By: Animesh, Connor, and Ondrea capitol hill protests & covid-19 impact on aapi communitiesHi everyone! Hope you all are doing well. This week we’re transitioning away from our personal lives and toward issues regarding COVID-19 in our own communities. Something we’ve started seeing in the news recently are protestors who are demanding to be let back into the workplace. These people want to go back to their jobs and are all over the United States. A couple of weeks ago, in Michigan, constituents marched into the state Capitol to protest the governor extending emergency powers. Signs compared the government to Hitler, repeatedly professed the freedom each American deserved, and were supplemented by a healthy array of MAGA apparel. Some of the protestors were even armed--all in an attempt to intimidate lawmakers into re-opening up the state. The people at the Capitol had a variety of motivations: some feared for their job safety and others believed the shutdown, and consequent recession, to be a liberal ploy to dethrone Donald Trump. Regardless of motivation, the storming of the Capitol--militia style--with armed protestors and breaking of social distancing is unacceptable behavior. In an attempt to advance their agenda, these protesters have also been using symbols and languages from other movements to hijack those same movements. Often, the language and symbols used in these protests are in conflict with those who are fighting in other movements such as the right to reproductive freedom. A woman in Texas reportedly held up a sign saying, “My Body, My Choice,” the same phrase used to protest for abortion rights. However, the symbol depicted a crossed-out face mask. People who are against stay at home orders use this strategy as a moment to show that it is somehow hypocritical to support people’s right to choose to have a medical procedure and the requirements they have to follow to protect public health like wearing a mask during a pandemic. Not only does it display dishonest propaganda, but it also jeopardizes the movement. Despite the viral picture, this was not the first time that protesters have been using this tactic. Along with that, the right-wing media have also continuously used this strategy to weaponize disinformation. Not only are these protestors against stay at home orders associated with the freedom to work during such times, but most of them are also part of other right-wing groups such as the Proud Boys, conservative armed militia groups, anti-vaccination groups, and other elements of the radical right. Their use of these phrases exhibits a wrong analogy through comparing public health measures to individual choice and misguides what the movement actually stands for. Moreover, minority groups are the most affected by these right-wing protests. These endeavors often characterize individuals with economic concerns as undemocratic or careless about COVID-19, when in reality, COVID related job loss is a serious issue--one that unfortunately affects API communities and women the most. The US Labor Department recently reported that of the 700,000 workers laid off in March, almost 60 percent of those were women. Similarly, Latinos and Asian Americans saw the greatest increases in unemployment rates, more than twice the increase of white Americans. In New York City alone, Asian-Americans saw a 6900% increase in unemployment--by far the largest increase experienced by any one racial or ethnic group. These statistics reflect both rising xenophobia and the high concentrations of women and API workers in the most targeted industries, such as food services, hotel, and retail stores. When groups perform demonstrations such as the march on Michigan’s Capitol, they not only ignore that those most affected are actually immigrant and minority communities, but also distract us from the fact that actual solutions are still needed.
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February 2023
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