One of the many sad realities of the coronavirus outbreak is that since its origin is traced to China, a good number of the racist and xenophobic among us believe anyone who is of Asian origin is to be shunned and ostracized completely.
Natalie Chou, basketball player for UCLA, has experienced this first hand being Asian herself and playing in a city – Los Angeles – with a huge Asian population. She is also aware that a sizable number of people – one in particular who resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – have used derogatory two-worded phrases to describe the disease, as if every person from Asia has Covid-19.
Chou took to Twitter and let everyone know of how hurtful it is to associate coronavirus with race.
❗️❗️❗️ pic.twitter.com/yuFjFB9RQe
— Natalie Chou (@NatalieChou1) March 21, 2020
Chou shed further light on the racism in an article with ESPN’s Charlotte Gibson. Chou mentioned how she flew from Los Angeles to Dallas after the NCAA canceled its basketball tournaments and that the glances she would encounter from her fellow passengers were anything but welcoming.
I know how something as simple as changing the name of the virus can create real hurt. To call this pandemic anything other than the technical name it has been given is disrespectful and ultimately racist. Calling it the ‘Chinese Virus,’ the ‘Hong Kong virus,’ the ‘kung-flu’ or anything of that sort is racist. There is absolutely no need to refer to the coronavirus in this way. It is not witty or funny. It is ignorant, insensitive and prejudiced.
–Natalie Chou (ESPN, Charlotte Gibson)
Chou talked about the increase in discrimination and harassment that has come the way of Asian Americans since the coronavirus began being referred to in certain corners of the public by these two-worded phrases linking the virus to Asia.
After I landed in Dallas, I went to hang out with a small group of friends in my hometown of Plano, Texas. We all caught up and began talking about the craziness we are all living in. As a joke, an acquaintance in the group referred to the coronavirus as the ‘Hong Kong virus.’ At the moment, I was shocked and didn’t know how to respond. I ended up not saying anything and walked away and left the conversation.
–Natalie Chou (ESPN, Charlotte Gibson)
She later acknowledged that the tweet she wrote with the three red exclamation points was a result of the conversation she had after arriving back in Plano.
I had family and friends peer edit it for any mistakes. In this political climate, now more than ever, the country is so divided, and I knew that my message would be received with two very opposing perspectives: love and hate. But with the platform I have, as a student-athlete, I felt it was my duty and obligation to stand up for myself, for my family, for my community.
–Natalie Chou (ESPN, Charlotte Gibson)
Chou is a transfer to the Bruins from Baylor.
She talked about how it was to grow up in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs while also being conditioned to conform to Chinese cultural norms. In addition, she also detailed how she received her typical dose of the “stick to sports” treatment from others with her being a basketball player. Chou says she has seen racism and discrimination first hand being on a team at UCLA with plenty of African Americans and noticing how they are regular victims of these atrocities.
Our whole world is under attack. We are all facing a common enemy. Not a person, a country, but a thing – a virus. And we need one another to get through this.
–Natalie Chou (ESPN, Charlotte Gibson)
