Politicization of virus fuels rise in hate crimes

The mass protests staged across the United States and many parts of the world in support of Asian Americans’ fight against the widespread and rising racial discrimination against them should drive home the message that the world’s self-proclaimed champion of human rights should stop pointing fingers at others and seek remedies for its own woes.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more Asian Americans have become the target of discrimination and abuse thanks to the “China virus” spite spouted by US politicians and media.

To gloss over the country’s incompetence in fighting the pandemic and shift the blame, some irresponsible US politicians and media have adopted racist rhetoric and stoked anti-Chinese sentiments, fueling hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.

According to a survey released on Wednesday by the Anti-Defamation League, an anti-hate organization headquartered in New York, some 17 percent of Asian Americans have experienced verbal harassment and physical threats, up from 11 percent a year ago.

Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based nonprofit social organization tracking incidents of violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, said it had received nearly 3,800 reports of abuse or attacks against people of Asian descent between March 2020 and February 2021.

The rise in the number of hate crimes against Asian Americans has ignited nationwide anger and calls for immediate action by the US government.

Responding to the growing outrage, President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced steps to protect Asian Americans against discrimination and violent attacks, which include establishing a Justice Department initiative to track reports of antiAsian hate crimes and expand its outreach to community organizations. The announcement comes two weeks after eight people, including six women of Asian descent, were shot and killed in Atlanta.

Asian Americans, of course, are not the only group subject to racial discrimination and social injustice as the US, touted as the beacon of human rights, has a long history of discrimination against African Americans and other disadvantaged groups.

The trial of police officer Derek Chauvin charged with the murder of African American George Floyd last year, which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, began on Monday.

True, when political, economic and social problems arise, ethnic minorities tend to be made a scapegoat. The Anti-Defamation League found the distribution of white supremacist propaganda in the US increased nearly twofold in 2020 from the year before.

But the racial discrimination in the US is obviously not just a symptom of distress during the pandemic, it has deep roots. As such, people around the world cannot help but ask why the US should feel it is in a position to lecture other countries on human rights.

It is high time the US fulfilled its own obligations to protect the rights of US citizens whatever their ethnicity and address the social injustices at home.