Breaking anti-Asian racism during the pandemic

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As the pandemic began, Bryant Lin, MD, became increasingly concerned about reports of Asian-American discrimination, not only in the media but also in his own medical clinic.

An Asian American patient told Lin, who is Chinese American, that someone tried to spit on her as she was crossing a road. Another patient called the clinic to ask if a doctor with an Asian name was from China, considering canceling his appointment.

“This was the first time this had happened to me,” said Lin, clinical associate professor of primary care and population health at Stanford Medicine. “A lot of the other stories of violence and harassment were really heartbreaking.”

As rhetoric from public figures implicating China as the origin of the coronavirus pandemic – using terms like “Chinese virus” or “kung flu” – grabbed the headlines, Lin assembled a research team at Stanford to determine the extent of racist behavior affecting Asians. American community. The study, published July 12 in the Journal of Asian Health, showed a worrying increase in incidents of racial discrimination, especially among Americans in East and Southeast Asia. The study also highlighted the importance of looking at different Asian American groups separately, rather than as a single entity, in order to better inform educators and policy makers on how best to mitigate future racist behavior.

“Although there was negative press in China, we were surprised to see that discrimination was also felt by non-Chinese Asian subgroups, including Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean Americans,” said Latha Palaniappan. , MD, professor of medicine. who shared the primary authorship of the study with Lin.

Online survey

The study, one of the largest to date on the topic of racial discrimination due to a pandemic, was based on a 15-question online survey of 1,861 respondents from across the United States. Respondents were asked to report any racial discrimination experienced during the pandemic, including instances of harassment or feelings of inferiority, physical violence or fear of violence and mental distress.

Chinese Americans reported a 50% increase in incidents of discrimination in 2020 compared to 2019, while Vietnamese Americans were three times more likely to experience discrimination and five times more likely to experience discrimination. be concerned about physical assaults as white Americans, according to the study.

“In fact, I was not surprised by these results,” said Ann Nguyen, lead co-author of the study with Sierra Ha, both Stanford students at the time. Nguyen, who is of Vietnamese descent, said that before the pandemic his parents were quite independent. But as it progressed, they became afraid to go out on their own in public. They still wanted her with them.

“This study really hit home,” Nguyen said. “I’m sure this will resonate with a lot of other Asian Americans.”

The researchers intentionally decided to separate the Asian American respondents into various subgroups in order to better examine the subtle variations, Lin said, which is usually not done. Asian Americans are most often studied as a whole group.

The study showed that East Asians – Chinese, Koreans and Japanese – and those of South Asian descent – Vietnamese and Filipinos – were disproportionately affected by discrimination during the pandemic. South Asians, which include American Indians and Pakistanis, have not been so badly affected.

“It was instructive to see that the Chinese, Korean and Japanese groups that make up the Southeastern melting pot suffered more discrimination,” said Lin, who speculated that the increased discrimination against Asian Americans from East and Southeast was probably the result of their physical and cultural similarities. to Americans of Chinese descent.

“South Asians have not necessarily experienced discrimination because of COVID-19,” said Palaniappan, who is of Indian descent. When they co-founded the Stanford Center for Asian Health Research and Education, or CARE, in 2018, Palaniappan and Lin were part of the centre’s mission to promote better research across the Asian American community in studying distinct subgroups.

This study provides information on how to reduce discrimination within the Asian American community by understanding how it affects its different groups. More of these details can help improve public health, education and communication with policy makers and community leaders, according to the study.

Photo by Jason Leung

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