On the Coronavirus
The Coronavirus has impacted almost every civilisation around the globe and has caused great confusion for their healthcare, governmental and economic system. However, there seems to be a clear disparity of those who have to suffer less than others. It is with great sadness to say that Asian immigrants across the globe are faced with discrimination by humans and people who are middle-class or lower face discrimination by the capitalist system. As a Japanese exchange student in America, I have witnessed racism against Asians by non-Asians in America and racism against Chinese people in Japan. Racism against Asians, especially the Chinese, in the U.S. stems from a long history of immigration starting from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
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A poster celebrating the Chinese Exclusion Act’s passage, proclaiming that “The White Man is on Top.” Courtesy of the Royal BC Museum. (Fang, 2018) |
Additionally, people who are middle-class or lower are especially struggling financially. Some who cannot afford medical care are hesitant to get checked and fall dead to the disease. In my experience, the scholarship I was receiving from the Japanese government was put to a stop and I was put in a spot in which I could not afford to stay in the U.S. nor go back to Japan as I could not afford the flight or the hotel to be quarantined in. However, many other people like me were put in the same spot and with petitions, I was allowed to receive my scholarship again. The Coronavirus pandemic may seem to be a dark time, but on the bright side, it seems to bring up a lot of social and political activity by the people as Coronavirus petitions now have cumulatively 3,590,563 signatures on change.org (Mix, 2020).
Works Cited
Fang, M. (2018, May 25). How The Chinese Exclusion Act Can Help Us Understand Immigration Politics Today. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chinese-exclusion-act-immigration-politics_n_5b06a90fe4b05f0fc84552cfTakamatsu, S., Yoshizawa, N., & Suzuki, R. (n.d.). Japanese government scholarships discontinued by Coronavirus? Retrieved from https://www.change.org/p/japanese-government-scholarships-discontinued-by-coronavirus
[COVID-19] Save Waseda University's "Scholarship Refugees"! (n.d.). Retrieved from http://chng.it/CstZcYkBqs
Mix. (2020, March 18). Coronavirus petitions have generated over 3,590,563 signatures. Retrieved from https://thenextweb.com/insights/2020/03/11/coronavirus-covid-19-petitions-signed/
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