Stop Being Xenophobic. You Don't Even Wash Your Hands.

The amount of xenophobia I've witnessed amid the coronavirus "outbreak" has been disheartening yet comes as no surprise to me. I just watched a video that a young Asian woman posted of this kind of ignorance she recently experienced on the subway. As soon as she took a seat on the train, the lady across from her hysterically covered her face with the paisley scarf she was wearing around her neck. Not only was the video disgusting, the comments justifying her actions were completely grotesque. "She was just taking sanitary precautions" commented a lady whose profile picture is her kissing her dog. 

The lack of compassion and Purell that many of you have has truly given me pause. I watch many of you cough without covering your mouths, sneeze into your hands, and trust a pot luck with no problem. Some of y'all even sit on public toilet seats bare. Yet, the coronavirus hits the news and now you're side-eyeing every Asian person who comes your way? Your unhygienic habits would be a good place to start. Stop pretending your response is not coming from a place of bigotry. Do us a favor and lie less and Lysol more. Seasonal flu has killed more people than the coronavirus has. Even if that weren't the case, the xenophobia that has been rained upon the Asian community is inexcusable. 

In 2020, we should not see a community of people's businesses suffering and being subjected to racist attacks and rhetoric. Basically, we should not be experiencing this level of ignorance when google is free. Adults, check yourself and check your children. This is absolutely shameful. The best thing we can do at this time is to wash our hands without waiting for the media to tell us to and call out ignorant behavior as soon as we see it. No one should be comfortable making anyone feel like a pariah just because of their ethnic background. There are many viruses and harmful bacterial illnesses out there to be concerned about. Being racist is not going to help cure any of them. Educate yourselves and cover your damn mouth when you cough, not because of the coronavirus. Do it because you should be doing that anyway!