is forcing a false choice.
It is also clear that this administration is using the pandemic to stir up anti-Chinese sentiment. And it is effective. In a recent poll 25% of undergrad international students and 30% of graduate international students reported they had experienced instances of xenophobia, harassment, and discrimination since the outbreak of COVID-19
And, by the way, international students are here explicitly on NON-IMMIGRANT visas. They are not in any sense immigrants. They are visitors.
In March, when SEVP handed down its directive to allow international students to take online classes in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak it stated:
And
This week’s directives is diametrically opposed to this sentiment
Finally the idea of international students as a “gravy train” is just awful. I work with international students every single day and they enrich the university and our community. Do you realize that international students helped deliver food during the Food Bank’s recent emergency distribution? Or that they volunteer in the community among homeless individuals? Do you realize they are enriching the lives of domestic students who cannot afford to travel broadly? Do you understand that they are involved in some of the most important agricultural and engineering work on the planet?
These are people who are making a difference in the world and in our community. Their treatment at the hands of xenophobia and the US government is shameful and should be roundly condemned.
I agree. UCD is essentially operating as a private business in that regard (more than $44,000/year in tuition/fees for those folks). UCD should probably be paying taxes on that.
https://www.ucdavis.edu/admissions/cost/
You’ll probably recall that the entire UC system was “prioritizing” non-resident students over resident ones, for a period of time. There are state audits regarding that. (I can post links again to articles which discuss this, as I’ve done repeatedly in the past.)
Though I just noticed this disclaimer, via the link above:
Wondering what this means, exactly (in regard to International students). Are “we” (collectively) subsidizing the cost of educating China’s students, for example? (That same country which is poised to be the world leader?)
And – that same country which forces technology industries to share their knowledge with the government?
How so? This wasn’t my comment, but it’s widely known that UC Davis uses the super-high tuition from international students as a gravy-train funding source. That isn’t a slam on the students as individuals, but an issue with UC’s funding and recruiting choices.
I seem to have read the comment differently than RO did. Actually not sure which way RD meant it.
It’s odd to me that the only responses were about Asian students, not one person addressed the issue of officials/media specifying a great spread of Covid-19 among the “Latino community” (not me who did that, saying that it was done). My question was the difference between the two, not the reason for one.
Wouldn’t this similarly create Xenophobia against the Latino Community – people giving a wide berth, blaming Latinos, not going to Mexican Restaurants or businesses, being critical of the community? Similarly to how there is Xenophobia against Chinese people because it originated in China and therefore some people felt threatened by making the association between the point of origination and the people?
I don’t get the comment that it has to do with conspiracy theories. Theories like – it originated in Asia? Isn’t that a fact? That isn’t a reason for Xenophobia, but I think most people understand the difference between the Chinese government, the Chinese people, and people of Chinese ancestry.
Back in March, when I researched the reasons that ‘all’ the Asians in town wore masks (it was implied they were ‘hoarding all the masks’), I discovered they did it because most Asian doctors recommended it to control spread (whodu thunk?) and because being courteous to others not to spread disease is a component of many Asian cultures. They were months ahead of the CDC. So if anything regarding Covid-19, I’m xenophobic towards anyone who isn’t Asian – oh, and that one white guy I saw wearing a mask at Safeway back in March. Kudos to you, sir!
The crickets are deafening this evening . . .
The crickets are deafening because I’m the only one who can address it and I literally spent all day working on today’s San Quentin story. The answer is that the press release was put out by “Stop AAPI Hate” and therefore focused on Asian Pacific Issues rather than other issues. So they highlight the issue of Xenophobia against the Asian community. Also, I have not seen the same kind of response against other groups – the anger has been directed against the Chinese because of various misinformation being put out there.
(I wasn’t able to fix the incorrect “quotes” above, in time.)
In any case, the reason I’m posting this is because some seem to ignore reality, driven by a particular political agenda.
Can you clarify your point – honest request.
I thought it was pretty clear.
Racism that doesn’t involve white people is not on the agenda.
To a lesser degree (and as a side note), this is also related to the broader use of the term “people of color”, implying that it’s “white people” vs. “everyone else”. But when you examine it (in any depth at all), you quickly realize that this isn’t true. That term is a relatively-recent political construction.
I’ve tried to point out the source of this article was a release from an Asian Pacific Group.
Second, I think you need to again recognize the difference between individuals acts of discrimination and systemic racism. Racism that doesn’t involve white people is not on the agenda in part because even in 2020, white people control the country for the most part. They have the power.
At what point do repeated racist attacks (by one group against another) become “systemic”?
The article addressed hate crimes against Asians, and cited two examples of “white” people engaging in such acts.
Some have suggested that Asians increasingly “have the power”, as you describe it. However, I’m failing to see how racially-based hate crimes are “justified” by that. Apparently, quite a few Asians also fail to see that.
If you actually want to examine race-based hate crimes (e.g., in the Bay Area), I strongly suspect that the majority of them are not committed by “white” people, e.g., on a per-capita basis.
But again, that’s not going to fit into your agenda.
“The steady pace of incidents of anti-AAPI hate being reported from across the country, unfortunately, tracks with the recent IPSOS poll which found that 30 percent of all Americans witnessed someone blaming Asian Americans for COVID-19 and 60 percent of Asian Americans witnessed this behavior,” she said.
So you think that the majority of the incident described in this quote aren’t by white people?
In all honesty, I’d have to examine that in more detail to provide an answer.
I was referring to race-based hate crimes, of which you provided some examples involving white people against Asian.
The article I posted addresses the race-based attacks that some Asians are experiencing from some in the African-American community (which predates Covid, as well). I would also ask (someone with your point of view) at what point do such attacks become “systemic”?
Interestingly enough, I recently watched a PBS program regarding Covid, and the threat that the Chinese authorities made against one of their own doctors – early in the epidemic.
What they are referring to incidents specifically dealing with COVID and Chinese/ Asians being blamed for it. I find it difficult to believe that the vast majority of those aren’t coming from white people. Friends of mine adopted a Chinese girl who is slightly older than my daughter, they live in Bakersfield, and the abuse was so bad they quit their church over it.
That is unfortunate. What types of comments or attacks occurred in a church? What kind of a church is that?
In any case, it seems that racially-based attacks are different, in different geographic areas. (And, folks with your particular point of view downplay some types of attacks, depending upon the “participants”.) Ultimately, that damages credibility.
I didn’t ask. It was bad enough that their daughter was suffering anxiety and they left their church. Some of evangelical church knowing them. The father is going to vote for a Democrat for the first time in his life in November.
Republicans are necessarily racists?
Well, the guy at the top isn’t helping matters, at least. I’ve heard that he “might” even lose California, if your friend votes Democratic. 😉
And Alan, I find your position interesting, given your excoriation of someone doing the mask, hand sanitizer, distancing things, but outrageously travelled to CO to visit family in May…
Both positions, excluding foreign students, and ‘shaming’ for interstate travel ARE WRONG!
Yet, some can hold diametrically different opinions/beliefs at the same time. I try not to… not always successful, I admit… could give an example, but it would be a potentially major “drift”…
I don’t understand what you are saying here . . . what does one have to do with the other, and with a skin disease?
And don’t take the interstate travel thing so personally. I hadn’t heard of anyone traveling any distance during that time when most weren’t leaving their homes (I have a neighbor who has never left their home since March), and I couldn’t believe anyone was taking a leisure trip when most were locked down and not crossing county lines (sans swimming across Putah Creek).
I don’t see the connection between these here either.
I live to hold diametrically different opinions/beliefs at the same time. I can’t imagine how anyone could believe only a single truth about most anything – it’s not the nature of the universe. Yet most people seem to.
Unfortunately this isn’t true for a significant portion of the population. Attacks on German Americans during WWI and internment of Japanese Americans during WWII are just two of the most blatant, widespread examples. It doesn’t take too many people who think this way to make life very unpleasant for people of these ethnicities. Being “most” doesn’t help much–it really has to be “almost all”…
There is a simple explanation for the the policy change and Taylor Swift nailed it when she sang:
Haters gonna hate hate hate hate.
Maybe the Vanguard can do an article on who or what Taylor Swift is endorsing.
I’m not real familiar with Taylor Swift’s work, but I thought that much of her songs involved “hatred” of ex-boyfriends. (Perhaps due to a Family Guy episode.) 😉
This move by Trump and his [edited] Stephen Miller puts the lie to all those who have claimed they aren’t against immigration only against illegal immigration.
These students are here legally with valid visas but Trump wants to use their expulsion as leverage as he does everything he can to be the Typhoid Mary of Corona virus.
As I’ve said many times, on the issue of why latinos in California won’t vote for Republicans, the issues don’t matter when you want to deport grandma. Many of the regulars here have tried to deny the reality that but this is a perfect example of why they get no traction on the argument.
40-50 years ago, majority of CA latinos were Republican… “family values” were important… then the Republicans went after their ‘familia”… most latinx folk I knew, still had at least extended family in Mexico or So. America.
Latinx did not abandon the Republican Party… the opposite…
Most Latinx were Catholic… same time frame, most Catholics were Republican… independent of race…
I don’t know what an “edited” Stephen Miller is (not even sure who he is), but really – regarding “all those“? That seems like quite a jump to make.
And by the way, who supports unlimited legal immigration? Why even have a border, then? (Seems like it would save a lot of energy and money to just eliminate it, if that’s the goal.)
Perhaps you should start by googling who Stephen Miller is and then comment.
That is not pertinent to the more outrageous part of Ron G’s comment. If it was, I would have Googled it.
Here is a comprehensive article in the New Yorker on Stephen Miller and Trump’s immigration policy: link
Yes Ron, Glick’s point about “all those” is total bogus.
David:
Thanks, but again – this has zero to do with the portion of Ron G.’s comment that I was responding to. I don’t need to read an article, to see that (as that portion of the comment has nothing to do with Stephen Miller or Trump – for that matter).
I decided to skim through the article that David provided. This comment stood out, as I think it’s too simplistic regarding the reason that Trump won:
Although that’s part of the reason, there are others. (No, I’m not a supporter.)
My goal was to inform you about Stephen Miller, not address Ron Glick’s point.
It would certainly be incredible if Trump wins again. Every night, the mainstream national news bashes him (deservedly so, in my opinion). And, constantly harps on polls, showing him losing to Biden.
As a side note – Trump was one of David Letterman’s more interesting and entertaining guests, in past years. He was actually kind of likable and amusing, on there. Seemed like they had a certain amount of rapport, at that time.
Yeah, I kind of remember Stephen Miller now. But again, not the part of Ron G’s comment that I was responding to.
Is the bolded text actually true? If so, that’s the first I’ve seen of it.
Perhaps answered your own question.
Or more likely, “political” considerations. Somewhat similar to downplaying racist acts that are committed by those other than “white” people.
The Vanguard is a place to come to see an “agenda”, not a complete or objective analysis.
Amen to that.
I was criticizing the V. This was something said by County officials. When I first heard it I thought the S would hit the fan. It didn’t.
*** I meant I was NOT criticizing the V.
As part of a more “serious” answer, perhaps another difference is that the virus originated in China. And, even if it is then experienced by some groups more than others, the initial “stigma/label” doesn’t change.
At this point, your “assumption” is the best – assume everyone has it.
Personally, I can’t imagine “blaming” a group of people for something like this, nor have I encountered anyone who does. And once it starts, even totally effective governments are going to be challenged in containing it. (Some will nevertheless attempt to do so, for various political reasons.)
But, this isn’t even a “close second-place”, to the stigma that was once associated with AIDS. Even though that was far less contagious. (Given that there’s always some unknowns, especially at first.)
For years I’ve been hearing this line about its not legal immigrants its illegal immigrants that are the problem. Students on Visa’s are legal visa holding immigrants but I hear nothing from those that have made the legal versus illegal arguments in support of these students. Its not only students on visas it also asylum seekers. These are not illegal immigrants either but Trump and Miller have essentially shut this down as well.
The silence on this is deafening. Its like that Niemoller poem:
First they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I wasn’t a communist…
The “all those” that seems to bother some language sensitive writers, who would probably be quick to label me a snowflake if I got all worked up over the generalize use of “all those” in some other context, refers to people who have made that legal versus illegal argument, but, remain silent when the Trump administration exceeds the bounds of that differential.
(The problem being “too many Millers” referenced on this page.) Well, that – plus I’m not sure what the best terminology is, these days.
Miller?
Some considerations on the latino versus Asian thing.
First you have Trump out there talking smack about Kung Flu and China virus and much of his base take his cues seriously. The fish does rot from the head down.
As for latinos having a high infection rate there are a couple of points that might contribute to this. In Yolo County many of the people who do the labor that makes this county run are latinos who can least afford to not go to work. This raises the exposure risk.
Second I have heard complaints about Yolo County officials communicating with the latino community about safety precautions.
I’m gonna take a deep breath and try again to find words that are acceptable:
My question, quite simply, is about why xenophobia in regard to Covid-19 is limited to Chinese and/or Asians. I’m not talking about national politics, or Trump. I’m talking about the associating of a racial group to something that people fear, and that then creating xenophobia that sometimes manifests itself as violence towards that group.
I’m thinking back to 9/11, when the day after the towers fell a man was attacked in West Sacramento for being a ‘Muslim’. It turned out he was a Sikh. But the racial fear/hatred associated with something traumatic caused xenophobia and violence in his attacker.
So much has come up around associating Asians with the Coronavirus and the harm that has done to Asian people. And I wondered why that didn’t apply with this group in this area. Here are the relevant excerpts from the Enterprise Article:
Recent family gatherings in Woodland and Winters were cited by several county officials . . . recent cases in Yolo County . . . have been overwhelmingly concentrated in the Latino community in Woodland and Winters . . . social gatherings such as family reunions, home visits, quinceneras and other social events which members of our community may participate in . . . in the data collected between June 2 and 16, in that 14-day period, 52 of 62 confirmed cases are Latinos . . . We’re not blaming the victim . . . we need to acknowledge that these numbers demonstrate that we need more protection, more concern and more care for the Hispanic population.
When I read these comments by Yolo County officials, I was rather shocked, and was sure this was going to result in a backlash. There has been so much talk about the xenophobia around Coronavirus and Chinese people, as well as all the information that has not been released about names and locations of those with the virus over privacy. So when I read this, I was pretty sure this was going to become a issue.
I’m not saying it should be . . . I’m sincerely trying to understand the difference. This is also an association between the virus and an ethnic group. Since people with tendencies towards violence created by xenophobia which is based on fear, could be assumed to react to this information, I would assume releasing this information would also be seen as information that may trigger such people to possibly commit violence towards a particular group.
This isn’t a trick question; I’m trying to understand the difference and I don’t see any.