Resurgent Racism amid the Pandemic
<aside> ❗ In an attempt to overcome the wrongs of the past, the global society in the mid-20th century created a universal agreement on human rights, firmly standing against any form of hatred and discrimination. This has significantly weakened the power of racist ideas and attitudes that had split and tormented humanity for a long time. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed a historic surge of racial violence, including hate crimes against Asians.
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In the summer of 2020, the United Nations alerted the U.S. government to the increase in racist attacks against Asian Americans.
Racially motivated violence and other incidents against Asian-Americans have reached an alarming level across the United States since the outbreak of COVID-19. Chinese Americans and other Asian-Americans, including Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Burmese descent, among others, have been subject to racist, xenophobic attacks.⁽¹⁾
Hate crimes were committed in many ways, including physical attacks, vandalism, and verbal harassments. There were also many reported cases of discrimination in accessing and using public facilities. Moreover, in March 2021, a man fueled by racial hatred killed eight people, including four Korean women, in Atlanta, Georgia.
These incidents were not mere tragedies in the news that had nothing to do with “me.” The anxiety that “I” may lose home, the fear that strangers on the street could threaten “my” life, and the doubt that the neighbors who had laughed alongside “me” until yesterday may be filled with anger just by the fact that “I” exist, have all become parts of daily life for certain groups of people since the outbreak of the pandemic.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/i-am-not-a-virus-how-this-artist-is-illustrating-coronavirus-fueled-racism
The “End”?
On May 20th, 2021, President Biden said at signing of the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act,