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As the coronavirus epidemic endures and case numbers climb higher each day, New Yorkers have witnessed scenes of frantic doctors in hospitals, deserted streets and a city on lockdown. But many are living through yet another layer of distress: prejudice against Asian Americans.
Stories of attacks nationwide have circulated on social media, and several incidents have been reported in New York City. In the Bronx last week, a woman was hit on the head with an umbrella as one of her alleged teen attackers yelled, “You caused coronavirus, b—!” The New York Post reported. An FBI analysis has warned about a likely surge of hate crimes against Asian Americans, according to a report from ABC News.
Asian-American community leaders in New York City shared stories with MarketWatch of minority-owned businesses losing customers as early as January, New Yorkers being told to “go back to their country,” anxiety about walking alone on deserted streets, and potential barriers people may have reporting incidents of bias.
The fear that street harassment could turn more violent as the pandemic continues is pervasive, which many Asian-American community leaders say is stoked by dangerous rhetoric at the highest levels of government.
“This has been going on for months now, where people have made a strong connection between the Asian-American community and COVID-19,” said New York state Sen. John Liu, a Democrat whose district includes the Queens neighborhoods of Whitestone, College Point, and parts of Flushing. “We are grappling with the fight against COVID-19, and at the same time, we face a second front, which is attacks on the basis of our race and appearance. It is a really untenable situation to be in.”
Alice Wong is the chief of staff at the Chinese-American Planning Council, a social services organization based in New York. Born and raised in Manhattan’s Chinatown, Wong has been working with the Asian Pacific Islander community for more than 10 years, and said she has never seen anxiety within the community as high as it is now.
“I’m afraid that someone’s going to get hurt. Racist remarks, being spit on, all of that is terrible and traumatic, but I’m scared about escalating violence,” she said.
As of March 27, the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force had investigated 10 incidents in which the victims were identified as “Asian” and targeted because of discrimination based on the coronavirus pandemic, police said in a statement to MarketWatch. Investigators say they have apprehended “wanted subjects” in six of these cases.
Hardship and fear
While New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a “PAUSE” order on March 20, which directed all non-essential businesses to close, days earlier, restaurants had already been told by Mayor Bill de Blasio to only serve delivery and take-out food. All non-essential personnel have been encouraged to stay quarantined in their homes.
By the time these orders were given, however, many businesses in Asian-American majority neighborhoods — Manhattan’s Chinatown and Flushing, Queens — had already suffered months of financial hardship because of COVID-19, and unfounded xenophobic fears that eating at Chinese restaurants, for instance, would lead to contracting the virus. Community leaders worry those businesses will be hit hardest.
“They were losing business sooner than the others,” said Mae Lee, executive director of the Chinese Progressive Association. “Most of them are fairly small and they’re pretty vulnerable.”
In February, while there were only a handful of recorded COVID-19 cases in the U.S., New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio encouraged people to visit Asian-American-owned businesses, conspicuously eating a meal at the Royal Queen restaurant in Flushing. At the time, the Flushing Chinese Business Association estimated that business was down by 40%, according to a statement from the mayor’s office
“This is not just about Asian-Americans. I think it’s everybody devastated right now,” said Jo-Ann Yoo, executive director of the Asian American Federation. “But the Asian-American community, like I said, has had too much lead time.”
Another worry among community leaders in New York City is that under quarantine, and with fewer people on the street and public transportation, Asian Americans will not be able to look to bystanders for help if they are accosted.
“It does become one of those things that keeps me up at night,” said Yoo, who added that, in turn, some people in the Asian-American community might hesitate to come forward if they are attacked. “There are people in our community who don’t speak the language, who don’t have the access that I have, and who are afraid for many, many reasons to talk to the police, talk to law enforcement to complain about what is happening,” she added.
Community leaders across the board expressed disappointment and anger that President Donald Trump has referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus” in televised appearances, and fear that his intentional wording, against the advice of the World Health Organization, will lead to increased racial prejudice.
“I would say I feel absolutely betrayed and downright offended by the so-called leader of this country,” said Liu, who worries about an increase in physical violence against Asian Americans because of the president’s characterization.
President Trump has defended his use of the term “Chinese virus,” denied it is prejudiced, and said he used it in part because parts of Chinese media falsely claimed American soldiers spread the disease.
“It’s not racist at all, no, not at all. It comes from China, that’s why. I want to be accurate,” Trump said, according to CNN reporting. The president later said in an interview with Fox News that he would stop using the term, but did not regret his actions, Bloomberg reported.
The White House declined MarketWatch’s request for comment.
“It’s a total setup and it’s a racial set up,” said Yoo, of Trump’s use of the phrase. “It’s like he’s giving a thumbs-up to people who listen to him, people who are using it to commit acts of violence against Asian-Americans. I think it’s really scary.”
Many community leaders were quick to point out that flare-ups of anti-Asian American prejudice are nothing new in the U.S., and that the Chinese-American community, in particular, has historically been scapegoated, blamed for disease and various other societal ills. The Chinese Exclusion Act, passed in 1882, for example, prohibited Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S., and the Immigration Act of 1917 barred immigration from the “Asiatic” zone.
“History seems to be repeating itself,” Lee said.
Spreading awareness and combating bias
New York City Asian American organizations are combating COVID-19 prejudice in different ways, from advocating for government support of small businesses that have been affected, to talking with people about how to deal with potentially dangerous interactions on the street.
Last week, New York state Attorney General Letitia James launched a hotline for people to report discrimination related to COVID-19. The New York City Commission on Human Rights, which handles civil bias and discrimination incidents, encourages anyone who has been targeted to call 311.
Vanessa Leung is the co-executive director of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families. She said that organizations her group works with in the community, particularly youth service organizations, are having conversations with young people about how to avoid danger when they have to go outside for groceries or other necessities.
“Part of the safety planning that some of the groups are doing with their young people has been helping them understand the need to kind of walk away,” Leung said.
Her organization is circulating a petition calling for solidarity with those who have been “subjected to rampant discrimination and hate surrounding the novel 2019 coronavirus.”
“This is a public health issue. It’s not a racial, it’s not an ethnic, it’s not an immigrant issue,” Wong said. “And we need to work together to contain the spread of COVID-19.”
