Covid-19 and Anti-Asian Violence

COVID-19 AND ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE
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COVID-19 and Anti-Asian Violence
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with immense changes in society as it has affected the core of the global society. At the onset of the pandemic, it became clear how society attacks itself/ its people and how people respond to these attacks. According to Tisdell (2020), the pandemic affected social development because it led to the abandonment of neighborhoods and the isolation of certain social groups. For instance, neighborhoods such as Chinatown were abandoned and isolated by other community members of different racial backgrounds because of the belief that the Asian community was the carrier of the COVID-19 virus. The pandemic bled hatred and discrimination against certain communities. There was increased violence as a result. However, the pandemic is not the root of all these issues; it only exacerbated them and brought them to the surface. This paper aims at describing and analyzing the effects of COVID-19 on global social development and politics with a special focus on its role in anti-Asian violence using photographic archives/images as the research method.
COVID-19 and its Effect on Global Social Development and Politics
At the onset, COVID-19 affected everyone indiscriminately in the sense that any person could become infected and spread it to other people unknowingly. According to Pawar (2020, p.16), the disease was indiscriminate in the sense that it spread and affected people everywhere, regardless of their social, economic, or racial class. However, it also discriminated against people based on gender, socio-economic class, and race. The discrimination was also widespread and in a global capacity. For instance, in the US, COVID-19 contributed to rising racism against Asians and further exacerbated protests in the African-American community against racism. In Australia, Aboriginal people protested against racial discrimination and the death of their community members in prisons during the pandemic (Pawar, 2020). The fear and uncertainty brought about by COVID-19 disrupted social order and people were angry and confused, unable to process their emotions about the pandemic and how it would affect them.
As Dionne and Turkmen (2020, p.2) indicate, political leaders and citizens around the world were looking for a source to blame for the pandemic and as a result, there was a rise in the global politics of “othering.” The politics around the pandemic became more about blame and less about finding solutions, especially at the onset of the pandemic. In addition, there were social and political consequences associated with the pandemic. For instance, the pandemic enhanced tensions between minority and dominant groups in different countries as the dominant groups supported the isolation of minority groups. Dionne and Turkmen (2020, p.23) indicate that in Spain, Spaniards advocated for the quarantining of Chinese travelers because they associated all Chinese with COVID-19. There was increased suspicion towards people of Asian origin and also increase xenophobia in different parts of the world. On a political and policy level, the pandemic has been used by politicians, such as the US republicans, to impose immigration restrictions (Dionne & Turkmen, 2020, p.26). As such, the pandemic has changed the course of global politics and social development by influencing the attitude of society towards certain groups of people as well as influencing government policies.
COVID-19 and Anti-Asian Violence
One of the most significant effects of COVID-19 is that it exacerbated racial hatred, bias, and violence towards Asians. According to Wu et al. (2020), the COVID-19 pandemic increased anti-Asian sentiments and discrimination and as a result, more Asians and Asian-Americans experienced poor mental health. They also experienced threats in online and offline spaces. For instance, Image 1 shows an image of a threat directed toward Asians that was shared on Instagram at the onset of the pandemic (Li & Nicholson, 2021). The fear and anxiety that Asians experienced knowing that someone could actualize these threats was real and crippling. Cases of Asian students being attacked by fellow students were not uncommon. Asians not only feared getting infected with COVID-19 but also getting attacked, physically or otherwise, because of who they are and what others believed them to represent. Below is a description of and reflection on how photographs and images were used to further advance anti-Asian hatred.
Use of Chinese and Asian Photographs and Images in COVID-19 Stories
Photographs and images of Asian people were rampantly used to tell stories about the COVID-19 outbreak. According to Li and Nicholson (2021, p.6), images and videos of Chinese and Asians eating mice and snakes were widely shared by people claiming that Asian people were the source of the COVID-19 virus, even though these claims were not supported by any factual data. The images served to paint the Chinese and other Asians as uncivilized people who eat anything that moves and as a result of this behavior, have led the world into a pandemic. In addition, when covering news about the pandemic, major newspapers such as Forbes and The New York Times used images of Asian people wearing masks or images of Asians in Chinatown (Li & Nicholson, 2021; Walker & Anders, 2021). The message that these news outlets continued to send was that Asians were to blame for the pandemic and this further fueled hatred, hostility, and violence towards Asians.
Additionally, the images used in the newspapers were sometimes irrelevant to the story being covered. For instance, The New York Times used an image of Asians in Chinatown to report the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in New York State, yet this first case came from a woman who had contracted the virus while traveling to Iran (Image 2). It is unfortunate that these images were used to generalize all Asians as COVID-19-ridden and more people started attacking Asians and Asian-Americans using racial slurs. However, this also illustrates the power of images and how strong a message they send, even when they are not accompanied by words. People made conclusions about Asians and the pandemic just by looking at these images; no one needed to even read the content of the article. The visibility created by these images was significant. However, it only placed Asians in the crossfire as they became victims not only of the pandemic but also of the hatred felt towards them even though they were not to blame for the pandemic.
In addition to the use of images on online and offline media, the use of images about Asians and the COVID-19 pandemic was also seen in other areas. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) journal, one of the most trusted journals in the US, used the image of Chinese artwork on its cover, as shown in image 3 (Li & Nicholson 2021, p.7). The mere act of using Chinese artwork communicated a very loud message. This image linked the COVID-19 to the Chinese as well as other infectious diseases since the journal publishes infectious diseases information. The use of such images and photographs only worsened the hostility and violence towards Asians.
It is worth noting that Asians also protested against anti-Asian violence and hatred using the same approach. Image 4 shows th...