It was the first day of March Break when I was boarding the four-o’clock train home. Bags in hand, I climbed the steps of the GO train and found a seat on the second floor. As the ride began, I started to feel highly uncomfortable. This was because a blonde woman, sitting across from me, was holding her phone in a peculiar position and glaring at me. Thirty minutes into my peaceful ride, I was momentarily blinded by a flash of light. I looked up to see the lady quickly bring her phone down in embarrassment. Evidently, I had become a tourist attraction in the span of half an hour.

That was one of many encounters with racism I had gone through at the young age of 14.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has had to endure such situations, and unfortunately, I won’t be the last. This virus has revealed things that have been previously swept under the rug. Being Asian during COVID-19 has revealed the changes necessary for moving forward. It has shed light on hidden racist issues and the present experience for Asians. Collectively, we must be more inclusive in the future to progress as an international community.

COVID-19 has irradiated racist issues that have been hidden under the surface for too long. As stated in Robin DiAngelo’s New York Times Bestselling ‘White Fragility’, the average white North American has never experienced discrimination (DiAngelo 8). Many are excited to read work by ethnic authors, overjoyed to learn about Mulan, but can’t discuss racism itself. It doesn’t help that a plethora of “diverse” things tend to merely brush on racialization. Really, you can simply live life without having to even speak about discrimination – that is, when you’re white (DiAngelo 8). After all, the Caucasian community isn’t on the receiving end of society’s harmful beliefs.

Beliefs are either created along the pathway of life, or drilled into your subconscious from the moment you’re born; the belief that race is connected to disease is an example of the latter. The current pandemic has pushed forward distressing stereotypes of Asians, including being “pet-eaters”. Prince A. Morrow noted in 1898 that, “China has been the breeding-place and nursery of pestilential diseases…from time immemorial” (Gee). This is an early example of the association between disease and race, stemming from the belief that minorities are biologically inferior. This popularized eugenics, helped to establish anti-miscegenation laws, restricted immigration, and even justified slavery - all ideas that stunted social and economic growth. Additionally, from a health standpoint, discrimination can result in infected individuals being mistreated, and skew our understanding of the disease by affecting the fatality rate (Gee). Beliefs may seem like something small and miniscule, but in reality, they have a powerful ripple effect.

The intricacy of beliefs makes racism a social construct, and all of us are guilty of playing along, even more so with the pandemic (Coates). During lockdown, I became more conscious of how my ‘yellowness’ was perceived in comparison to white complexion – the depiction of the human ideal. I became increasingly uncomfortable with my friends’ jokes on “the Chinese virus”, and when I confronted them, they always shut me down. There’s no denying that racism is a framework, a mere idea that society has created. This concept arose from prejudice, which gave way to discrimination and caused uneasiness from being with ‘other’ people. This created a larger divide, which is ever present during COVID-19. 

The current experience for Asians living in North America is worse than it’s ever been in our lifetimes. There has been a sharp increase of hate against the Asian community since the onset of the pandemic; over 600 and counting incidents targeting Asians in Canada have been reported since March (CBC News). Justin Kong, the executive director of the Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter, stated, “Those attacks stemmed from historical anti-Asian racism, but also because of the ways in which COVID-19 has been racialized.” This shouldn’t be news to anyone – “Go back to China” and “yellow” are the phrases I remember the most from the Asian news articles I read every morning in bed over quarantine. We need policies in place to tackle racism – we need a good influence (Xu).

Despite this, influencers are playing right into the popularized discrimination and prejudice during these trying times (Elliott). Canadian singer Bryan Adams’ true colours were revealed after he gave a profanity-ridden tirade on Instagram in which he blamed “bat-eating” and “virus-making” people for the coronavirus. He was criticized heavily for his remarks, and was called out by many Asian celebrities, including Simu Liu of ‘Kim’s Convenience’. Moreover, Timothy Caulfield, a University of Alberta health research professor, blasted Adams for being “stigmatizing, hate-baiting” and “scientifically wonky” on Twitter. His stans genuinely didn’t understand why what he said was wrong, and thought he was “just telling it like it is.” This goes to show how influencers with oppressive views can harm progression, as their stans will always support them no matter what (Elliott).

Moving forward, we must do better in being more inclusive to progress. We must educate ourselves and others to stop the bias (Gee). Becoming knowledgeable on the issues that our Asian and other minority friends face can prevent bigotry and help society grow on an equal playing field for all. As xenophobic information spreads along with COVID-19, it is up to us to understand that racism is intrinsically wrong, and that hate crimes only lead to negativity, with no benefits. However, just being aware isn’t enough. We can’t create change without action.

So, what can we do?

Well, for starters, don’t connect disease to a social group. Place pressure on our policy makers to develop long overdue anti-racist countermeasures to counter racist ideologies. We must completely embody the fact that various racial groups are not inherently different - we are all composed of the same flesh and bones, and we all deserve to be equal. We need stronger fact checking in place to stop the spread of misinformation and prejudiced statements that are at the root of the spread of discrimination. Most importantly, we need more research on racism (Gee). In order to move forward as the international community we are, we must learn more about the problem to develop necessary solutions. With so many harmful stereotypes being based in perspective, it is crucial to have reliable and factual statements circulating on the internet in juxtaposition to the current dubious suspicions and falsities.

The racist framework is at play now, but we can dismantle it. If we all educate and take real action, you and I can stop racism in its tracks. We need to question our system and change to structure a better future for everyone. Above all, we must understand racism and resist it. This is the only way to deconstruct the racist framework that has been instilled into our minds for centuries.

Together, we must do better to ensure that no one has to be afraid of their own skin ever again.

Works Cited:

CBC News. “Toronto Launches New Campaign in Response to Anti-Asian Racism Spurred by COVID-19 | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 13 Oct. 2020, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-anti-asian-racism-campaign-1.5757760. 

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. What We Mean When We Say 'Race Is a Social Construct'. 15 May 2013, www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/what-we-mean-when-we-say-race-is-a-social-construct/275872/. 

DiAngelo, Robin. White Fragility. Beacon Press, 26 June 2018.

Elliott, Josh K. "Bryan Adams apologizes for racist 'bat-eating' coronavirus rant." Global
News, 12 May 2020, globalnews.ca/news/6932481/bryan-adams-coronavirus-instagram-post/. Accessed 4 Nov. 2020.

Gee, Gilbert C., Marguerite J. Ro, and Anne W. Rimoin. "Seven Reasons to Care about Racism
and COVID-19 and Seven Things to do to Stop it." American Journal of Public Health, vol. 110, no. 7, 2020, pp. 954-955. eLibrary, explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2417781467?accountid=13522, doi:dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305712.

Xu, Xiao. "Data shows an increase in anti-Asian hate incidents in Canada since onset of
pandemic." The Globe and Mail, 13 Sep. 2020, theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-data-shows-an-increase-in-anti-asian-hate-incidents-in-canada-since/. Accessed 3 Nov. 2020.