French magazine: "I am a walking virus" ... condemning discrimination against Asians

French magazine "Lonouville Observator" said that a day-care center's refusal to receive Asian children and comments on buses came in increasing testimonies from French of Asian origin, in which they see prejudice and racism against Asians in the context of fear of the spread of Corona virus in France.

As an example, the newspaper said that a salesman of Asian descent in a store exploded in tears after clients refused to take advantage of her service. In the same context, the newspaper "Courrier Picard" - before it apologized - put a prominent headline saying "yellow warning", referring to Asia.

They call it Corona
An Asian woman said on Twitter that an old woman had been staring at him on the train, fearful of infection with the Corona virus. And the mother of a student of Taiwanese origin called her "Corona". These acts were denounced by the "I'm not a virus" tag launched by an anonymous user to express disgust at the racism surrounding him.

The magazine recounted the unpleasant experience of student Shana Cheng, who boarded the bus in the Percy district of Paris, wearing a stethoscope that did not work, as I heard some of them say that "the Chinese there will bring us infection, so go back to her country." It also quoted a young Vietnamese man as saying, "It is sad to see that they think I am Chinese and I am not. At first I did not care, but the looks continued ... I had a virus that was walking on two legs, so I decided to pretend to cough for revenge ... I must We laugh at people's stupidity instead of being sad or angry. "

Change stereotypes
Disturbed, a web browser told the magazine that some families pointed their fingers to his mother at a grocery store in the capital, and one of them said, "Be careful ... there are Chinese and their virus," explaining that at first he did not bother because he is not Chinese, but he noticed that it is the only Asian in the place , And that the French took their children and withdrew.

This browser added that this virus would amplify prejudice against Asians, and "there is no longer any sense of shame, everyone has rode the wave," while a young Filipino of Chinese descent was warned to confuse the Chinese and the rest of the Asians, as Asians were described as kind, but now it is said About them, "They are strange eat bats, so how can they be surprised by death?"

French writer Grace Lee warns of "shaking" the stereotype of Asians, saying, "Have we moved from a typical minority image to a virus image? This shows that racism can affect anyone, and the only way to combat it is to reject positive and negative stereotypes."

As for the author, the anti-Asiatic reactions are nothing but manifestations of France that have not reconciled with its colonial past, and says if the news coming from the other side of the world is sufficient to remove the cap from all this hatred and racism, then the Corona virus will seem just an excuse.