Asian American Businesses (Grace Droski )
Fact Checked Source:
Julie Chang, "San Francisco Chinatown Affected By Coronavirus Fears, Despite No Confirmed Cases"
This story was aired by Julie Chang on February 26, 2020. Chang is an investigator for NPR's show All Things Considered. Chang Interviews multiple business owners from San Francisco's Chinatown. She addresses how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the Chinese business owners before the widespread shut down.
Chan says his business has seen 70- to 80% fewer people, especially during the recent Lunar New Year celebration. (0:57)
I wanted to investigate this point because I wanted to know the numbers behind the affected areas. I also wanted to see if similar events occurred in other areas. This was backed by similar reports from Hawaii's Chinatown from Star Advertiser. In which other businesses reported similar statistics like "The customers only represented 20% to 30% of a typical, pre-coronavirus shopping day at Kekaulike Market" (Nakaso 2020).
Don't need to be scared. We need you here. We need your motivation and encouragement. Please come. (1:30)
I wanted to focus on this quote because it showed how, like any other business owner, Chinatown businesses want our patronage. They also want intervention as This CBS article explains,"Many Chinese restaurants won't survive the coronavirus pandemic without targeted government intervention, advocates warn."(Alcorn 2020).
Lily Lo, who runs a nonprofit that helps small businesses in Chinatown, says she's heard from restaurant owners that they've had to cut employee hours. She says some restaurants only serve one table for the entire night. (2:03)
This is very impactful. I think this quote embodies what was happening at the time this interview was taken. KPIX 5, a San Francisco news station states, "Chinatown usually has about 150 Chinese restaurants in business, but now only 40 remain in operation." (KPIX 5, 2020). This shows the impact that the virus has had on the restaurant business.
Given the amount of travel between San Francisco and China, we understand a confirmed case in San Francisco is possible. (3:28)
I wanted to investigate what businesses were doing in order to combat possible positive cases in the area. Other businesses are trying to prepare as shown in this ABC 7 report. "We have been talking about a plan B, which is in this case, if this thing really blows up and people do start getting sick, especially in our neighborhoods and just in and around us how are we going to battle that? Do we close, do we only do takeout," said Elaine Chan of Peal River Deli." ( Flay 2020).
However, Vien says there are no current cases of the coronavirus in the city, and the public health department says it's important to remember that a person's risk depends on travel history, not on race, ethnicity or culture. (3:34)
I wanted to investigate the racial implications which coronavirus has had. I found an article which describes the historical impacts which pandemics have had on the Asian American Community. This was published in the Lancet. This article states,"The xenophobia that has occurred in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic can be situated in a longer history that dates back to 19th-century epidemics and the first international conventions on controlling the spread of infectious diseases."(White 2020).
Analytic Essay
The Storm Before the Calm, Asian American Businesses
During this pandemic, many people have been impacted dramatically. Most have been impacted in some way by the widespread government shut downs. Some were already being impacted long before the shut downs. One community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic are Asian Americans. Because the virus originated in Wuhan, China, Asian Americans have been targeted by racist attacks. No one has been hit harder than Chinese business owners in places like Chinatown in San Francisco. The virus has affected business there even before the widespread shut down. The fears of the virus have impacted businesses even before the stimulus checks started being distributed. This is described by an interview Julie Chang conducted with several Chinese business owners from Chinatown. My main focus will be on how Asian American business owners are being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Obviously like everybody in America, these business owners want to ensure everyone's safety. They want to be able to run their businesses with all that is going on. Many business owners around the country, especially small business owners, are struggling in these hard times. One main difference is that Asian American business owners have been struggling from before the shutdowns occured. People were afraid to go to these businesses because of superficial fears based off the owners’ race. The hardest hit areas by these racist discrimination are Asian Americans. This matters because these people don't want to lose their businesses. According to CBS “Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, 270 restaurants operated in New York's Chinatown, according to Wellington Chen, executive director of Manhattan's Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation. Only 40 remain open”. This would be worrying to any small business owner.
These business owners value having business. Some of these business, like in the case of Mr. Chen, have been in families for generations or are the only source of income for people. They obviously value having people in their businesses. They also value the safety of others. One business woman says “They (shoppers) shouldn’t be concerned as long as they wear a mask.” (Nakaso 2020). All good business owners want their business to thrive. The only issue is that people do not want to go into areas with a lot of Chinese people because they relate the coronavirus with them.
These people want everyone to know that Chinatown is open for business and they want people to come. They want to reach the people who might want to give them their business. They want to spread facts about how their businesses are starting to fail and they need the help of the public. The business owners want people to know that the issue of dwindling business and decreased patronage has been present from as early as February and only now is the government stepping in.
The facts that matter in the situation are that businesses are shutting down in these areas. It is reported that, “As of April 15, 59% of independent Chinese restaurants across America had completely stopped taking debit and credit card transactions, indicating they have ceased operations” (KPIX 5, 2020). The fact is that Asian American businesses are suffering because of the outbreak and fears around the virus.
The reason any of this is important is for people to recognize the implicit racism and xenophobia which has been inflicted on these people. For centuries, xenophobia has been a result of global pandemics. It has been known that, “The USA has a history of anti-Chinese sentiment in response to epidemics” (White 2020). This was not the first time the US reacted this way to a pandemic,”Similar anti-Chinese responses occurred in San Francisco during the plague epidemic of 1900–04, when Chinese-specific quarantines were enacted.”(White 2020). The main reason this type of discriminaton is so different is because not only are Asian Americans being discriminated against, they are losing their livelihoods. They cannot survive because people are not giving them their business. They have been impacted by this virus before the shut down and they will likely be impacted far beyond.
References
Chang, J. (2020, February 26). San Francisco Chinatown Affected By Coronavirus Fears, Despite No Confirmed Cases. NPR News. https://www.npr.org/2020/02/26/809741251/san-francisco-chinatown-affected-by-coronavirus-fears-despite-no-confirmed-cases
It is a interview with a woman who interviewed business owners. It comes from NPR. I can tell it comes from the perspective of Chinese business owners. This is because it is based off interviews with the business owners. The main purpose of the source is to show how the Coronavirus has impacted Chinese American business owners before the government shut down happened. The main idea is that people are afraid of Asian American communities. People are unfairly targeting Asian Americans before widespread cases came to America. It shows how the businesses of the Chinese Americans are being impacted by the virus. It also shows how this group was being impacted before the shut down occurred.