As the pandemic drags on, the most virulent mutation remains racism

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It’s official: two years ago in February, COVID-19 arrived in Massachusetts. It feels like an eternity ago – and at the same time, like yesterday. Then there was only one confirmed case in the state: a UMass student who had traveled to Wuhan, China. Scientists had identified Wuhan as the site where the global spread began, but they still didn’t have many answers about how the mysterious virus worked. The virus was spreading even as our former president said there was no need to worry, and as fear and the byproduct of that fear – blame – was on the rise across the country.

It didn’t take long before Asian Americans were the target of xenophobic attacks and public rants about “bringing this virus back to China.” Asian American children were shunned and mocked at school. Customers stayed away from Asian-owned and operated businesses, which quickly lost significant revenue. In Boston’s Chinatown, home to a large Asian community, businesses estimated a 50-70% drop in customers during what was also the start of Lunar New Year, an annual celebration that typically attracts extra tourists. for meals and feasts.

Owners felt powerless to fight racist rhetoric and misinformation. Michelle Wu – then a Boston city councilman – pushed back, saying: “We know there is no more likelihood of anyone coming into contact with the coronavirus in Chinatown than any other community in the state.” Wu worked with Nina Liang of the Quincy City Council to help organize a dim sum brunch in Boston’s Chinatown in February 2020. Liang, the first Chinese-American president of the Quincy Council, told reporters, “Being racist n is not the solution”. event were early supporters of a burgeoning vocal movement against Asian hatred.

In the two years since that first COVD-19 February, I have seen the response to the virus become racialized – with both targeted and indiscriminate assaults on Asian Americans. In March of last year, shootings at two Atlanta spas killed several people of Asian descent. A month later, a brutal attack on Yao Pan Ma in New York’s East Harlem neighborhood captured national attention. The 62-year-old suffered serious injuries after being hit in the head from behind. He remained hospitalized until his death last year on December 31. Police ruled his death a homicide.

Given both the country’s ongoing struggle with racial tensions and the fraught backdrop of everything to do with the coronavirus pandemic, I wasn’t surprised when Wu — now the first native American mayor Boston Asian – ticked off bigoted comments aimed at him, such as one stating “Communist Wu needs to go back to China” or another complaining about “another Oriental in a government post.”

Ma was attacked in April 2021, the same month that Congress, by a 94-1 vote, approved legislation to protect Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from hate crimes. Ma’s attacker is going to court this week. Nearly 900,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, but the most virulent mutation remains racism.

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