A message to my fellow Chinese
Many racial groups in the past 100 years have faced adversity. As Chinese descents, our greatest struggle during the period was the Japanese invasion and entering into America dealing with the Geary Chinese Exclusion Act. Most of us never experienced this first hand. However today, we will face our own hardships. We will be accused of spreading a disease you had no connection to beyond the sublimation that it originated from a country filled with people who look just like you.
We will have hard times ahead. You are no longer seen as the stereotype who is good at math or a whiz with computers. You are now a walking suspect of a killer disease. An old video has resurfaced of an East Asian person eating something grotesque recirculating as current “information” and will be associated with you. People creating memes that instigate prejudice, racism, bias, and fear. News sources irresponsibly presenting inflammatory headlines with absolutely no verified sources just to be first to report.
Additionally, we in North America are driving our own panic. Buying out supermarkets like the apocalypse is coming. Sharing, liking, or creating content of a Chinese person wearing masks and dodging their own people as a joke. Social media posts and comments attacking our own ethnic likeness on our traditions and values. How do you feel living through this moment? Sad? Angry? Unsure?
We need to respond accordingly and create awareness with the people around us. Do so without expecting sympathy. Not let fear drive us. Turn off survival mode and go about your day. Be united within your community. I believe we need to start by taking the following first steps:
Be the tale of solidarity. 同抗击这一流行病。加油勇敢的朋友们。武汉加油