Leah:

Hi, I’m Leah Oliver.

Katie:

And my name is Katie priest.

Leah :

And we’re gonna be talking about, like, the implications and injustices of the pandemic, and the effects that it has had on minorities, especially Asian Americans, we haven’t really seen something like this before, at least, like, you know, like in this day and age, how like, we have different like preparations for it, and ways we can handle it. The this also kind of leads into like the healthcare system, and the injustices just within that, because of the pandemic. This year, and 2020 has shown that, like, more people of color, like have higher death rates than white people, because of COVID. It seems to like be because people of color are often faced with like, you know, prejudice and like health care professionals are being like skeptical of their symptoms and their illness. So they aren’t entirely on board with like treating them there. This also has like effects of access to health care and the vaccine. Fortunately, for the US, we were able to, and a lot of people have been vaccinated, but some people don’t want to get the vaccine, which kind of leads me into, like education and how this has played a big factor. Because at the beginning of the pandemic, you know, people wanted to know what was happening. So, like new sources, the government was trying to get out as much information as possible, whether it later went back and being like, oh, maybe that’s not the best idea, because like, they didn’t know what it was, they didn’t know, you know how to handle it. But they wanted to, like, give the public some sort of like, comfort in like, saying they knew what was going on. Luckily, I mean, as you know, the longer this has been going on, there’s definitely a more stable consensus of like, what to do and how to treat it and whatnot. But yeah, I think that really put like, had a toll on the public. When it was very, like, unknown, it’s kind of scary. And since because, you know, the symptoms were constantly changing, and like how to treat it, and like you should wear a mask, or you shouldn’t wear a mask and blah, blah, blah, we’re changing all the time, like the education was too. And I think this issue is even, like, amplified further by politics. Because, like, certain, you know, sides take a different standpoint. So I think this has kind of created a divide, and put like, kind of pit people against each other and like, make people declare aside, like regarding the pandemic.

Katie:

Yeah, I think we’ve all seen the increase in viruses and any type of news stories, and especially because it was the same time as, like a change in presidency. And there were just a bunch of different news sources that you couldn’t really find one that you just had valid information, you either had to choose to listen to one side of the news or the other side of the news. And he was talking about like misinformation, like everybody was getting different sources. And because they were choosing the news source that aligned with their political beliefs, and just wasn’t a lot of equality in there. Nobody was on the same page of anything. But yeah, that just like brought a bigger division, because people would say, Well, I heard this. So since it was on the news, obviously, it’s right. But then the other person from the other other political party would say, Well, I heard this from my new system. So it has to be right because it’s from the news. So just like a greater division into political parties, which we all know, cause a lot of tension in 2020. And yeah, just the pandemic in having, like our president, have his specific perspective of the pandemic. And multiple times he referred to it as a Chinese virus. And that just wasn’t backed up by information that was valid. We have a lot of documentation of when he said Chinese virus in front of hundreds of 1000s of people, whether it was in person or just on the news, but because of this term that he created, and like put into people’s minds, Asian hate crimes actually increased. And we were all you know, home and isolated in things. So hate crimes, like as a whole only increased 2% As we found on an article from CBS, but he comes against the Asian American group of people, and also the Pacific Island Islander population actually rose by 146%. Because our president at the time referred to this virus as the Chinese virus and like owed a lot of the things that have happened to the Chinese people and like just said that it was all their fault and just created a lot of discrimination and hatred toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. And yeah, like our president did not create this discrimination. It’s been around for forever. But I think he just like really brought it to the surface level. And in the CBS article that we’ve been referring to these Asian Americans like know that they’re deemed as the other they, they call themselves perpetual foreigners like they can just never get into America and make it feel like home and that there’s the other and sometimes it’s like this specific one person but most times it’s like a group of people and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders just feel like they’re perpetually the other that there’s no way to get out of it, because they’re just this minority group that now after the pandemic, and after the things that Trump has said, has a stamp on their community and their families, that the pandemic was all their fault. And that’s just not true. But unfortunately, we had somebody who had a lot of eyes on them to claim something like that. And because it was on the news, a lot of people believed it. And that’s just like, what Leah was talking about, of like, education, and people just believing what they’re hearing and everything was happening so fast, or whatever news that they heard, they would just believe, because everybody was in a time of panic. And whenever you hear something from somebody that used to trust, you just believe it. And yes, it’s really sad. And actually one of my, my close cousin, she lives in New York City, and she, her dad’s from, he grew up in Malaysia. So she is an Asian American, and she was on the subway last summer. And a homeless man clearly just like heard some of the words that Trump said about the Chinese virus and actually, like, cornered her in the subway and like said that everything is all her fault and that she’s the reason why we’re all in isolation. And the reason why the whole world shut down because of the pandemic. And yeah, she was just really hurt by that because she had never ever met this man. She obviously didn’t have anything to do with pandemic, but just because one person said it, then people believe it. And she was really hurt by it really shaken up. And actually, in the CBS article, one in three Asian Americans are like, so anxious to leave the house because of situations like that. And it’s just, it’s just not fair. It’s It’s just crazy that these two words the Chinese virus that Trump just said multiple times, really changed how people thought, and that’s just misinformation spread, you know, and it just, it just happened so fast, and there’s just nothing that we can do about it. But asian hate crimes have been up 146% Because of those two simple words. I just like really don’t realize the power that words have in the power that news media has.

Leah:

Yeah, that story is really sad. But I think that like, you know, even like relating back to, like, just like education and misinformation, and Trump calling it like, the Chinese virus, like, it isn’t like, none of these articles are saying specifically that like hate crimes against like Chinese people, have risen. And it’s just like, Asian, like hate crime, you know what I mean? Like, you’re not even saying that Chinese people are to blame for the virus because the pandemic was so like, horrible in the US. There’s a lot of things that we could be doing differently. But we aren’t so I don’t really think it’s fair to blame anyone. But you know, like you said, your cousin’s cousin is from Malaysia. People aren’t even like, you know, like, following or educating themselves on like, what Trump is actually saying, they’re just going with what he’s saying and running with it. Because, like, you don’t I’m saying like, it does make sense. Like they’re attacking, they’re trying to put blame on someone that like, where they’re like, blame isn’t due so like, it just doesn’t make sense.

Katie:

Yeah, it’s just like a point of uneducation. And people just don’t, like do their research. And but honestly, like, since things are just so biased, it’s hard to find places to find correct information. And like, I mean, there is a certain extent of you should be educated enough to know that just because somebody is Asian doesn’t mean that they’re responsible for the pandemic, but like, that’s like the very basic level, you really hope that people are educated. But I mean, clearly they aren’t. But it’s actually really hard to do that right now. Because everything is so biased that you don’t even know what what scientists saying and what like, is that the actual facts? Because there’s no new source that just has facts and no opinions? We’ve thrown out?

Leah:

Yeah, I know, it’s honestly a really unfortunate time because everyone obviously wants to, like be right about this. And they want to think that their information is the correct information. So they’re gonna, like, share it with other people. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. So it’s, like, very unfortunate that like politics were such a large play in this like pandemic because I think that if our like, you know, leaders and people had all eyes on them and had the power to like, educate people, like more broadly, and they hadn’t done it for their own, like their own agenda. It could have been like, way different.

Katie:

Yeah, but I just feel like we all see the state that our nation is in and we all see that most people are trying to make it a safe place for all people of all races. And I do believe that like, we are taking some strides, but I do think that the time of the pandemic in 2020, just like really set us back and brought rise of hate crimes against minorities and really just brought to surface, the systemic injustices in our nation. We’ve been, yeah, I think that this past year, just like made us realize the state that our nation’s in is truly something that like, shouldn’t be pushed under the rug, because we definitely some people, most people are making strides to become, make this nation a safe place for all people of all races. But the pandemic, just like in the time of the pandemic, just really brought to rise. And like brought to the surface the hate crimes and how unequal Our nation is and how imperfect we are, and how much space there is for us to grow. But yeah, I think that this conversation was important because the first step is challenging people and educating each other. And sharing our experiences and sharing like the injustices that our family, our friends, our neighbors are experiencing, and just learning the small ways that we can support each other, educate each other and strive for better for each other. And I think that just bringing this conversation is our efforts to bring equality. And I think just people listening to this, we can just encourage them to share what we’ve learned throughout this class. I think that we’ve all learned a lot and share it with people that we’re surrounded by with our friends, especially our family members, I think that we can obtain a lot of perspectives and opinions from our family members. So just sharing that with the people that we love. And that’s just the first step of change.

References:

Kim, Young. “The Painful History of Anti-Asian Hate Crimes in America.” Edited by Carol Ross, CBS News, CBS Interactive, 1 Aug. 2021, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-painful-history-of-anti-asian-hate-crimes-in-america/.

Zornosa, Laura. “A Playwright Has a Message: Anti-Asian Hate Isn’t New.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Oct. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/theater/covid-crime-stop-asian-hate.html.