The dark truth of Chinese racism in Australia
Written by Sean Christian Hui Yu LAW
The dark truth of Chinese racism in Australia
“Chinese racism” probably isn’t a term you hear a lot in the news or the mainstream media. In fact, it’s almost as if terms such as “ch*nk” or “dog-eater” have been normalised in school. These words are extremely offensive personally and culturally to Chinese people. I am of Chinese descent, and have been called the word “ch*nk” before. I was taken aback at how not a single person saw this as discriminatory. That’s when I got to thinking; how many Asians experience this?
After some research, I discovered that there is a significant rise of racism towards Chinese people. A recent survey of Covid-19 racism against Asian Australians recorded 178 incidents in two weeks. Majority of these incidents involved were racial slurs or name-calling (35%), followed by jokes (13%), verbal threats (9%) and being spat, sneezed or coughed on (8%). “Chinese people need to be clean”. When statements like that are made, we as a community need to start questioning ourselves, “Do we support racism? And if we don’t, what can we do to stop it?”
It's not just the Chinese people that face this kind of treatment. Asians such as South Koreans, Indians and Malaysians are all facing this problem. A Malaysian girl was evicted from her home because her landlord suspected she had Covid-19. A South Korean backpacker was assaulted on the streets for “bringing in Covid to Australia”. It is heartbreaking to see such incidents occur on a daily basis in Australia. That is why we need to educate everyone on what is happening. It is a known fact that Asian racism isn’t as broadcasted as racism towards black people, but let’s change that. To clarify I’m not trying to overshadow racism towards black people, rather create awareness about any race being susceptible to racism.