As the number of infected Americans piled up with the spread of the pandemic, our national leaders pushed for the association between Asians and COVID-19 by placing the blame on China and avoiding their own responsibility. Xenophobia towards Asians increased as President Donald Trump referred to the disease as the “Chinese virus,” spreading waves of hate in the country towards Asian-Americans. With the anti-Asian racism flaring, Asian-Americans started to become targeted and were mistreated all throughout the United States. There was a wave of assaults, torture, and abuse. Not only were Asian citizens discriminated against, but Asian businesses also faced large numbers of vandalisms, attacks, and economic setbacks.
On April 10th, 2020, an NYC Michelin-starred restaurant called Jeju Noodle Bar was vandalized with racist graffiti that read “stop eating dogs” in black sharpie. When owner Douglas Kim first saw the message, it was of no surprise to him. This was only one of the rising number of racist attacks towards Asian-American restaurants in the U.S. after the start of the virus. Kim decided to close down his restaurant temporarily after his head chef told him he felt unsafe getting on the subway, where people gave him “weird looks” and felt as if “somebody [kept] looking at me.” When Kim asked if his other employees felt the same, they told them about their friends who have been beaten up, stabbed, and attacked in the streets of the city.
Eric Chan, the owner of the restaurant Jade Garden in Seattle, also faced a similar incident. He explained how Asian-American businesses in the city’s Chinatown had been tagged with white nationalist stickers. On April 12th, three men wearing sunglasses and white bandanas placed a white supremacist sticker on his building. As he looked around, he saw many stickers placed in various places including the community’s statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the first president of the Republic of China. In addition to the tagging, Chan’s restaurant was vandalized with someone smashing the windows of his restaurant. He said that he broke down into tears when he saw the damage done. Chan had no choice but to board up the windows as he believed that they would be broken again if replaced. Chan also received a number of people yelling into his restaurant and screaming, “you brought the virus here.”
There were many other cases of Asian restaurants being vandalized like at Minado Buffet, a restaurant in Yakima, Washington, where someone had broken windows and written the words “Take the corona back you chink.” In Manhattan, the owner of Gem Bing Shop closed its restaurant indefinitely after its street sign was destroyed in March.
In addition to vandalisms, Asian businesses had great adverse economic impacts. A sad story of an affected Asian business is the one of Mei Chau, a woman who emigrated from Malaysia and opened a restaurant in Chinatown as she struggled to survive. Mei Chau, owner of Aux Epices, suffered greatly as in-person dining was halted in New York City starting in late January. Around 20 percent of her business income was gone each week to the point where only three orders came in one day and the business she built up sharply started to decline. Aside from the adverse effects on her business, Chau’s greatest concern was her fear of being punched, beaten, or spat on for her race. She revealed that she had great nightmares about crowds and pressures in the city.
These cases are merely a few out of all of the Asian businesses in the United States facing financial and discriminatory issues. So what’s being done about this? In response to the economic damage, New York Congresswoman Grace Meng and Nydia Velázquez and Representative Judy Chu from California introduced a bill called “Small Business Relief from Communicable Disease Induced Economic Hardship Act,” which allowed owners to access loans of up to $2 million to cover expenses. Velázquez said, “Many of our Asian-owned businesses in New York have already experienced a decline in sales due to misinformation, fear, and stigma associated with the virus.”
In addition to the economic support, businesses have been helped by volunteers in Chinatown coming together to assist one another and relieve stresses. Early on during the pandemic, about 20 Asian American professionals aided in raising over $100,000 to purchase meals for front-line workers from damaged Chinatown restaurants. The collaboration across different cultures helps rally Asian Americans to strengthen not only their businesses but also their community.
Currently, as various quarantine measures start to lift, Asian businesses are slowly building themselves back up. However, with a continued feeling of xenophobia towards Asians, America still has ways to go with promoting the acceptance of different cultures. Our government leaders do not stand up for the culture as the mass racism continues amidst the virus, and Asians still continue to cover their faces as they walk the streets of cities. However, with community and unity, the Asian identity is slowly strengthening and will continue to come together and support those who have been affected.
Comments