Racist Rants About Wuhan and COVID-19
They are happening to Asian Americans
Coronavirus caused racist attacks
Ever since the coronavirus was linked to Wuhan, China, and President Trump repeatedly made references to “the China Flu” and “Kung Flu” when discussing COVID-19, Asian Americans have been experiencing racist rants. They started happening months ago and are continuing today. People of Asian descent, whether they are Chinese or not, are being targeted with hateful, racial comments. They are being blamed for the coronavirus.
A report by June Lee on September 14, 2020, on hopclear.com was about an incident by a white man against an Asian American woman named Sophia Chang and her sister. With restaurants coming back in business, they went out to dine in Newport Beach, California.
Chang said on her Instagram stories that she and her sister were entering a restaurant when they crossed paths with a white man. She said, “He let us go through first and he goes, ‘go back to Wuhan, go back to Wuhan,’ and directly makes eye contact with my sister and gives us this very evil stare, and proceeds to go to the bathroom.”
Her sister and Chang were shocked and sitting at their table in disbelief that someone would be so rude to racially attack them simply because they are of Asian descent.
When the man came out of the bathroom and walked by their table, Chang asked why he said that. She said he told her, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t speak Chinese. I don’t speak Chinese.”
Chang said, “The guy is staring at us. He takes his mask off and he’s just deadly staring into me and my sister’s eyes with that look that’s just like ‘I did say it and I’m going to get away with it.’”
She saw the man hug an employee at the restaurant so she assumed he must be a regular customer. Because of that, she thought maybe they would not believe them.
They called the waiter over and told him what the man had said. The waiter told the manager. After Chang told them what had happened, the manager asked her to point the man out. The manager said she would handle it.
The manager returned to their table and told them the man and his wife were wrapping up their bill and leaving. The employee who had hugged the man was back at his table talking to him. There seemed to be no urgency in his leaving. The man and his wife eventually left, but the man gave them some looks with his “evil eyes” before leaving.
Chang was not sure that the restaurant manager had handled the situation appropriately although they did offer free appetizers and comped the meal for Chang and her sister.
The restaurant later issued a statement that they had asked the racist customer to leave and that he is no longer welcome to dine there.
People cannot even go out to a restaurant and eat in peace
Black people are suffering from racism and have for years. The police brutality against Black men has been at the forefront of the news since the death in May 2020 of George Floyd in Minneapolis in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The coronavirus brought out racist people as well. This time the targets were Asian Americans who were being told to go back to China because of the problems from COVID-19. This is happening to people who were born in the United States.
Racism continues to be a big problem that has no signs of going away any time soon. More Americans have to be willing to fight against racism for their fellow Americans who may be minorities in some manner.
[Sources: hopclear.com, Facebook, Instagram]
