key: cord-1024943-3y16j3ts
authors: Addo, Isaac Yeboah
title: Double Pandemic: Racial Discrimination amid Corona virus Disease 2019
date: 2020-10-20
journal: Social sciences & humanities open
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssaho.2020.100074
sha: 1cc4efefb7370841c4b5dcb7c1d2c2ef8cfa058f
doc_id: 1024943
cord_uid: 3y16j3ts

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen an escalation of racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour in many places around the world. While this COVID-19-related racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour has drawn much attention in the media space, the issue has been less discussed in academia. Given that racial discrimination has a significant impact on human relations, mental health, and general well-being, it is important to address the rising racial discrimination problem amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper discusses some of the emerging stories of racial discrimination associated with COVID-19 and presents viewpoints on why people are being abused and the socio-economic implications associated with the abuse. The paper concludes with few suggestions on how to address the COVID-19 related racial discriminations as the world continues to fight against the double pandemic.

For more than a half-century, racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour has persisted as an intractable social problem in several parts of the world [1] . While the origin of racial discrimination seems to be contestable in the critical race literature [2] , it is widely recognised that race-related discrimination can be traced as far back as the ancient period of colonialism and slavery [3] . Between the 16th and 18th centuries, for instance, racial discrimination was known to be prevalent in Europe's American colonies (e.g. Virginia). Amerindians were stereotypically regarded as inferior to Europeans and Africans were viewed as useful for slave labour [4, 5] .

Racial discrimination can be defined as "any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life" [6] . Declaration of Human Rights have been introduced by the UN to commit its members to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination [7] [8] [9] . Following that, the 2001 ground-breaking World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance was held in Durban, South Africa to promote a global discussion on how to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination [10] . The UN has also pegged March 21 st of every year as the international day for the elimination of racial discrimination to promote greater global awareness of the racial discrimination problem. Additionally, an agenda spanning from 2015 to 2024 has been framed by the UN to address racial discrimination against persons of African descent who are considered as one of the greatly affected racial victims in the world [1] .

Institutions have been formed in many countries to protect human rights, including the promotion of inter-racial acceptance [11] . The forming of such institutions has also influenced the passing of several laws that criminalise racial discrimination in some countries [11] . For instance, racial offenders in the United Kingdom (UK) under the Public Order Act 1986 face up to seven years imprisonment for "using, displaying, publishing, showing or distributing any words, images or J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f behaviour which are threatening, abusive or insulting" and which are intended or likely to spark race-related hatred. In Canada, offenders of racial discrimination also face two years imprisonment (or five years for advocating a genocide) [12] . Through advocacies, civil societies and movements, such as the global Black Lives Matter movement have also protested against racial injustice in several communities globally [13] .

As the UN, human rights institutions, governments, and civil society groups and movements continue to promote greater acceptance of people from different racial categories and encourage greater respect for human rights across the globe, the numerous reports of racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour in the fight against the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) demonstrate that more work is needed to achieve the UN's goal of eliminating all forms of racial discrimination. In almost every continent, there have been widespread reports of racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic [14, 15] . Several cases of racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour have received much attention on numerous media platforms. For instance, in the UK and the US, media reports have shown that COVID-19 morbidities and mortalities were disproportionately high among people of colour by the end of May 2020 [16] . However, the issue has been less discussed within academia and raceaggregated data is virtually non-existent in many countries. This appears to be a major limitation to recognising the negative implications of government policies against people of colour and visible minorities. Using news reports from credible media outlets as evidence, this paper discusses some of the unfolding racial discrimination stories associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and examines the implications of this disease-related racial discrimination for the future.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with a series of racial discrimination, especially, against people of East Asian and Southeast Asian appearance [17] . The surfacing of racial discrimination amid the COVID-19 pandemic warrants serious attention bearing in mind that the reported cases in the various media outlets and this paper are likely just a fraction of actual encounters. It is also important to be reminded that racial discrimination can be subtle resulting in underreporting of cases [18] .

Reports of racial discrimination against people of Asian (especially Chinese) appearance have, however, been noted in several news channels as it was being conveyed that COVID-19 originated from Wuhan in China [17] . In Australia, for instance, a dispute was J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f caught on camera showing a woman verbally abusing Asian Telstra workers at Miranda in Sydney [19] . The furious woman threatened one of the men of Chinese appearance that his entire family "would be deported" and shouted at the man to "go back to China". There have been similar reports of anti-Asian racism in several other places, including India, the United Kingdom, the United States, Israel, Jordan, the Philippines, and some African countries [17] .

In the United States, for example, the 'Stop AAPI Hate' forum has recorded more than 1,100 instances of anti-Asian abuse since late March 2020 [19] . In the north-eastern states of India, people of Chinese appearance have been facing racially motivated discrimination and have been blamed for bringing COVID-19 to India [20] . In an interview organised by Deutsche Welle (DW) news, one victim and his daughter were allegedly denied entry into their apartment on March 16 as the administrator of the building claimed they may be incubating COVID-19 [20] . On 10 March 2020, an Egyptian driver was also arrested in Egypt after a video showed the driver compelling a Chinese passenger to get out of his car at a highway in Cairo on an unfounded reason that the passenger has COVID-19 [21, 22] .

As COVID 19 has triggered anti-Asian racism in various places around the world, interestingly, it is being reported that the reverse is happening in China as the country experienced new waves of COVID-19 cases [17] . The Chinese government after declaring control of the pandemic has increasingly emphasised the threat of imported cases. China's National Health Commission reported that there had been few domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19 and that the new cases were largely from overseas [23] . Following these announcements in China, there have been several reports of racial discrimination against noncitizens and people of colour [17] . As businesses reopened in the country, racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour took an economic dimension as some Chinese shops and restaurants allegedly banned non-Chinese people from using their services. An Australian woman was reportedly attacked in China after attempting to breach this anti-foreigner abuse [24] . In Guangzhou, China, there have been reports of abuse against people of African appearance [17] . Chinese residents of African appearance were being evicted from their homes by landlords and prevented from entering public accommodations based on suspicion that they are incubating COVID-19, despite many claiming that they have had no recent travel overseas or come into contact with any COVID-19 patient [25] . In an interview between Cable News Network (CNN) and a number of the African immigrants in China, many shared their experiences on how they have been evacuated from their homes, been subjected to selective testing for COVID-19, and been selectively quarantined for 14 days, despite having no symptoms or contact with known COVID-19 patients [25] .

Another incident believed by many as racially motivated appeared on several international social media platforms when videos of two French doctors openly agreed on live television that the first vaccine trials for COVID-19 should be tested in Africa. In the video, one of the doctors said: "If I can be provocative, shouldn't we be doing this study (testing of vaccine) in Africa, where there are no masks, no treatments, no resuscitation?" "A bit like as it is done elsewhere for some studies on AIDS. In prostitutes, we try things because we know that they are highly exposed and that they do not protect themselves." This idea came after the other doctor had earlier questioned whether the study would work as planned on healthcare workers in Europe and Australia because they had access to personal protective equipment to prevent them from contracting the virus [26] . The remarks from the two doctors received backlashes from social media users in the following days who condemned the comments as racist. The remarks from the two doctors also drew criticism from a highranking figure in the World Health Organization who described the comments as a "hangover from a colonial mentality" [27] .

While emphasizing that racial discrimination should not be encouraged for any reason, it is important to recognise why it occurs to elicit a better understanding of how to address the problem. Factors associated with the racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour during this pandemic are complex and may include post-colonial perception of racial superiority, fear of COVID-19 infection, 'inflammatory' comments by significant public figures, vengeance for fellow citizens who have experienced abuse elsewhere, and perception of differences in COVID-19 susceptibility due to differences in phenotypic physical features.

History has shown that the human population has long been divisive with perceptions that people of different appearances have different abilities and natural dispositions [28] . This form of reasoning in the pre-civil rights era has motivated unequal treatments of people across different racial categories with evidence showing that rights and privileges have, for a long period, been distributed unequally as in the 'Nazi crisis' as well as the apartheid systems that existed in South Africa, Australia, Israel, and the United States [29] [30] [31] [32] . Colonisation and slavery in the early 1800s, particularly, in Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Southern Pacific are other classic examples of the past associated with racial discrimination [33] . Notably, there was a massacre of Tasmanians (in Australia) and the Maori population (in New Zealand) in the late 18th and early 19th centuries [33] . By 1850, Robert Knox (a famous English anatomist) falsely declared that race and intelligence are linked and concluded that J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f people of colour were intellectually inferior [33] . The studies of Knox and others influenced the Eugenics movement in the 20th Century but it was later revealed that his conclusion was based on the autopsy of only one man of colour [33] . Between the 19th and 20th centuries, more than 600 distinctive legislations against the rights and privileges of Asians were passed in Europe which prevented Asians from obtaining citizenship and somewhat allowed for the murder of Asians with impunity [33] . These ancient colonial ideas of racial superiority for particular groups of people may still be internalised by perpetrators of racial discrimination today.

In correspondence with the report of Devakumar, Shannon [14] , fear of COVID-19 may also be contributing to the racial discrimination problem. Instances of regional discrimination against Wuhan natives in other provinces of China, such as people being refused entry into hotels, have been noted in some media reports [17] . Given this example, it is tempting to simplistically assume that perpetrators of racial discrimination against noncitizens and people of colour do so to prudently protect themselves from COVID-19

infection. It is however important to bear in mind that the vast majority of victims of racial discrimination in China were people of colour rather than citizenry [17] .

As COVID-19 spreads across borders, some social media users, media personalities, celebrities, and political leaders have made comments that may have encouraged racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour. For example, a former deputy prime minister of Italy attributed the early spread of COVID-19 in Italy to asylum seekers of African descent [14, 34] . In another instance, a president of a nation referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as the 'Chinese virus', linking the health threat to foreign policy and trade negotiations [35] . At one point in time, two UN human rights experts had to appeal to the Bulgarian government to stop hate speech and racial discrimination against the Roma minority in its response to COVID-19 [36] . The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also underscored that the names of new diseases should not be tagged with people or places where it was first detected [17] .

Some cases of racial discrimination may have been motivated by a desire for vengeance for fellow citizens or people of the same racial category who have reported racial abuse elsewhere. For instance, there have been reports of growing tensions between Chinese people in Nairobi and Kenyan citizens due to the abuse of Kenyans and some other African nationals in China [37] .

Another factor that may be associated with the racial discrimination against noncitizens and people of colour during this pandemic is the differences in phenotypic physical J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f features across racial categories [28] . As humans have distinct phenotypic physical features of the face and body, such as skin colour, hair colour, and eye colour, these differences in physical appearance may have triggered some thoughts of differences in COVID-19 susceptibility, transmissions, and incubation periods across different racial categories [28] .

The COVID-19 pandemic and its ramifications of racial discrimination continue to have a serious socio-economic impact on victims and societies. Globally, millions of people have been infected with the virus, hundreds of thousands have died, countries have closed their borders, cities have been put on lockdown, businesses have stalled, jobs have been lost, schools have been closed, and social life has been disrupted [14] . The racial discrimination associated with the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified existing health vulnerabilities of non-citizens and people of colour [14, 38] . Highly infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 often increase pressure on limited health care resources [14] . In the presence of a biased society that often favours citizens of a country, non-citizens and people of colour face a higher risk of infection and mortality from COVID-19. A typical example is the case in America where communities inhabited mostly by people of colour emerged as the 'hotspots' and zones for COVID-19 transmission and deaths [39] . The risk of infection and death from COVID-19 may even be higher for undocumented immigrants who are likely to avoid medical attention as they face an additional risk of detention and deportation [38] .

Moreover, an experience of racial discrimination in this pandemic period can exacerbate mental health distress associated with the fear of contracting COVID-19 [40] .

Victims of racial discrimination in this pandemic era are likely to express feelings of sadness, anger, depression, and constant fear [40, 41] . These negative energies which are often associated with an experience of racial discrimination can lead to lifelong hatred and intolerance towards people of different racial categories [41] .

period has the potential to also disrupt global trade and economic ties. Before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries had arranged trade agreements [42] . As Non-citizens and people of colour often provide essential hard labour and income to host countries. Studies have shown that this category of people often earn a low income, face labour exploitations, and do not have access to citizenry benefits, such as paid leave, and access to income support [43] [44] [45] . In this pandemic era, several policies have been imposed by many governments that have put migrant communities and people of colour in devastating conditions. In Australia, for instance, an extensive survey conducted in March and April 2020 has shown that 65% of overseas visa holders lost their jobs during this pandemic, 43% were skipping meals regularly, 34% have become homeless, and 39% did not have enough money for daily upkeep, and yet, were neglected and advised to go back to their countries of origin by the government [46] . These problems were accompanied by escalated racial discrimination against them, and the risk of unemployment and economic hardships may increase among this vulnerable group of people. To some extent, governments imposing discriminatory policies against non-citizens and people of colour may also lose financial benefits gained through income taxes [15] .

Racial discrimination has no place in society, and certainly, not in this time of COVID-19 pandemic. As the epicentre of the disease outbreak continues to shift from place to place, urgent measures need to be developed to reduce the increasing cases of racial discrimination.

The UN, human rights institutions, governments, and citizens of countries should increase advocacies against racial discrimination. It needs to be understood that this pandemic is a global problem and that discriminating against non-citizens and people of colour will only worsen existing vulnerabilities for people.

As some citizens are likely to continue propagating anti-migrant sentiments during this disease outbreak, people (particularly, other citizens) need to stand against such sentiments, especially, when they occur in their presence. A good example has been noted in Egypt where an Egyptian was admonished for abusing a man of Chinese appearance. Some Egyptians visited the Chinese man in his hotel and expressed an apology to him for the incident, and condemned the act as bullying and racist [21, 22] .

Criminalisation of racial discrimination and associated penalties should be promoted and intensified in countries by political leaders and existing powers. This can assist with J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f reducing both overt and subtle display of racial superiority and discrimination against noncitizens and people of colour [47] .

Considering the possibility that racial discriminatory behaviour can be learned and unlearned [48] , promotion of racial tolerance and acceptance among children in schools can be a useful long-term approach for eliminating racial discrimination against people of colour and ethnic minorities. Places of social gatherings, such as work, hospitals, sports avenues, can intensify advocacies against racial discrimination.

It is important to always understand that our differences should complement rather than reprove one another. Expression of love, understanding, patience, and tolerance towards one another will make the world a better place to live in.

The author declare that he has no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

1 Dear Editor-in-Chief, A big thanks to you and the reviewers for your recommendations. I have addressed all the comments from the reviewers as shown in 'red' below:

Reviewer 1: Thank you for submitting your revisions. I have no substantive comments to add, save for a few minor edits/corrections which may be added in the editing/proofing stage:

On page 1, the International Bill of Rights is composed of the ICCPR, the ICESCR and the UDHR (so three instruments -not two, as currently listed).

The components of the International Bill of Rights have been changed from two to three on Page 2 as recommended by the Reviewer:

"The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Bill of Human Rights which comprises the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been introduced by the UN to commit its members to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination [7] [8] [9] ." It would also be useful to list the year of the World Conference Against Racism in Durban.

The year the World Conference Against Racism in Durban occurred has now been included on Page 2 as follows:

"Following that, the 2001 ground-breaking World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance was held in Durban, South Africa to promote a global discussion on how to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination [10] "

The Black Lives Matter movement is also not so much civil society as it is an entire movement (so suggest changing to: "civil societies and movements such as the global Black Lives matter movement..."

The phrase has been extended to include movements as shown on Page 2: "Through advocacies, civil societies and movements, such as the global Black Lives Matter movement have also protested against racial injustice in several communities globally [13] ." On page 2, I suggest changing the word "far-fetched" -it implies that the change is intrinsically difficult to achieve, when it really shouldn't be, if principles of equality were respected globally.

J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f 2 The word 'fat-fetched' has been deleted and the sentence has been rephrased on page 3 as follows: "As the UN, human rights institutions, governments, and civil society groups and movements continue to promote greater acceptance of people from different racial categories and encourage greater respect for human rights across the globe, the numerous reports of racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour in the fight against the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) demonstrate that more work is needed to achieve the UN's goal of eliminating all forms of racial discrimination" On page 5, I'd recommend changing "Factor(s) associated with the racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour during this pandemic is complex" to simply "factors associated...are complex" (more streamlined for readers).

The sentence on page 5 has been streamlined for readers as suggested by the reviewer:

"Factors associated with the racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour during this pandemic are complex and may include post-colonial perception of racial superiority, fear of COVID-19 infection, 'inflammatory' comments by significant public figures, vengeance for fellow citizens who have experienced abuse elsewhere, and perception of differences in COVID-19 susceptibility due to differences in phenotypic physical features" Also on page 5, the following sentence "It is however important to bear in mind that the vast majority of victims of racial discrimination have been people of colour rather than citizenry" could be clarified. Are you referring to China in this sentence? If so, should add this to sentence.

The sentence, which can now be seen on Page 6, has been clarified by the inclusion of China as follows: "It is however important to bear in mind that the vast majority of victims of racial discrimination in China were people of colour rather than citizenry [17] ." On page 7, "people" can be removed in the reproduced sentence, as the next sentence clarifies the subject (i.e., victims): "Moreover, racial discrimination amid the risk of COVID-19 infection can lead to double mental health distress [for people]". Just to clarify, does the source actually quantify the distress (i.e., is it really double) or do you mean it aggravates the mental health distress that is already there? if the latter, would clarify as such.

The word people has been deleted and the sentence has been clarified on Page 7 to imply that experience of racial discrimination can aggravate mental health distress associated with fear of contracting COVID-19: "Moreover, an experience of racial discrimination in this pandemic period can exacerbate mental health distress associated with the fear of contracting COVID-19 [40] ."

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The following sentence "These negative energies which are often associated with an experience of racial discrimination can lead to lifelong hatred and intolerance towards people of different racial categories" may need a reference (if not already covered in prior citation). A citation has been provided as advised by the reviewer: "These negative energies which are often associated with an experience of racial discrimination can lead to lifelong hatred and intolerance towards people of different racial categories [41] In the Conclusion, I would remove first part of first sentence ("although desperate times call for desperate measures") --this seems to indicate that racial discrimination may be justified on some level. I believe most would agree that it cannot be justified. Would just start at "Racial and discrimination...has no place in society, and most certainly not in this time of COVID-19 pandemic"Thank you for this excellent observation. The sentence on page 8 now reads: "Racial discrimination has no place in society, and certainly not in this time of COVID-19 pandemic"In the final sentence, I would suggest removing this part, as it implies that being of a certain skin colour is inherently undesirable "no one is responsible for his/her racial category". It would suffice to say that our differences should complement rather than reprove one another (as already written).As advised by the reviewer, the phrase has been deleted and the sentence now starts as follows: "It is important to always understand that our differences should complement rather than reprove one another." J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f 4 REVIEWER 3 Reviewer 3: This is a useful and ambitious commentary that captures some of the diverse manifestations of racial discrimination in the response to the pandemic, and provides insight into some of the causes behind it. The paper's attention to forms of discrimination outside the United States and Europe should be commended, as should its willingness to examine different possible drivers of this discrimination. Thank you! To improve, the paper could provide more precision and detail on the historical context behind the ideas of racial superiority and racial threat it identifies in the present pandemic. This does not need to be a large addition, but a case of adding a couple of sentences describing context and suggesting specific historical examples. In my comments below I have highlighted where these additions could be made.p.2 The first line says that racial discrimination has existed for more than half a century, but the early paragraphs only address history post-1945 -it would be good to emphasise that race is entangled with long histories of slavery, colonialism etc, before focussing in on UN definition of racial discrimination. This is especially important given the mention of a 'hangover from a colonial mentality' on p.4 and the 'pre-civil rights era' on p.5A brief historical context of racial discrimination before 1945 has been included on page 2 as follows:"For more than a half century, racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour has persisted as an intractable social problem in several parts of the world [1] . While the origin of racial discrimination seems to be contestable in the critical race literature [2] , it is widely recognised that race-related discrimination can be traced as far back as the ancient period of colonialism and slavery [3] . Between the 16th and 18th centuries, for instance, racial discrimination was known to be prevalent in Europe's American colonies (e.g. Virginia). Amerindians were stereotypically regarded as inferior to Europeans and Africans were viewed as useful for slave labour [4, 5] ." p.2 Maybe replace 'several reports' with 'widespread reports' to better capture scale of racial discrimination in relation to covid-19 The phrase 'several reports' has been replaced with 'widespread reports' as follows: "In almost every continent, there have been widespread reports of racial discrimination against non-citizens and people of colour in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic [14, 15] " J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f 5 p.3 There is some confusion in the description of the incidents between the terms anti-Chinese and anti-Asian -I'd suggest anti-Asian is more appropriate as a catch-all term given that this racism is not solely intended for Chinese nationals, nor solely directed at them, and given the uncertainty of what constitutes 'Chinese appearance.' On page 4, anti-Chinese has been replaced with anti-Asian as follows: "As COVID 19 has triggered anti-Asian racism in various places around the world, interestingly, it is being reported that the reverse is happening in China as the country experienced new waves of COVID-19 cases [17] " However, the term 'Chinese appearance' has been reserved in certain contexts where the racial discrimination occurred in an Asian country to avoid confusing readers, as shown in the following example: "In the north-eastern states of India, people of Chinese appearance have been facing racially motivated discrimination and have been blamed for bringing COVID-19 to India [20] " p.5 In the second paragraph, it would be good to maybe take two examples of historical events and explain how they are related to the development of race (e.g slavery in the United States and French colonialism in Africa), this would help explain where ideas of racial superiority come from Three historical events have been added on pages 5 and 6 as suggested by the reviewer: "Notably, there was a massacre of Tasmanians (in Australia) and the Maori population (in New Zealand) in the late 18th and early 19th centuries [33] . By 1850, Robert Knox (a famous English anatomist) falsely declared that race and intelligence are linked and concluded that people of colour were intellectually inferior [33] . The studies of Knox and others influenced the Eugenics movement in the 20th Century but it was later revealed that his conclusion was based on the autopsy of only one man of colour [33] . Between the 19th and 20th centuries, more than 600 distinctive legislations against the rights and privileges of Asians were passed in Europe which prevented Asians from obtaining citizenship and somewhat allowed for the murder of Asians with impunity [33] ." p.7 Replace 'frowned upon' with something stronger -e.g condemned, rejected. The phrase 'frowned upon' has been deleted and the sentence which can now be found on Page 8 has been rephrased as follows:"Racial discrimination has no place in society, and most certainly not in this time of COVID-19 pandemic" 

X The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.☐The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Declarations of interest: none J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f