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Imlisanen Jamir
As public health officials have been addressing the medical dimensions of the coronavirus (COVAD-19) outbreak, another epidemic has been spreading much more quickly across the globe—racist fear-mongering.
While cases of xenophobia with regard to this virus have been reported from many places across the globe, closer home, there has been one case of a Naga woman being subjected to racial stereotyping in Mumbai because of the CONVAD-19 outbreak.
Allegedly, some people shot a video of the woman visiting her friend and made it viral claiming she had come from China and a potential coronavirus health hazard. There were also allegations of racist abuses being hurled and demands made that she vacate the premises of an apartment building.
The news, which grabbed headlines nationally, is just another example of how xenophobia has been intertwined with public health discourse for a very long time, against many different groups.
This stereotyping in relation to a disease outbreak which could have easily originated in any part of the world is deeply rooted in the fertile ground of a much more widespread xenophobia. Historically, in both popular and scientific discourse, contagious disease has often been linked, in a blanket way, to population groups thought to be ‘outsiders.
There’s a lesson here for us too as this is something which all communities are guilty of. While the COVAD-19 related cases pertain to people with East Asian features, how many times do people here look at the ‘others’ and develop stereotypes of hygiene based on ethnicities. The next time an outbreak occurs from some other ethnic majority region of the world, remember the typecasts subjected upon ‘us.’
The concern over coronavirus is understandable, but science, not stigma and exclusion, should guide both the community’s and individual’s responses. Instead of avoiding a place dominated by a certain peoples, or businesses run by them or their and cultural events, make an effort to patronize them as a form of solidarity — as long as people don’t forget to wash their hands, cover their coughs, and stay home if they are feeling sick.
As health officials in China and around the world seek to prevent the spread of this virus, the rest of us must prevent the spread of the racist condition of "fear of the foreigner" which predates and shall outlive this outbreak.
For now, there are two things to remember every morning when we get up: wash our hands and don’t be racist.
Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com
