Dear Mr. President:
We are the Stanford University Asian Pacific American Alumni community. The current coronavirus pandemic outbreak is causing much fear among the American population. In times like these, some citizens will, unfortunately, look to scapegoat others and direct anger and violence towards them.
Because the outbreak initially occurred in a major city in China, and spread from there to much of the world, some misguided people have already been mistakenly directing their fear and anger toward Chinese Americans, or Asian Americans in general (or even those simply perceived to be Asian). Numerous incidents of harassment and physical assaults on Asians have already occurred around this country.
In recent statements, you have frequently referenced the coronavirus as a “Chinese virus,” or a “China virus,” defending this label as an accurate depiction of the origin of the virus, and as a defense against the false claim that the U.S. military may have brought the virus to China. However, such rhetoric also encourages others to blame all people of Chinese ancestry, and even Asians in general, for the misery caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) cites World Health Organization practices in naming new human infectious diseases, which suggests not formally calling diseases by geographic, country, cultural, or economic sector names, to avoid stigma against a specific population. As of March 25, 2020 the CDC itself stated: “Fear and anxiety can lead to social stigma, for example, towards Chinese or other Asian Americans...Stigma hurts everyone by creating more fear or anger towards ordinary people instead of the disease that is causing the problem.”
Racially-motivated harassment and violence against Asians in the United States has already repeatedly occurred, even during the mere infancy of the viral outbreak. As we head into the worst of the pandemic in the weeks to come, mass unemployment, hundreds of thousands of illnesses and hospitalizations, and potentially hundreds of thousands of deaths will occur here in the United States. In such trying and difficult circumstances, desperation and anger will increase exponentially, greatly elevating the risk of more frequent and more serious harassment and assault directed against Asians living in the United States.
We therefore ask you, Mr. President, going forward, to continue to no longer refer to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus,” or the “China virus.” We are not asking for an apology, nor looking to assign blame for past racist incidents. Indeed, we appreciate your comments on March 23, 2020, condemning virus-related harassment of Asian Americans. We ask that you continue in this positive direction by actively discouraging misguided elements of our society from taking out their fear and anger on innocent Asians living in this country. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Stanford University Asian Pacific American Alumni
Many thanks to SAPAAC member Girard Lau, ‘81, for initiating this statement.