“We tend to dislike something that lies beyond our comprehension and have the urge to blame someone else for something that we cannot understand” This one liner might be the best way to express DotDesign’s conclusion on the perpetual covid-19 pandemic and its correlation with the rise of violence towards Asian-descents. The mass-shooting in the Atlanta area that left 6 Asian-descents dead saddened our hearts while the assaults directed towards Asian women and elderly across the U.S troubled our consciousness. In 2020 alone, almost 4000 cases across North America were reported by the Stop AAPI Hate reporting centre. It sparks outrage and it does deserve attention! 

Violence towards Asians in America is not a crime that arises at random intervals. It has been part of the American history and tends to relapse during times of national crisis. Xenophobia and scapegoating are two underlying factors that encourage Americans to commit hate crimes towards their fellow Asian-American settlers, however, as widely-discussed on the public discourse, the primary reason we experience a tsunami of hatred towards the Asians across the globe was the association of Chinese people with the novel virus of covid-19 propagated by political leaders and the most importantly, by the former president Trump who used buzzwords, such as “Chinese virus” and “Kung Flu” to denote covid-19.

Indeed, people feel a deepening sense of despair, vulnerability and anger due to the long confinement, let alone the psychological effect of losing family members, jobs and homes. And it’s easy to buy the irresponsible rhetoric and put the blame on a certain group to make us feel better.  But, there is one thing that we should not overlook. It is the fact that the Asians also experience the same loss.

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