Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, is part of a coalition that has started tracking attacks against Asian Americans related to the coronavirus epidemic. They launched their tracker on Thursday and within 24 hours had more than 40 reports.
“I talked to a woman several days ago who was accused of bringing the coronavirus to this country and was spat on by a stranger on the street,” in San Francisco, Choi said.
Incidents like that, she said, are part of a troubling trend of racism, xenophobia and discrimination directed at Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the Bay Area and nationwide over COVID-19. The virus, which does not have any connection to race or ethnicity, was first identified in China before quickly becoming a global pandemic that has infected tens of thousands of people in Europe, the Middle East and North America.
Similar attacks have been documented online, including a video shot early this week at a Daly City Target where, according to the individual who filmed it, a white male confronted an Asian American man who coughed while shopping. According to Choi, advocates found 300 news articles from throughout the country reporting attacks against Asian Americans during a roughly two-week period ending March 7.
To track and better respond to such incidents, which include microaggressions and online attacks, San Francisco-based Chinese for Affirmative Action worked with Asian American Planning and Policy Council, known as A3PCON, and the San Francisco State University Asian American Studies Department to create a website where individuals can document incidents of hate.
The group has multiple goals, said Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of Los Angeles-based A3PCON. They include analyzing the data for larger trends, an educational campaign to dispel racist myths about COVID-19, and, in some cases, helping victims seek restitution.
“I’m also working with a group of attorneys who might be able to provide pro bono legal assistance to individuals if they, for example, experience workplace discrimination or housing discrimination,” Kulkarni said.
Kulkani and Choi are also reaching out to elected officials, including California lawmakers. In announcing new measures to combat the spread of coronavirus this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced the increase in racist attacks.
“I just want folks to know, we’re better than that. We’re watching that,” Newsom said. “We’re going to begin to enforce that more aggressively.”
That struck a different tone than President Donald Trump, who has referred to coronavirus as “Chinese virus,” a term that has been widely denounced by advocacy groups and Asian American organizations for fomenting racism.
“COVID-19 is a public health issue, not a racial one. Calling it a ‘Chinese virus’ only encourages hate crimes and incidents against Asian Americans at a time when communities should be working together to get through this crisis,” Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, said in a statement.
Choi also criticized the president for what she said was rhetoric that fans xenophobic flames and is adding to existing stress and anxiety from the virus.
“We don’t need this added layer of being scapegoated and being made to feel that we are somehow to blame for this deadly infectious disease,” she said.
