Friday, 30 April 2021 _With the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic last year came an increase in hostility and racial abuse against Asians. And the Chinese community in Britain was no exception. Some of the abuse has been leveled against the very people putting their own lives on the line to save others.
Hate crimes against Chinese, East and Southeast Asians, and the horrific Atlanta shootings in the US threw the topic into stark relief. In Britain too, violence against Asians has become a bigger problem than it already was.
According to one statistic, hate crimes against Asians in Britain increased four-fold in the first quarter of last year, a trend that continues to this day.
Long before any lockdowns, Chinese and other Asians had already been facing abuse as a result of fear and misunderstanding stoked by internet conspiracies. Add to that, the impact of the former US president pointing the finger of blame for the pandemic at the Chinese.
Many of the victims have started telling their stories on social media where they’re receiving increasing attention. Among them, a growing number of Asian healthcare workers racially abused by a patient whose very life was helping save.
The thought of the UK being unsafe is a sentiment shared by British Asian healthcare workers. Some have thought of moving elsewhere but have had to stay because of the pandemic imposed restrictions on travel and immigration.
The easing or lifting of lockdown measures should ordinarily come as exciting news for many. But for the Asian community in Britain, among them frontline healthcare professionals, more people being out on the streets means more potential hate crimes against them.
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