Asian American Immigration Essay Example

Asian Americans are still the fastest-growing ethnic group of all races, yet they are also the most underrepresented minority in the United States. There is nothing new when it comes to talks about anti-Asian racism, which is an issue that has been around for centuries. Every human immigrant in America is treated differently, but Asians have been misused and strongly discriminated against. Since the first Asian people set foot in this country, they were hated, supposedly stealing American jobs, and perceived as a danger to the economy. The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 is the latest example of anti-Asian hate in the United States. This renewal of anti-Asian discrimination has had a huge impact on Asian people.

Most recently, it is hard to ignore the COVID-19 pandemic, which erupted into a big crisis and caused a global outbreak. The disease first appeared in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, then quickly spread over the Spring months of 2020. One article named “The Nature of Anti-Asian American Xenophobia during the Coronavirus Pandemic” by Daisuke Akiba states, “Since the onset of the current Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, thousands of hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) have been reported, ranging from physical assaults and racist rants to the refusal of services.” Consequently, Asian people have been the focus of derogatory language in media coverage, political remarks, and social media platforms, where hate related to the disease spreads widely. They have also been attacked, beaten, and exposed to violent bullying and insults, leading to prejudice and racism worldwide. Then, in March, the Asian American coalition organization STOP AAPI HATE was established. They created a report to track and respond to discrimination, violence, and hate crimes against Asians and Asian Americans.

Thousands of Asians in the United States have been scapegoats for the coronavirus outbreak in the months since it began. For example, “Historically, situations involving health threats and resulting socioeconomic hardships have led to the scapegoating of the ethnic minority groups who were perceived as responsible for the outbreaks” (Akiba). So, after the first case was reported in the United States, more than 60 percent of Asian Americans saw someone blame Asian people for the pandemic. What's more, there was a time when President Donald Trump got infected, and it was a period he repeatedly and directly blamed China for spreading COVID-19. During or after the epidemic, Asian Americans’ health and well-being are more or less menaced because of the country’s long racial bias and discrimination history. Hence, the scapegoat will suffer many negative consequences, leading to crisis and harm.  

According to a study, discrimination among Asians is a persistent and powerful predictor of lower well-being and mental health problems. Thomas K. Le, in the article “Anti-Asian Xenophobia and Asian American COVID-19 Disparities,” mentions, “This pandemic continues to exacerbate anti-Asian xenophobia and health disparities for medically underserved Asian Americans.” They are already among those who use the least mental health services. Depending on the cause of COVID-19, there is a greater likelihood of mental health issues such as sadness, anxiety, or suicide. Moreover, the stigma associated with the epidemic may limit people’s access to health care and make it more difficult for Asian Americans to seek treatment for their concerns. 

Compared to the current pandemic, there is also a similar plague illness that happened at the beginning of the 20th century. From 1900 to 1904, the bubonic plague epidemic first appeared in the center of San Francisco’s Chinatown. In The Washing Post article, “The long, ugly history of anti-Asian racism and violence in the U.S.,” Gillian Brockell says, “It is likely that the outbreak began with a ship from Australia, but since the first stateside victim was a Chinese immigrant, the whole community was blamed for it.” Furthermore, the person who first gets infected is a Chinese immigrant, so everyone blamed them and thought they brought the disease to the other countries. Likewise, it occurred again today, and racism has been directed at Asian Americans during the outbreak. COVID-19 has been called the "Kung Flu" or "China virus" by President Donald Trump. On top of that, the United States has a long history of racist panic and blame for responding to plagues. 

Asian American bias has a long and well-documented history in the United States. The current outbreak confirms long-held negative stereotypes about the “Yellow Peril,” a derogatory term for Asian immigration. In an article by Justin A. Chen, he says that “Increased civic engagement and mobilization among Asian Americans as a result of COVID-19 directly challenge the model minority myth that has dampened political activism in Asian American communities and may indicate increased recognition of the insidious harms of racist stereotyping.” When Asian Americans are discussed, whether in academia or media, they are frequently viewed as the model minorities. However, the phrase “Yellow Peril” says that the people with yellow skin allude to the Asian race because they always brought peril to other countries. Also, the model minority myth means that other people think that Asians are always some kind of stereotype. Hence, they are in a framework that leads to everything, good or negative, all because of them. As such, model minority stereotypes have many effects, such as being criticized, ignoring substantive problems in particular subpopulations, and increasing the impact of discrimination.       

In conclusion, all races endure prejudice, but particular minorities face more discrimination than others in certain places or situations because they are the target of everyone else. People always have their own beliefs about racism, even though their good speech and behavior of someone do not mean that they are not racist. Especially when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, that was not wrong because it came from Asia, but it is unfair to discriminate against all Asian races. Consequently, these things made a big impact on Asian people, and they have to live through criticism, hate, scapegoating, and the aim for abuse. There will always be injustices in the world. However, living in such an advanced society, everyone should learn to look at things from a different perspective, even if it is the opposite of what they should stand up for and believe. In the end, every person, particularly Asian people, wanted to be more welcomed and experience less prejudice, even though racism is arduous to end.