As the coronavirus spread to the United States and the rest of the world, leaders scrambled to figure out how to keep everyone safe. It wasn’t only the physical threat of contracting Covid that put Asians in danger. It was the verbal permission that former president Donald Trump essentially gave racists to act on the preconceived notion that Asians, more specifically Chinese people, were at fault for the pandemic when he referred to Covid as the “China” virus. And the idea that “all Asians look the same,” has put many Asians in danger of being targets of hate.
From the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad and California Gold Rush to the coronavirus, Asians have played an essential and crucial role in America’s history simultaneously as the alleged villain and the model minority. They were used for their cheap labor and praised for being the ideal minority in America, however, they were also the scapegoats for many diseases in the nation. Today, Asians are once again suffering immense hate aimed at their community, and many are looking to education and representation in the media to help break stereotypes for future generations.
