COVID-19 Revealing the Ugly Truth of our Society
Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash
By Henry Wang, Messy Details Contributor
One of the first major steps America took towards racial equality was the Civil War, which resulted in the abolition of slavery through the 13th amendment, equal protection of law through the 14th amendment, and voting rights through the 15th amendment. However, despite the movement in the right direction, America was immediately set backward as the lack of regulation bought the disenfranchisement of African Americans and later the birth of Jim Crow laws. As African Americans in the country face racism and discrimination that should have been dealt with post-Civil War, it wasn’t until nearly a century later during the Civil Rights movement where proper reforms were finally made.
During WWII, one of the worst reactions of xenophobia was seen in the country after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The fear of the Japanese after Pearl Harbor led to the creation of the Japanese Internment camps, where roughly 120,000 Japanese were forced to live for the duration of the war. The fear of potential Japanese spies in the country during wartime prompted the isolation of all Japanese in-country even though most of them were native-born American citizens. Most Japanese Americans lost their homes, and their belongings were sold.
As we move on to modern time, some of the problems and issues we’ve seen previously in American history has resurfaced during the present day COVID-19 pandemic. The xenophobia of Chinese Americans and the racial disparity in statistics show a greater truth about America, and that is the people in it are still not equal. Certain groups of people are affected much more heavily by COVID-19, and this remains true in the Asian and African American communities.
Xenophobia Against the Asian American Community
COVID-19 was first discovered in China and as China soon became the first largely infected country, xenophobia towards the Asian American community began to surface as people became fearful of the novel virus. Immediately, attitudes towards Asian Americans began to change and hate began to spread.
Feelings of hate were felt throughout the country by Asian Americans and one example of such hate was told from the experience of Lisa Lee. She told NBC News what had happened while she was at a grocery store in Philadelphia. There, an older white man shouted at her to "Go back to China!" and when she told him that she wasn't from China, the man responded, "Then go back to the Philippines or wherever you came from."
Many Americans associate COVID-19 with the Chinese because the virus first became widespread in China and this connection developed into xenophobia, however, the rest of the Asian communities were also affected by this because most Americans can’t tell the difference between the different Asians. In the end, the whole Asian community in the U.S. are being treated harshly by xenophobes regardless of their Asian origins.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, more and more Asian Americans are being mistreated. In fact, according to the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council told by NBC News, as of July 15, there have been more than 2300 cases of reported bias incidences by Asian Americans. 2300 may not seem like a lot when compared to the millions of Asian Americans in the U.S., however, 2300 is only the number of reported cases of bias while the actual number, including unreported cases, can be expected to be much more.
Attempts were made in order to fix the situation when about 150 members of Congress requested actions to be taken in order to address the racism against Asian Americans, however, the Justice Department remained unresponsive.
Asian Americans and our Economy
Asian Americans have always been a big part of the U.S. economy as they generate nearly 700 billion in annual GDP through almost 2 million owned small businesses that they owned. Of the small businesses that Asian Americans owned, 26 percent accounts for accommodations and food service, 17 percent for retail trade, and 11 percent for education-services businesses, among various others. Because most of these small businesses involve close contact with other individuals, they are also at higher risk of getting COVID-19.
The risk of contracting COVID-19 has led to a significant increase in the unemployment rate as businesses are forced to close and most of these businesses that are forced to close are the small businesses that most Asian Americans work in. Found by researchers from the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and Ong & Associates and told by Newsroom, before the pandemic, the rates for unemployment and jobless were near-identical between Asians and whites but “By May 2020, the researchers found, the unemployment rate for Asians was 15% and the jobless rate was 21%, compared with 12% and 16% for whites.”
To make the situation more dire for Asian Americans, according to McKinsey & Company, most of the Asian-owned businesses will have a harder time getting government support. Many Asian Americans don’t have “existing relationships with a mainstream bank or credit union, a prerequisite to be approved” to receive support and many also face language barriers making it difficult for them to get relief.
In the future, Asian Americans are going to have an even deeper root in the U.S. economy as the population of Asian Americans in the U.S. continues to grow at a rapid pace. To better prepare for this future, the U.S. government has to help the current Asian American businesses and workers through the current crisis. Keeping the existing foundation that we already have healthy will only help contribute to the economic growth in the U.S. as more Asian American businesses open.
Why are African Americans Dying more to COVID-19?
One of the glaring truths that COVID-19 revealed to society is that the current system does not ensure the health and safety of everyone in the country equally, and that can’t be more true for African Americans.
African Americans have shown to be more vulnerable to COVID-19 and this can be seen from a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a sample size of 580 people hospitalized with COVID-19, it was found that although 18% of the sample population were black, 33% of the patients were black. White Americans, on the other hand, made up 59% of the same population, while only 45% were infected with COVID-19. African Americans are more likely to get COVID-19, as shown by the fact that they have a higher COVID-19 patient percentage compared to their population percentage.
The reason for the high infected rate for African Americans may have been the result of the environment they work in. According to the CDC, many of the places that racial and ethnic minority groups like African Americans work in are places like “healthcare facilities, farms, factories, grocery stores, and public transportation.” These work areas make them more vulnerable because they are areas that can quickly spread COVID-19 to others. Another reason for the high infection rate may also be because of the wealth gap between African Americans and white Americans. The lack of money may have made it more difficult for African Americans to miss work for COVID-19. Either way, it goes to show that due to the different environments and circumstances that African Americans have, African Americans are more at risk of getting COVID-19.
Not only are African Americans more likely to get COVID-19, but it was also found that African Americans also have one of the highest mortality rates from COVID-19 in the new data collected by CDC and reported in Brookings.
In the graph, we can see how blacks and Hispanics/Latinos have way higher death rates when compared to whites, and in some age groups, they are nearly double or more.
These numbers shown, according to CDC, could be the result of limited access to health care for some minority groups from many factors, “such as lack of transportation, child care, or ability to take time off of work; communication and language barriers; cultural differences between patients and providers; and historical and current discrimination in healthcare systems.” Lacking the necessary health care could mean the difference between life and death, especially against the deadly COVID-19 and the statistic does support this as well.
Final Thoughts
COVID-19 without a doubt has made history with everything that has happened this year but, what it has also done is showcase how the people in the U.S. are not equal and are affected by this crisis at different levels of severity. The U.S. is still far from being a nation where the people are equal and all COVID-19 did was reveal this truth once again.
There are still many issues in the U.S. that have to be entirely addressed before we can move on to the next step and even a few months ago, one of these issues glared at us in the shape of the George Floyd incident. Until then, the disparity between different races and ethnicities will continue to show up in the future.
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