At the beginning of this year, it was announced that COVID-19 had started spreading globally. From personally experiencing it, to seeing it in the media, racism has been spreading like the disease.

Since COVID-19 started in Wuhan, China, there has been an increase in racism towards Asians. To demonstrate, before we found out about COVID-19, I would get allergies in the morning which is normal. However, after COVID-19 was in the news, I started getting dirty looks at school and at stores. This led to me feeling guilty for sneezing or coughing even though I didn’t do anything wrong.

Some Asian people have been assaulted, spat on, and bullied just for being Asian. There were several occasions where Asian people were told “go back to China” or “you brought the virus here.” There was an instance where an Asian man was attacked, on Oxford Street in London, due to his ethnic appearance. The assailant said, “I don’t want your coronavirus in my country.” A Korean pop boy group, BTS also faced racism online after appearing on Carpool Karaoke with James Corden earlier this year. One person tweeted “James Corden dies of the coronavirus” with a picture of James Corden and BTS. On the Howard Stern Show, staff member Salvatore “Sal” Governale said, “There’s no way those guys don’t have the coronavirus.”  Stern pointed out that BTS was from Korea and that Governale was being racist.

Racism against Asians has been going on long before this pandemic. Some people assume that all Asians are Chinese, but that is not true at all. According to the Worldometers, there are 48 countries in Asia. China is only a part of Asia. There are so many stereotypes about Asians that I am sick and tired of hearing. I’ve had people ask me, “Do you eat dogs?” and “Are you good at math?” Even though some stereotypes aren’t negative, that doesn’t mean that it is true for everyone. Over the summer, there has been a trend called the fox eye. It is a makeup look that is often accompanied by a specific gesture that has been used to mock Asians for a long time. This trend is racist because non-Asian people are pulling their eyes up to make it appear more slanted and are calling it “trendy.” It’s upsetting to see people praise it on non-Asian celebrities, but on Asians who have naturally slanted eyes, it is made fun of.

While COVID-19 started in China, that doesn’t mean that all Asians have the virus. ANYONE can catch and spread the virus, not just Asians. Stereotypes don’t apply to all Asians and many can be offensive. The racism needs to end. Asians are tired of hearing these racist remarks. Racist remarks are NOT jokes and aren’t funny. They are unnecessary and can be harmful. I urge all readers to educate themselves on these topics.