Have you experienced Coronaracism? Report your story now
Diversity Arts Australia is pleased to support the COVID-19 Coronavirus Racism Incident Report Survey.
This reporting mechanism is a project by Erin Chew, Being Asian Australian, the Asian Australian Alliance in collaboration with Osmond Chiu, in partnership with Diversity Arts Australia and Democracy in Colour.
Racism on the rise
Update: View our survey findings here. Results will be continually updated.
Since January 2020, there has been an increase of incidents of racism coming out of the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic in Australia, for example see Maria Tran’s interview with Sophia and Rosa Do, who were the subject of a racist attack in Marrickville in Sydney, or these stories of racist attacks gathered by Being Asian Australia, including on Melbourne public transport and a man cracking a whip outside the Chinese consulate in Sydney. The media has also reported an 80% drop in business in Sydney’s Chinatown, parents refusing to allow Asian doctors to treat their children at Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, and a racist fake media release pretending to be from the Queensland Department of Health.
This racism is targeted at people with Chinese origins/East Asian origins but any person in Australia who is of Asian background is susceptible to this racism – this project aims to track and monitor racist attacks that are related to the pandemic.
Fight racism and racist stereotypes Speak out against racism wherever you see it, including calling out racist assumptions, racial profiling and stereotyping. Report racism to your State/ Territory body and federal bodies such as the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Racism. It Stops With Me campaign.
Also, visit the #UnityOverFear campaign where High-profile Asian-Australians have started petition to fight coronavirus-fuelled racism. Ming Long has also called for Australians of a non-Asian descent to stand with people against xenophobia through #IStandWithAsianAustralians.
In Victoria, Deakin University is supporting the Victorian Government project on tackling hate, which will include educational resources for practitioners working on tackling hate in Australia. Deakin University also has an open survey on Research on barriers to report hate crime in Victoria.
Artists hit back
Around the world, activists and artists are organising against this #coronaracism, ranging from calls for US Congress to denounce anti-racism around coronavirus, in an atmosphere where Asian Americans are being assaulted and subjected to racist rants in public, to the #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus hashtag launched by the French Asian community to respond to racially motivated attacks. It has inspired other languages to follow suit: #IamNotaVirus and #NoSoyUnVirus. These are joined by homegrown hashtags such as #iwilleatwithyou and #DontDumpTheDumplings to support Chinese businesses.
Diversity Arts has also heard many anecdotal cases of racism in the community and is currently gathering stories to aid our advocacy. Contribute your stories to the Diversity Arts – Lost Work Survey.
The arts and creative sectors can play a huge role in combating the stereotypes we know can fan the flames of racism and unconscious bias. Efforts such as Melbourne street artists @van_nishing ‘I am not a virus’ mural in Melbourne on Brock Way in Flemington, as well as Instagram artist campaigns are crucial to pushing back against racism in our community.
