Since it first hit public consciousness, the coronavirus pandemic has carried with it a cloud of racism and xenophobia. Some of that racism has been insidiously subtle, like with the media’s insistence on using pictures of Asian people in stories about Americans contracting the virus.
Some has been much more overt, like Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who suggested on Twitter that the coronavirus was deliberately created by the Chinese government as part of a biowarfare plan and that Americans living in or visiting China were at an especially high level of risk. Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is also out at the frontlines of racist nationalism, blaming China for the virus and telling his viewers that “woke” liberals would rather see Americans dead than admit “that diversity is not our strength.”
Donald Trump is also out here promoting racist rhetoric by repeatedly referring to the coronavirus as the “Chinese Virus.”
Cuomo wants “all states to be treated the same.” But all states aren’t the same. Some are being hit hard by the Chinese Virus, some are being hit practically not at all. New York is a very big “hotspot”, West Virginia has, thus far, zero cases. Andrew, keep politics out of it….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2020
The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2020
Terms like “China virus,” “Chinese virus,” and Wuhan virus” were widely used until late February/early March when the World Health Organization began pushing “COVID-19” and “coronavirus” as the appropriate terminology. But Trump and a number of other Republicans and conservative media figures are still refusing to make the switch. CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang wrote on Twitter:
This morning a White House official referred to #Coronavirus as the “Kung-Flu” to my face. Makes me wonder what they’re calling it behind my back.
— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) March 17, 2020
Their choice is clearly deliberate. While the virus did originate in China, the decision to ignore the advice of the WHO and call it by that name is meant to do Trump’s favorite thing: blame the problems facing Americans on foreigners.
But it’s not just those abroad who are taking the hit from Trump’s blame game. The racism surrounding the coronavirus is hurting Asian-Americans as well. In addition to the absurd avoidance of Chinese restaurants in recent weeks, there’s been a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes.
These words & language can perpetuate negative stereotypes or assumptions, strengthen false associations between #COVID19 & other factors, create widespread fear, or dehumanise those who have the disease https://t.co/yShiCMfYF3#coronavirus https://t.co/Lj5GWqXbKx
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 2, 2020
Trump’s words are dangerous and that’s not an accident or a byproduct of ignorance. It’s the entire point.
A very wise man once said “The cruelty is the point.” https://t.co/BkZMSwcmH6
— Eric Haywood (@EricHaywood) March 17, 2020
(via Axios, image: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
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