Iowa’s Asian Americans Experience Increasing Racism Under COVID-19 Pandemic
By Shiyu Xu
Rachel Li is a sophomore majoring in medical anthropology and music at University of Iowa. When the U.S. began reporting its first COVID-19 cases in February, Li attended a comedy event hosted at the Iowa Memorial Union. During the event, 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.
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 Chinese nationals and immigrants in Iowa are vulnerable to the increasing racial tension in their everyday life.
Shu Wan, a graduate student from 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.
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% and 0.1% of Iowa 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.
According to Iowa state’s Covid-19 data, more than 221,000 people have tested positive as of Dec.3. Among them, around 6,254 are Asian. The death rate for Asian community in the state is 1.4%.
The chart below shows the total positive cases among each race in Iowa. Among the minority races, Asian’s number is the second highest, following those who identify as black.
The Iowa Civil Rights Commission has had 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,” she wrote by email to the Register and IowaWatch.
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 the second highest, following the black community.
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.
Reports show racial discrimination against Asians and Asian-Americans have increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have already been almost 2,600 reported cases of anti-Asian discrimination in the U.S. between March and July 2020. More than half of Asian Americans are worried about being subject to COVID-19-related hate crimes and discrimination, according to the 2020 Asian American Voter Survey.