Xinyu Lyu, A02, Week 1
Since the beginning of 2020, coronavirus has gradually entered people's vision. Over time, the outbreak has become more severe. As far as information is concerned, COVID-19 was first discovered in Wuhan, China. It was the Chinese New Year, and as people returned home to reunite with their families, coronavirus virus swept across China at a seemingly unstoppable speed, and the death toll from the virus continued to rise. Panic of many people leads to discrimination against Wuhan people, even insults. My friend from Wuhan once mentioned to me the fear of being discriminated against. With each passing day, the new coronavirus has gradually become an international problem, and the resulting discrimination has evolved from regional discrimination to racial discrimination. When the outbreak began in Italy, there were news reports of Italians beating Chinese students in Australia.
At the beginning of the epidemic, people discriminated against the people in Wuhan, then against the Chinese people, and now the people in China discriminate against the Chinese students who want to go back to China. Also, Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde, the author of "Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia", mentioned that she was discriminated in the field of education, which should have a high degree of tolerance and ideological realm. It is not difficult to see that discrimination has always existed and permeated every aspect of life. With the development of civilization and the improvement of the law, the situation of discrimination improved day by day, but it never really disappeared, and it was more hidden. And COVID-19 is exactly the wind that blows away the fig leaf and exposes the deep problems. So, I don't think the disappearance of the virus will lead to the disappearance of discrimination. There is still a long way to go in rejecting discrimination, and fortunately, many people are working on it.
For the coronavirus, I think we must stop using the terms "China virus" or "Wuhan virus". We should never use a place name to represent a virus, which is strongly discriminatory and likely to lead people who don't know all that much about things in the wrong direction. I think the best way to not discriminate is never to treat someone differently because of their inherent qualities. We can fire someone for not being academically competent, but we can never fire someone for being Asian.
Controlling oneself is relatively easy but resisting discrimination from others is difficult. So, my question is how can we deal with discrimination?
Reference
Valverde, K.-L. C. (2013). Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 12(2). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu
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