Racism in Chinatowns Across the US
When President Trump intentionally renamed COVID-19 the “Chinese virus,” racism towards Asian Americans in Chinatowns, and beyond, has now become rampant. This affects me on a deeply personal level. Here’s why:
When I was in 6th grade, I lived in Chicago in a neighborhood called Bridgeport. It was a neighborhood where Eastern European migrants converged, particularly Italian and Polish folks, during the late 1800s in search for a place where they could imagine a future in America. My family ended up here because just north of Bridgeport was Chicago’s Chinatown.
The overflow of the Chinese population spilled out to surrounding neighborhoods with direct routes into this cultural hub. I knew we didn’t live in Chinatown, but I knew also that we could not live without it.
Chinatown provided free ESL services for my parents; without which they would have been rendered mute. It offered alternative pharmacies where there was a shared understanding of human physiology in eastern medicine. It was lined with bustling marketplaces that sourced vegetables that were not kale, broccoli, and sterilized spinach. Restaurants prepared communal meals seasoned with a touch of home and belonging. It was a place where the Chinese community could recover some semblance of ethos that immigration had wrested from them.
The American Dream of property and freedom dictated that parts of the Chinese community flood into the suburbs. That year my dad, too, was tempted to trade hard-earned dollars for a thrifty return of square-footage by buying property in the suburbs. It was as imaginable as trading his voice, his community, his food, and his belonging for more space. He couldn’t do it.
We stayed. Chinatown for us, like it is for many, was our vitality. Choosing to leave was like choosing to wither.
In the beginning of March, CNN reported that sales in Chinatown businesses took a nosedive - 30-80% in Manhattan’s Chinatown and 40% in Flushing. Since March 20th, when Gov. Cuomo ordered for all non-essential businesses to close, small businesses across New York state had to reckon with how they would survive. When New Yorker staff writer, Jia Yang Fan surveyed Chinatown to take a pulse before the announcement, it had already begun to feel like a ghost town. Before the reins were loose on COVID-19, the pre-pandemic racism had already blown through Chinatown and wreaked its havoc.
Asian Americans for Equality has reported that 98% of Chinatown are small businesses. Businesses are shutting its doors not knowing whether or not their storefronts will once again see the light of day. For many business owners, their employees are more than dispensable workers. They are family. Owners have begun to pay their workers out of pocket. Chinatown is more than a paycheck for the Chinese community; it is their ecosystem and their vitality. What will be of Chinatown once we make it out on the other end of this pandemic? Even imagining the decline of Chinatown is inconceivable.
It is not news to us any longer that hate crimes against the Asian American community has also been on the rise. The history of racism against the Asian American community in the U.S. has always been a crime of lazy and erroneous perception. Despite the vast geopolitical, cultural, religious, and socioeconomic differences between ethnic groups within Asian America, we have always been oppressed as one monolithic group. The murder of Vincent Chin is a prime example of this.
This is no thanks to disingenuous news reports that have made anonymous portraits of the masked Asian into the face of this pandemic. Neither to the very malicious nomenclature being standardized from the White House that has seemed to leak into the very vulgar brains of conservative henchmen. The “Chinese Virus” and “Wuhan Virus” are misnomers that follow a long tradition of indiscriminate diseases being used to excuse xenophobic rhetoric, especially to cause smears against the Asian American community. The characterization of Asian Americans as virulent has been planted into us like a parasite long before this historical moment.
Our history has shown us that racist and xenophobic policy is always impending where racist and xenophobic ideas are allowed to thrive. So how can we support our Asian American community and Chinatown small businesses?
If you live close enough to Manhattan Chinatown, Flushing Chinatown, or Brooklyn Chinatown (or have a car) and ordering takeout / supporting supermarkets is financially viable, please do so (databases of shops open for biz); or donate to this GoFundMe campaign started by Asian Americans for Equality
Report hate crimes - Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (AP3CON), Chinese for Affirmative Action, and the Department of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University has put together a data tracker so that hate crimes can be reported here
Eviction moratorium and suspension of mortgage are a good start, but as hospitality and service workers lose their jobs, protection from eviction won’t be granted but eviction would merely be stalled - support tenant organizers like CAAAV (twitter) who are trying to move quickly on supporting tenants, sign this petition requesting Gov. Cuomo to #cancelrent and check out this rent strike toolkit
Asian Americans for Equality has provided a wide range of services for the community and may be able to offer assistance especially with applying for relief from the recent stimulus bill - contact information here
Speak up for your neighbors, call out the racism where you see it
This fear of the foreigner is not exclusive to the Asian American community - other marginalized groups face the same in different forms, and have throughout history - but its violence has been directed at us especially in the time of COVID-19.
When we are finally able to #flattenthecurve, the anti-Asian racism may intractably cling on. Our solidarity with Asian Americans and Chinatowns here and across the country must be our act of anti-racism in such a time as this.
Kevin Hu, Social Media Coordinator
Kevin Hu is a Forefront member and is one of the Facilitators for the BedStuy small group.