Race and Ethnicity in the Pandemic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v10i3.1264Keywords:
COVID-19, Racism, Ethnic Minorities, Discrimination, Health Disparities, Indigenous CommunitiesAbstract
This study begins with the historical understanding of race and its modern perspectives as a social construct amid social identity and critical race theories. Next, race and ethnicity are explored within the context of COVID-19, whereby those of non-white backgrounds are seeing different disastrous health outcomes and experiencing heightened levels of racism in the pandemic. Examples and analyses from around the world are then provided, which have resulted in health disparities and increased racism against non-white people, such as the high-rise apartment building disasters, rural Indigenous communities, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Adding fuel to the fire, there have been rumours internationally of certain ethnic groups carrying and spreading COVID-19.
References
Alter, Charlotte (2020, May 31). 'America Has Its Knee on People of Color.' Why George Floyd's Death Was a Breaking Point. Time. https://time.com/5845752/america-has-its-knee-on-us-george-floyds-death-was-a-breaking-point-protests/
AMP Research Lab. (2021). The Color of Coronavirus: COVID-19 Deaths by Race and Ethnicity in the U.S. https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2017). Census of Population and Housing: Reflecting Australia – Stories from the Census, 2016. https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2071.0~2016~Main%20Features~Apartment%20Living~20
Australian Human Rights Commission. (2020). Where’s All the Data on COVID-19 Racism? https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/opinions/wheres-all-data-covid-19-racism
Banton, M. (1979). The Idea of Race. Tavistock
Banton, M. (1987). Racial Theories. Cambridge University Press
Bhattacharyya, Rituparna & Pulla, Venkat(2020). Viewing Racism through Gendered Lenses. In Pulla, Venkat Rao., Bhattacharyya Rituparna, & Bhatt Sanjai (2020). Discrimination, Challenge, and Response: People of North East India. Palgrave Macmillan, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-46251-2_3, 31-55 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46251-2_3
Casciani Dominic (2018, March 2). Paul Moore Guilty of Leicester Hate Crime Car Attack, BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43246496
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020a). COVID-19 Hospitalization and Death by Race/Ethnicity. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-race-ethnicity.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020b). Health Equity Considerations and Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/race-ethnicity.html
Croucher, S. M., Nguyen, T., & Rahmani, D. (2020). Prejudice Toward Asian Americans in the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Effects of Social Media Use in the United States. Frontiers in Communication. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00039 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00039
Darder, A., & Torres, R. D. (2004). After Race: Racism after Multiculturalism. New York University Press
Dunn, K. M. (2003). Using Cultural Geography to Engage Contested Constructions of Ethnicity and Citizenship in Sydney. Social and Cultural Geography, 4(2), 153-165. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360309057 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360309057
Fang, J., Yang, S., & Xiao, B. (2020, April 22). Racist Coronavirus Graffiti Sprayed on Chinese-Australian Family’s Home in Melbourne. ABC. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-22/racist-coronavirus-graffiti-sprayed-on-family-home-in-melbourne/12170162
Gobineau, A. (1915). The Inequality of Human Races. (A. Collins, Trans). Heinemann, pp. 205–212
Gopalakrishnan, N., & Pulla, V. (2016). Beyond Cultural Competence: Working Across Cultures in a Globalized World. In V. Pulla (Ed.). The Lhotsampa People of Bhutan: resilience and survival (pp. 121-143). Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137551429_8
Government of South Australia. (2021). Aboriginal Communities COVID-19 Advice. SA Health. https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/conditions/infectious+diseases/covid-19/community/aboriginal+communities/aboriginal+communities+covid-19+advice
Hawkins, D. (2020). Differential Occupational Risk for COVID‐19 and Other Infection Exposure According to Race and Ethnicity [Brief Report]. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 63, 817-820. DOI: 10.1002/ajim.23145v DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.23145
Hearne, B. N., & Niño, M. D. (2020). Understanding How Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Shape Mask-Wearing Adherence During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the COVID Impact Survey. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00941-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00941-1
Human Rights Watch. (2020). Covid-19 Fueling Anti-Asian Racism and Xenophobia Worldwide. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/12/covid-19-fueling-anti-asian-racism-and-xenophobia-worldwide#
Kirby, T. (2020). Evidence Mounts on the Disproportionate Effect of COVID-19 on Ethnic Minorities. The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30228-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30228-9
Kurtzleben, D. (2020, April 20). Job Losses Higher Among People of Color During Coronavirus Pandemic. NPR. 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/04/22/840276956/minorities-often-work-these-jobs-they-were-among-first-to-go-in-coronavirus-layo
Lavalette, M., & Penketh, L. (Ed.) (2014). Race, Racism and Social Work: Contemporary Debates and Issues. Policy Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1332/policypress/9781447307082.001.0001
Law, I. G. (2012). Red Racisms, Racism in Communist and Post-Communist Contexts, Mapping Global Racisms. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137030849 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137030849
Law, I. G., & Kovats, M. (2018). Rethinking Roma: Identities, Politicisation and New Agendas, Mapping Global Racisms. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-38582-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-38582-6
Law, I. G., Jacobs, A., Kaj, N., Pagano, S., & Sojka-Koirala, B. (2014). Mediterranean Racisms, Mapping Global Racisms. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1057/9781137263476 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137263476
Lopez, L., Hart, L. H., & Katz, M. H. (2021, January 22). Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Related to COVID-19. JAMA. Doi:10.1001/jama.2020.26443 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.26443
Mansoor, S. (2020, June 3). We Don’t Fully Understand How Deadly the Coronavirus Has Been for Black Americans. That’s a Tragedy of Data. Time. https://time.com/5847050/coronavirus-protests/
Mason, G. (2012). ‘I am Tomorrow’: Violence Against Indian students in Australia and Political Denial. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 45(1), 4-25 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0004865811431330
Murray-Atfield, Y. (2020, July 5). Melbourne Public Housing Tower Resident Says Community is Being 'Treated Like Criminals' Amid Coronavirus Lockdown. ABC. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-05/coronavirus-lockdown-melbourne-public-housing-residents-speak/12423170
Ng, K. (2021, January 23). How British East And Southeast Asians are Fighting Racism During the Pandemic. Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-racism-hate-crime-south-east-asians-b1770177.html
O’Neill, A. (2017, October 17). Hate Crime, England and Wales, 2016/17. Statistical Bulletin 17/17. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2016-to-2017 not cited in the text
Parliament of Australia. (2020). COVID-19 and Indigenous Australians: A Chronology. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp2021/Chronologies/COVID19-IndigenousAustralians
Platt, S. (2020, September 5). 93% of Black Lives Matter Protests Have Been Peaceful, New Report Finds. Time. https://time.com/5886348/report-peaceful-protests/
Poynting, S., & Mason, V. (2007). The Resistible Rise of Islamophobia: Anti-Muslim Racism in the UK And Australia Before 11 September 2001. Journal of Sociology, 43 (1), 61-86. DOI: 10.1177/1440783307073935 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783307073935
Pulla, Venkat, Bhatta, Sanjai & Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2020). Discrimination, Challenge and Response: It's Time for Truth Telling. In Pulla, Venkat Rao., Bhattacharyya Rituparna, & Bhatt Sanjai (2020). Discrimination, Challenge, and Response: People of North East India. Palgrave Macmillan, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-46251-2_1,1-15 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46251-2_1
Pulla, V., & Woods, J. (2014). The Resilient Chinese in Australia: Ethnicity, Identity and ‘Chineseness.’ International Sociology, 29(5), 388–395. https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580914544430 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580914544430
Putnam, R. (2007). E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty‐first Century The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture. Scandinavian Political Studies, 30, 137-174. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9477.2007.00176.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9477.2007.00176.x
Quinn, C., & Grumbach, G. (2015) Critical Race Theory and the Limits of Relational Theory in Social Work with Women. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 24(3), 202-218. DOI:10.1080/15313204.2015.1062673 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2015.1062673
Razai, M., Knkam, H. K. N., Majeed, A., Esmail, A., & Williams, D. R. (2021). Mitigating Ethnic Disparities in Covid-19 and Beyond. BMJ, 372, 4921. https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.m4921 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4921
Rubin-Miller, L., Alban, C., Artiga, S., & Sullivan, S. (2020, September 16). COVID-19 Racial Disparities in Testing, Infection, Hospitalization, and Death: Analysis of Epic Data. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/covid-19-racial-disparities-testing-infection-hospitalization-death-analysis-epic-patient-data/
Saeed, A. (2007). Media, Racism and Islamophobia: The Representation of Islam and Muslims in the Media. Sociology Compass, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00039.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00039.x
Shah, A., Seervai, S., Paxton, I., Barlow, A., & Shah, T. (2020, August 12). The Challenge of COVID-19 and American Indian Health.The Commonwealth Fund. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2020/challenge-covid-19-and-american-indian-health
Silva, N. (2020, July 10). Why are Aboriginal communities better at preventing the spread of coronavirus? NITV. https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2020/07/10/why-are-aboriginal-communities-better-preventing-spread-coronavirus
Statistics Canada. (2021). Police-Reported Hate Crime, by Type of Motivation, Canada (Selected Police Services). https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510006601
Stein, R., & Ometa, O. (2020). When Public Health Crises Collide: Social Disparities and COVID-19. The International Journal of Clinical Practice. DOI: 10.1111/ijcp.13524 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.158872276.67970161
Sullivan, E., & Johns, R. (2002). Challenging Values and Inspiring Attitude Change: Creating an Effective Learning Experience. Social Work Education, 21(2), 217-231. DOI: 10.1080/02615470220126444 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02615470220126444
Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå). (2019). Hate Crimes 2018. https://www.bra.se/bra-in-english/home/crime-and-statistics/hate-crime.html
Sze, S., Pan, D., Nevill, C. R., Gray, L. J., Martin, C. A,. Nazareth, J., Minhas, J. S., Divall, P., Khunti, K., Abrams, K. R., Nellums, L. B., & Pareek, M. (2020). Ethnicity and Clinical Outcomes in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100630 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.05.20188821
Tate, S. A., & Law, I. (2015). Caribbean Racisms: Connections and Complexities in the Caribbean Region, Mapping Global Racisms. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137287281 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137287281
The Guardian. (2020). Sat 4 Jul 2020 Melbourne’s ‘Hard Lockdown’ Orders Residents of Nine Public Housing Towers to Stay Home as Coronavirus Cases Surge. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/04/melbournes-hard-lockdown-orders-residents-of-nine-public-housing-towers-to-stay-home-as-coronavirus-cases-surge
Tsirtsakis, A. (2020, March 27). Experts Warn ‘Racism Will Cost Lives’ During Coronavirus Response. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). GP News. https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/experts-warn-racism-will-cost-lives-during-coronav
Turner, B., & Khondker, H. (2010). Globalization East and West. SAGE DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446251089
US Department of Justice. (n.d.). Incidents and Offences. https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/incidents-and-offenses
US Department of Justice. (2019). Utah Man Charged With Hate Crimes For Attacking Three Men With Metal Pole. U.S. Attorney’s Office: District of Utah. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ut/pr/utah-man-charged-hate-crimes-attacking-three-men-metal-pole
Witte, R. (1996). Racial Violence and the State. A Comparative Analysis of Britain, France and the Netherlands. Longman
Xu, X. (2020). Data Shows an Increase in Anti-Asian Hate Incidents in Canada since Onset of Pandemic. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-data-shows-an-increase-in-anti-asian-hate-incidents-in-canada-since/
Yashadhana, A., Pollard-Wharton, N., Zwi, A. B., & Biles, B. (2020). Indigenous Australians at Increased Risk of COVID-19 due to Existing Health and Socioeconomic Inequities. The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanwpc.2020.100007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanwpc.2020.100007
Zakharov, N., & Law, I. G. (2017). Post-Soviet Racisms, Mapping Global Racisms. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-47692-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47692-0
Zwi, A. (2020, July 13). COVID-19 in Melbourne’s High-Rise Towers: Rights at Stake? UNSW Sydney. https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/covid-19-melbourne%E2%80%99s-high-rise-towers-rights-stake
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Venkat Pulla, Rachel Lafain, Rituparna Bhattacharyya
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Accepted 2022-11-22
Published 2022-11-28
