Anti-Asian sentiment in the United States - COVID-19 and history

In 2020, the South Korean movie Parasite became the only foreign-language film to ever win an Oscar for Best Picture. This historic first mirrors a broader trend towards acceptance and integration of Asian culture in the United States. Yet, despite our innumerable contributions to society, there remains little representation of Asians at the highest levels of government, business, academia, and popular media. Asian Americans are often stereotyped as perpetual foreigners because they are seen as inherently different.1 This has led to a sense of not fitting in, or “otherness”, as if our membership in America society were conditional. As COVID-19 sweeps the nation, this reality becomes painfully apparent. Asian healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic have been subjected to slurs and assaults. Nurses have been spat on, doctors have been told to “go back to f****** China”, and care by staff with “Asian appearances” has been refused.2 While Chinese people are ostensibly the target, the affected individuals have included Koreans, Filipinos, and other Asian ethnicities. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic we see not only a rise in anti-Asian sentiment, but also a recapitulation of history.