编者按：2020年2月3日，华尔街日报刊登了一篇文章，标题是“中国是真正的亚洲病夫”，并称目前国内深受其害的新冠病毒为“共产主义病毒”（点击文末“阅读原文”）。不少美国华人对这样的标题感到不舒服，联想到以前中国人被称为“东亚病夫”的历史，认为媒体在挑起对华人的歧视。陶晴女士起草了一份给华尔街日报和其它主流媒体的公开信，并得到了多个美国华人组织的支持。这封信已于2月7日发给了如下媒体：New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and all Cincinnati local and regional media outlets.When news of the coronavirus outbreak originated from Wuhan, China caught fire on the Internet before the Chinese New Year, many Chinese American communities were concerned about the safety of their families back in China and the precautionary steps they could take to prevent and limit the spread of the virus. They were equally nervous about anti-Chinese stigma and xenophobia fueled by fear and misinformation, which became a reality overnight.While there were only 12 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. as of February 6, many Chinese Americans and their children, became targets of “harmless jokes”, intentional avoidance, and discrimination. One Chinese American was teased by a colleague when he showed up at work because his colleague thought “all Chinese were hiding”; another was told that his badge might contain the virus when he attempted to renew it; children were told by their classmates that they should be quarantined because of their Chinese heritage.The situation is made worse by irresponsible media outlets that choose to use images of Asian people wearing facemasks or derogatory racist titles bearing little connection to the contents of the story. On February 3, Wall Street Journal published an opinion article titled: China is the Real Sick Man of Asia penned by Walter Russel Mead. The author was trying to use a “clever metaphor” to make a point that the Chinese financial market may be even more dangerous than its wildlife markets, which were an unconfirmed source for the coronavirus. The term “Sick Man of Asia” evokes painful memories of China and the Chinese being exploited, invaded, and looted by the western colonial powers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It mocks Chinese people as being weak and unable to defend themselves. Wall Street Journal’s tolerance for this type of racist and insensitive language is unacceptable.Communities of color being stigmatized, mocked, and associated with diseases is unfortunately nothing new, and it seems that only some outbreaks are racialized. Neither swine flu (H1N1), which originated in North America, nor mad cow disease, which primarily affected the United Kingdom, generated a racial or ethnic backlash of this magnitude. The flu has resulted in 10,000 deaths in the U.S. in the past year. Yet, diseases like SARS and the new coronavirus that emerged in China, or Ebola in Africa, consistently correlate with xenophobia and a lack of compassion for victims.We in the Chinese American and Asian American community urge the media to decouple people from the origin of the virus and take care to avoid insensitive language that contributes to racial profiling and xenophobia. We demand that Wall Street Journal in particular retract that op-ed and issue an apology to the Asian American community. We are not a clever title that adds color to your stories. We are human beings whose lives can be profoundly disrupted because of your ignorance.Ohio Chinese American Association
Society of Chinese American Professors and Scientists, Cincinnati
Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs, Ohio State Chapter
Mason Huaxia Chinese School
Westlake Chinese Culture Association
Greater Cincinnati Chinese Cultural Exchange Association
Cincinnati Sichuan-Chongqing Friendship Association
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