The history of infectious diseases has shown that when deadly diseases are named after nations and people, it leads to the stigmatization of those communities and the livelihoods of people belonging to those groups. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States (US), several businesses and workers have been severely hit due to lockdown measures; however, research indicates that Asian-owned businesses and workers may have been more adversely impacted. Against this backdrop, one must question whether this is can be partly attributed to the perpetuation of a xenophobic narrative by the Trump administration, which has casually called the coronavirus the “China virus” and “Kung Flu”.
The Asian community typically boasts a higher rate and level of education compared to other communities, which should theoretically have protected them during the ongoing pandemic, when most companies and businesses have laid off non-essential staff who are typically in lower-skilled jobs. However, a study by the University of Kansas shows that Asian Americans have been “more negatively affected by the lockdown than any other racial group, net of education, immigration status and other covariates.” In fact, the community has gone from having the lowest unemployment rate to almost the highest in just nine months, leaving some questioning whether this is merely a consequence of a severe economic downturn or whether it may have been influenced by the government-led divisive and racialised rhetoric around the coronavirus.
The Asian American Federation, a social service nonprofit, recently released a report on this link and found that, at the beginning of the pandemic in February, Asian Americans in New York City had a jobless rate of only 3.4%; but, by May, the rate had surged to 25.6%. This was the largest recorded increase among all major racial groups. Even in August, it was still 10.7%, which was well above the rate of 7.3% for White Americans and 10.5% for Latinos; only Black Americans had a higher jobless rate of 13%.
Additionally, UCLA reported that in California, the state with the highest population of Asian Americans, 83% of the Asian American labour force with high school degrees or lower has filed unemployment insurance claims since the start of the pandemic. In comparison, only 37% of the rest of the state’s labour force with the same level of education has filed for benefits.
To illustrate the sheer impact of the coronavirus on the Asian American community, in 2019, the unemployment rate for Asian Americans was just 2.8%, which was lower than that of White, Black, or Latino Americans. These statistics encourage speculation that the reasons for high unemployment among Asian Americans during the ongoing pandemic are not only financially motivated.
Nevertheless, it is important to not overlook the fact that nearly a quarter of the Asian American population is also employed in blue-collar jobs, which were more adversely affected due to lockdown measures and the inability to carry out these jobs online. Therefore, industries such as restaurants, transportation, retail, travel accommodation, and personal services such as nail salons, all of which traditionally employ a large Asian American workforce, suffered major losses.
That being said, although the nature of their work may explain why Asian Americans may have been disproportionately lost their jobs during the ongoing pandemic, there are nonetheless racial undertones to some of these unemployment figures. For example, many Asian Americans work in or operate businesses in the food and beverage industry, but have been adversely affected by customers who have shunned them over the false racial rhetoric formed around food. A fifth of Asian American workers who lived in poverty depended on food service jobs before the pandemic, but business, and consequentially jobs, have been affected since news disseminated that people eating exotic animals (like bats) in China, were to blame for the origin of the coronavirus. This has painfully revived century-old tropes about Asian food being ‘dirty’, thus leading to the closure of several Asian restaurants and businesses, as customers avoid their restaurants and neighbourhoods.
Of course, this harmful rhetoric has not only affected Asian Americans’ livelihoods and finances but also their safety, with authorities reporting a spike in hate crimes against the community. An American rights group called STOP AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) HATE, reported that they had received more than 2,500 reports of racially-motivated acts of violence against Asian Americans between March 19 and August 5. FBI figures show that hate crime against Asian Americans prior to the pandemic had been constantly decreasing since 2003, with Asian Americans earlier suffering far fewer hate crimes than any other race in the US. According to NYPD data, racially motivated hate crimes against the Asian American community have jumped by 1,900% this year. In 2019, only one incident of such nature was reported, compared to 20 in only the first half of this year. In 2017, less than one anti-Asian hate crime was reported per 100,000 Asian Americans, compared with more than five per 100,000 black Americans, eight per 100,000 Muslim Americans and 17 per 100,000 Jewish Americans. However, the FBI warned that this could change with the COVID-19 pandemic. This foreshadowing proved true, with Asian Americans accounting for 15.6% of all victims of hate crime committed in the US this year.
Given these developments, it is clear that employers, governments, and societies at large must seek to guard against the disastrous impacts of spreading terms like the “Kung Flu”. Indeed, the Chinese government must be held responsible for its inaction and lack of transparency during the initial days of the viral outbreak. However, this does not excuse the victimisation of Chinese citizens and Asian diaspora for the mismanagement of government authorities. Therefore, while some may argue that terms like the “China Virus” merely describe where the virus came from and whom to hold responsible, it ultimately ends up vilifying innocent civilians. Meanwhile, the actions of the Chinese government go unchecked, as evidenced by its continued territorial expansionism and how its economy has rebounded. Therefore, the only people such terms impact are those who had nothing to do with the spread of the virus.
When people in power use such loose language, it threatens to undo several years of progress made towards the inclusion and integration of minorities. Therefore, governments and leaders must refrain from using potentially problematic nomenclature so as to ensure national unit, which is of utmost importance at the best of times, but particularly during crises like this.
That being said, catchphrases like the ‘Kung Flu’ only spread like wildfire because of an inherent appetite for such divisive rhetoric among the populace; the Trump administration has merely made it more acceptable to publicly espouse such views. Going forward, however, authorities must recognise the unique impact that such rhetoric can have on minority communities, particularly those that are comprised of a high number of immigrants. For instance, 70% of Asian Americans are born abroad, which leaves many of them unable to access unemployment benefits and stimulus packages. Therefore, the government must seek to minimise the impact of such crises on communities with high proportions of immigrants by avoiding racially-charged language.
While organisations like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) have issued guidelines on best practices to follow while naming infectious human diseases and called on scientists, government authorities, and the media to be more responsible about popularising such rhetoric, this has done little to limit or reverse the damage that has already been done. The reach of social media today means that once the wheels are set in motion, they can often be next to impossible to stop. Hence, the responsibility also rests on social media platforms to coordinate with government authorities to flag inflammatory content and either add fact checks or misleading claim notices.
Ultimately, whatever underlying biases politicians and their supporters hold, the US can only gain from keeping highly-educated and highly-skilled workers in the labour force. Unfortunately, entrenched xenophobia may now have hampered the ability of Asian Americans to regain employment, which will only slow down the country’s much-needed recovery from the coronavirus-induced economic damage. Future administrations must use this as a lesson to learn that public health responses, particularly during pandemics, must be rooted in science, not alienating slogans.
Is Rising Unemployment Among Asian Americans Rooted in Xenophobia?
As the pandemic drags on, the Asian American community has gone from having the lowest level of unemployment to the highest.
December 30, 2020
SOURCE: AP