For over 100 years, Asian Americans have been forced to fight for basic human rights, and yet, walking down the street is a fearful act because the risk of brutal assault and harassment is so imminent. It feels as though the United States has been transported back to 1900, where similar discrimination was faced by this same community during the San Francisco Plague outbreak. Not only does this bigotry demolish the physical and mental wellbeing of individuals, but in both pandemics, the Asian community has been targeted in such a way that it has contributed to the spread of disease, and the hinderance of its eradication.

San Francisco Plague

There is a long, well-documented history of Asian hate in this country. First of all, they were the first racial group to be completely barred from entering the United States. It began with a law in 1862 that banned American ships from bringing Chinese immigrants to America and escalated when the Chinese Excursion Act was passed in 1882 (Jou Lan and Debbie Kuo). This law eliminated the possibility of Chinese Americans to apply for citizenship. The only Chinese people to enter the country were merchants, students, and diplomats. These laws set the stage for the disaster that ensued in 1900.

The Chinese immigrants who did make it into America were packed like sardines into the 12-block area of Chinatown, then blamed for the crowding they were forced into (Chase 11). The plague was caused by the fleas of infected rats feeding on humans after the rat host dies. When they began dying, most people were able to evade the infectious fleas by leaving their homes; however, Chinatown was so riddled with rats and a lack of places to flee that they could not escape. The death of an Asian man on March sixth was the catalyst that sent San Francisco into a fury. Before a doctor was even able to definitively identify the plague bacteria, Chinatown was shut down completely. Although this may seem like a decent precautionary measure, it was fueled by hate and implemented with only discrimination in mind. As police officers were roping off Chinatown, they made exceptions and avoided the shutting down of white businesses. Additionally, white people were ushered out of the town before it was fully quarantined. Diseases do not discriminate. Any of the white people they pulled from those 12-blocks could have already been infected; they were not quarantining Chinatown, they were detaining the Chinese. This discrimination went as far as the City Hall publishing a report to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that stated:

“The Chinese brought here with them and successfully maintained and perpetuated the grossest habits of bestiality practiced by the human race [gambling, opium, and prostitution]… [They] have inoculated our youth not only with the virus of immorality in its most hideous form, but have through the same sources physically poisoned the blood of thousands by the inoculation with diseases the most frightful that the flesh is heir to, and furnishing posterity with a line of scrofulous and leprous victims that might better never have been born than to curse themselves and mankind at large with their contagious presence.”

(Chase 11)

Additionally, pictured below is a news article from the San Francisco Call that accurately depicts the view of Chinatown during this fearful era. Asian people are seen as monkeys, the illness itself being the bug-like figures being pulled off the Chinese writing and the evident fear of every white person pictured.

Though this discrimination was apparent long before the plague entered San Francisco, the natural fear of sickness was used to envelop an entire race in its wrath and blame.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Over 100 years later, nearly the same discrimination has taken over our country in response to a new pandemic: Coronavirus. This respiratory virus was first reported in Wuhan, China and appeared in the United States by late January, bringing with it a new wave of hatred that has touched the entire world. It was common in the past for countries to name illnesses after other areas in order to evade blame; however, this method had since been extinguished and more formulaic approaches are used to identify new viruses. Unfortunately, this fault was placed anyway, and is plaguing the Asian community. In 2020, the virus was coined with the terms “Chinese Virus” and “Wuhan Virus.” The name was reiterated by many political figures, including the former president, Donald Trump, while he was in office (Abbott). Since such prominent figures were using this slang, it is not surprising it took hold and placed a bullseye on the backs of Asian people. Hate crimes against the Asian community increased by 150% in 2020 alone (Addo 2). People are being assaulted, stabbed, killed, and harassed simply because of their race. This hate has no excuse to stand on; viruses do not target people. Asian people are no more likely to contract or spread COVID-19 than a white person. In fact, this discrimination has actually helped increase the spread of the virus.

The stigmatization of Asian people created a sense of “positive illusion,” meaning that individuals were unknowingly spreading the virus because they only associated it with this specific population; thus, while keeping their distance from the Asian population, they continued socializing with every other population and fast-tracking it across the country (Demirtaş-Madran). This is one of the reasons it should be readily apparent that the pandemic is not only a health issue, but a human rights catastrophe, just as it was in 1900 Chinatown.

What’s Next?

The United States has not improved racial equality in the way that it should have in the past 100 years and this is quite evident through the methods implemented to try and eradicate disease. The Asian community is struggling now as it was in the 1900s, but they are not the only minority suffering. It is crucial for this country to get a handle on the discrimination it chooses to suppress. It may be a pandemic that exacerbates the issue now, but what’s next?

FIRST THEY CAME
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.

By Martin Niemöller

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