Stop Being Racist

STOP BEING RACIST! International Students Respond to Covid-19

BY ZETA ATOIGUE ‘23, APIA major, WOOJIN YOON ‘23 Staff Writer, Copy Editor

On March 19, 2020 the W&M community received an email informing students that they would have to evacuate immediately after spring break. Just before the shut down, Zeta Atoigue and Woojin Yoon interviewed Chinese international students and premed students regarding the Covid-19 scenario.

ZETA ATOIGUE: How have you been affected by this emotionally, physically, or mentally?

MIN XIAO: These kinds of stories and news always made me feel sorrow for her, for all Chinese people, and sometimes for all human beings.

I could also see some good news in social media, which affected my emotions positively. For example, many doctors and nurses from different provinces petitioned to work in hospitals in Wuhan, which was very dangerous to themselves. Besides, two temporary hospitals in Wuhan were only built in a week. How incredible it was! ...But I also felt contradictory. We all know that we should not let the virus defeat us, but it’s just too hard to prevent unnecessary sacrifice; and even though we know some sacrifice is needed, none of us want our own parents and friends to be the heroes… .

LISA XU : I have been affected by this emotionally. Even though I am not experiencing it myself, my family, my relatives, my friends, and other Chinese people are experiencing it right now. Facial masks are in short right now, so it is nearly impossible for everyone to get a mask; people in Wuhan cannot get daily necessities (i.e. food and medicine).

12 Art & Hatsuye

[The both of us had no experience when it came to dealing with the Coronavirus since it had not hit the states yet. But reading their responses made us scared and worried. We didn’t know what would happen if the virus spread to the U.S., and now that it has, it’s strange to comprehend that we’ll be in the same position the interviewees were weeks ago.]

There has been a rise in anti-Asian sentiments since the coronavirus outbreak began. In response to this, the Asian American Student Initiative (AASI) launched a week-long initiative educating the

student body on the recent growing racism and xenophobia in the United States. Artwork by Kathy Qin (‘23).

WOOJIN YOON: What do you wish people knew about this pandemic?

MIN XIAO: Trump said people should not overstate the seriousness of the virus, and what I want to say is don’t understate it! The reason for why Wuhan’s epidemic is so severe is that Wuhan’s governors didn’t believe in the doctor who first found this weird, prevalent virus. They didn’t apply any measures at the beginning… .

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT #3: Wearing surgical masks is very crucial for both healthy, normal people and carriers in order to prevent the transmission of the epidemic.

[Looking back, the both of us realized how many warning signs were in place when the virus spread in China. Even more, the students’ experiences should have been enough for us to take into consideration how dangerous this disease was. And yet, the country didn’t prepare enough.]

WY: How do you feel about people joking about the virus?

MIN XIAO: I may also laugh about it if it’s just a simple joke or a meme, but I don’t want to see any joke about racism, like calling the virus “Chinese virus,” etc. They make me feel uncomfortable… .

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT #3: I think they do not realize how serious the situation is.

[In the beginning, the virus did not seem that serious to us. I mean, we were making jokes about WWIII in the beginning of the year. This was no different. It’s startling to see how our jokes would soon be our reality.] ZA: How has the coronavirus affected/ influenced the medical community?

PRE-MED STUDENT: How the Coronavirus has exposed a lot of weaknesses within the medical community, how we as Americans really don’t prepare for these things, even though every, like, 5-10 years — I’d say even 2-4 years — there’s a new virus affecting the community. Also I think it shows the cracks in our medical system, how we let things slip through by price gouging the price to get tested for the Coronavirus is $3000; how are low income families ever going to want to get tested, let alone even afford to get tested? And I just really feel like we are not taking the precautions, especially with this administration in office like other countries have been taking.

[We didn’t know that the prices for the tests were so high. In a situation like this, we expected that the government would provide enough tests for everyone due to how deadly the virus was. After hearing this, it showed how unprepared the country would be for the next couple of months. ]

ZA: As seen on the media, many Asian Americans have been targeted/harassed by the public. Have you witnessed any cases of racism/xenophobic tendencies on campus?

PRE-MED STUDENT: I think I’ve actually had a situation open to my eyes [and remind me] to be way more careful about your wording. I was in the public restroom. I knew everyone in the public restroom, and I was just, like, “Wash your hands; you’ve seen what’s on the news lately,” but you never know how someones going to perceive what you just said. So I had to actually clarify with an individual what I meant by that, and it was truly out of everyone’s benefit; it had not xenophobic or racial tendency, but she took that as so...so I feel like you really need to have — when speaking on such a sensitive matter, somethings that’s affected people — [remember that as] someone who, as an American, has no connection outside of America, really can’t empathize with someone who does have connections outside of America, who is battling with... you have no idea what theyre going through. As a population, we need to keep that in mind with our wording, and when we are promoting sanitation, we just need to give recommendations, but that’s it; keep it at that and don’t go any farther.

[Who would’ve known that this miscommunication would soon be prevalent throughout the country in a more intense way. Nowadays, it’s a worry for the both of us to go out in public because we are both Asian. And being Asian during this time means being a target to any racist/xenophobic attack.]

ZA: Would you like to add anything else about your experience?

PRE-MED STUDENT: There’s no infrastructure in place to handle something like this, something this aggressive.

LISA XU: Virus is not a reason for racism. It is important to be aware of the virus, and more importantly, not to panic.

[Lisa is right. Virus is not a reason for racism and it seems that many people have forgotten that. These testimonies show how dangerous the virus was before it became a global pandemic. Now, it shows how dangerous the people are with their actions. This interview helped the both of us reflect on everything that has happened since then and we realize that there are so many more problems derived from systematic racism once the country is under attack. ]