• Anti-Asian Racism during COVID-19 Pandemic, GW Today, April 20, 2020

    Author(s):
    Alexa Alice Joubin (see profile)
    Date:
    2020
    Group(s):
    LLC East Asian, LLC Modern and Contemporary Chinese
    Subject(s):
    Racism, Equality, Popular culture, China, Law, History
    Item Type:
    Newspaper article
    Tag(s):
    COVID-19, pandemic, racial equity, Medical humanities, Social inequality, Legal history
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/ysnd-fs57
    Abstract:
    Asian Americans have been spat on, verbally assaulted and physically attacked in more than a thousand race-related incidents in the United States as a result of fear evoked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Alexa Alice Joubin, professor of English and international affairs, women’s studies and East Asian languages and cultures, provided a historical context for the discussion. She said connecting the language of disease to racism is not a new phenomenon. For example, it was seen in an 1886 soap advertisement “for kicking the Chinese out of the U.S.,” she said, and dubbed “yellow fever” in reference to white men who have a fetish for Asian women. Joubin said the language is associated with a history of discrimination against Chinese that made it into U.S. law, including the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Cable Act that prevented Chinese from becoming citizens even when they married U.S. citizens. It will take all of our cognitive ability, analytical reasoning “to concentrate and harness our resources to combat disinformation,” she said, “Our greatest fight is about fear.”
    Notes:
    See also https://gwenglish.blogspot.com/2020/04/anti-asian-racism-and-covid-19-town.html and https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/virtual-town-hall-examines-anti-asian-racism
    Metadata:
    Published as:
    Newspaper article    
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial

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