Iowa’s Asian Community Experience Increasing Racism Under COVID-19 Pandemic
By Shiyu Xu
During the pandemic, the Asian community has confronted the dual-threat: the infection of the Covid-19 virus and the infliction of xenophobic assaults.
In one of the whitest states in the country, the Asian community in Iowa has become more vulnerable to the increasing racial tension under the ongoing pandemic.
Shu Wan, a graduate student from the University of Iowa, launched a project called “An Oral History of Iowa’s Chinese Americans and Nationals Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic”, which conducts oral history research in three major towns in Iowa, including Ames, Iowa City, and Des Moines.
Through the research, many Asian individuals shared their experiences during the ongoing pandemic.
Rachel Li, a sophomore majoring in medical anthropology and music, has faced racism incidents while being on the University of Iowa campus.
When the U.S. began reporting its first COVID-19 cases in February, Li attended a comedy event hosted at the Iowa Memorial Union where an individual in the audience stood up and made a COVID-19 joke towards Asian Americans.
“I was one of maybe three Asians there,” Li said. “The host called him out, and I ended up approaching him to stand up for myself. He ended up leaving after he was confronted by both me and the host.”
During this fall semester, Li was walking on the UI campus surrounded by white students, when a maskless woman put her hand up to her face when she approached Li and immediately dropped it as soon as she passed her.
Caitlyn Valencia, a Filipino third-year and first-generation student, says she is frustrated with the racist language used to describe the virus.
“I don’t feel welcome here, and it’s not right because America is supposed to be built off of diversity,” Valencia said. “It’s sad that now privilege includes being looked at as a person instead of a scapegoat. Nowadays being Asian also means being viewed as a target for blame.”
Iowans of Asian or Pacific Islander descent make up 2.7 percent and 0.1 percent of Iowa’s population, according to the State Data Center, with Des Moines, Ames and Iowa City having the largest numbers. That percentage is projected to grow to 4.4% by 2050.
(The chart below shows the total positive cases among each race in Iowa. Among the minority races, Asian’s number is very close to the number for those who identify as black.)
(Although Asians only account for less than 3% of the Iowa population, they are suffering as much as the other racial minority groups.)
(The graph down below shows the number of deaths from Covid-19 among each racial group in Iowa. Similar to the total case number, the death number for Asians in the state is very close to the black and hispanic community.)
(With its population being less than 3% in the state, the death rate for Asian community is about 1.4%.)
According to Iowa state’s Covid-19 data, more than 223,500 people have tested positive as of November 29. Among them, around 4,392 are Asian. The death rate for the Asian community in the state is 1.4%.
The Iowa Civil Rights Commission has received two race discrimination complaints filed by Asians so far this year, said Elizabeth Johnson, executive director of the commission. There were eight in 2019 and 12 in 2018. Eleven were filed in 2017 with eight in 2016.
Johnson said that under the Iowa Civil Rights Act, any person has 300 days from the last discriminatory incident to file a complaint alleging discrimination. “Therefore, it is entirely possible that many claims alleging discrimination related to COVID-19 have not yet been filed.”
To keep track of incidents in Iowa, the Asian alliance has created an online form where community members can submit reports of harassment and discrimination.