Public Health Policy Reviews 7:
Anti-Asian Racism and the Legacy of Colonialism after COVID-19, Part 1.
A woman protesting at a “Stop anti-Asian hate crime” rally on the East Side of Manhattan in August 2021. Photo: Dean Moses for AMNY Newsletter.
The widespread anti-Israel protests that have taken over college campuses across America over the past week are forcing people to begin debating the history and cultural context of Colonialism.
At this point, readers should ask, “Why does an esoteric social science concept like colonialism dominate the introductory paragraph of an article about public health policy?”
We must analyze Hamas’ unprecedented and horrific Oct. 7th terrorist attacks on Israeli residential areas last year from the perspective of the devastation that their terrorism and Israel’s retaliatory military violence are imposing upon civilian safety and public health in the Middle East.
Our reference point will feature the explosion of xenophobia and racist violence against Chinese and other East Asian American citizens and migrants in 2020 after Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric about China during the coronavirus pandemic.
The spiral of the former president’s language from Chinese xenophobia down the drain into racist public violence against all people of East-Asian descent is our case study alongside the antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias dominating the current public discourse.
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A Mind Virus
Former US President Donald Trump addressed the daily coronavirus response at a White House briefing in 2020—photo image courtesy of Reuters.
On March 13th, 2020, the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic in America forced President Donald Trump to declare a national emergency.
Two days later – federal, state, and local officials across the country began to implement shutdowns of government operations to prevent the spread of COVID-19. After the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration took the following actions:
Limited travel from China.
Severely limited or outright canceled many Chinese visas for work and education.
The Trump administration forced the sale of the Chinese social media company TikTok’s American branch to a US company for national security concerns.
President Trump—angry at the prospects of a faltering national economy during an election year—began using the phrase “Chinese virus” on Twitter on March 18th, 2020, to attempt to shift blame for the spread of the coronavirus to China.
Mr. Trump expertly exploited the panic created by the COVID-19 public health emergency and the financial uncertainty caused by bureaucratic officials and private business leaders ceasing government operations and commerce at every level of society.
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Anti-Asian Xenophobia, Racism, and Violence
Michael Lofthouse. Image courtesy: LinkedIn.
The COVID-19 pandemic magnified the cultural disorder, racial conflict, and economic strife present in modern American society.
Unfortunately, 2020 was also an American Presidential election year. Donald Trump was desperate to win reelection to earn a second term in the White House. So, he decided to use racism to mislead the public attention away from his abysmal stewardship of the public health crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic.
As COVID-19 began to spread across the US in 2020, the political strategy and language of Donald Trump exacted dire consequences on Asian American communities. Social media was instrumental in making public displays of racism and physical attacks against East Asians go “viral.”
Former IT company CEO Michael Lofthouse verbally attacked an Asian family at an upscale restaurant in Carmel Valley, California, in July 2020. In a video that subsequently went “viral,” Mr. Lofthouse gestured at the family, saying, “Trump’s going to f–k you!”
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A waitress at the restaurant confronted Lofthouse and said, “You do not talk to a guest like that. You need to leave now.”
Lofthouse rose and put on his coat but continued criticizing the family. Before he left the restaurant, Lofthouse said, “You f_ers need to leave.” He also shouted out, “You f_ing Asian piece of s-t.”
The incident involving Mr. Lofthouse was just the beginning of a wave of public videos and news reports featuring a frightening escalation in violence against East Asians.
On July 14th, 2020, An 89-year-old woman was assaulted and set on fire by two unknown men in New York City. Authorities said one assailant slapped her face while the other lit her shirt on fire with a lighter.
The woman prevented herself from suffering severe burn injuries by raising her hair and rubbing her back on a nearby wall to put out the flames.
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Young’s Asian Massage Parlor (second from right), where the 2021 Georgia massacre began. Image courtesy: Wikipedia Commons.
The frightening violence against East Asians continued through 2020 and into 2021.
Unfortunately, the spotlight shined on hate against East Asians by the media only seemed to fuel the public violence. An Atlanta, Georgia, shooting spree on March 16th, 2021 - resulted in the massacre of eight (8) people.
The shooter, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, murdered Yong Ae Yue, 63; Daoyou Feng, 44; Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Delaina Yaun, 33; Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51, and Paul Michels, 54 – at three spas across the Atlanta area.
Robert Long blamed his horrific actions on a sexual addiction that defied his evangelical Christian beliefs. Still, the fact that seven (7) of his victims were of East Asian descent sparked calls for a hate crime designation against Robert Long.
Prosecutors charged Mr. Long with nineteen crimes in Fulton County and twenty-three in Cherokee County. He pled guilty to the Cherokee County charges and received life in prison without parole.
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A Modern Day “Yellow Peril”
An 1886 advertisement for “Magic Washer” detergent: “The Chinese Must Go,” referring to the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
Even if former US President Donald Trump did not understand how his use of racism in an ill-fated attempt to cling to power directly led to public acts of violence against East Asians, he is responsible for the consequences of his public rhetoric.
Like African Americans in the US, Asian Americans sacrificed a lot to be here, making significant contributions to the struggle for civil rights and liberties in this country. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 began the Asian battle for civil rights in America.
The Chinese Exclusion Act has the dubious distinction of being the nation’s first immigration law. President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act on May 6th, 1882. It prohibited the immigration of all Chinese laborers into the country until 1943.
However, the Chinese Exclusion Act led to widespread discrimination and violent attacks against people of Chinese descent in 19th-century America.
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Regrettably, the racist abuse and violent attacks did not subside in 2021 after Donald Trump left the White House.