UNHEARD: Asian Australians Reveal How Harmful The Pandemic Was For Anti-Asian Hate

The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on communities, societies and countries all over the world.

While there will be a lasting impact on everyone who lived through the pandemic, and everyone experienced it in a different way, people of Asian descent have opened up on what it was like to be 'blamed' for the virus.

This idea has been explored in the second episode of the UNHEARD documentary series, which is exploring instances of racial injustice in Australia and the systems in place that help perpetuate them.

Titled 'The Racist Pandemic', the episode dives into how people were threatened, attacked, intimidated and feared for their lives last year.

But it wasn't just because there was an airborne virus that could make you very sick, it was because they were accused of bringing Covid-19 to Australia.

The phrase 'China Virus' became synonymous with the pandemic thanks to former US President Donald Trump, with the name spread far and wide on social media. That's despite campaigners saying it is harmful to Chinese people.

Many argued it was an apt description of the pandemic because it was the country of origin, but it ended up putting a target on the backs of everyone who was Asian.

Sophie Do and her sister Rosa discovered anti-Asian hate was alive and well in Australia when they were walking along a street in Marrickville.

A woman started yelling a bunch of racist phrases at the pair, calling them 'Asian dogs' and told them to go back to China.

The 17-year-old yelled: "Asian b**ch. You brought corona here. Eat a bat again you dumb wh***."

The situation escalated when Rosa tried to film the encounter and that's when the woman went off. She claimed to have a knife and got right up in their faces with threats of violence.

When a bystander came to help, that's when the attacker spat at Sophie and Rosa.

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Sophie told UNHEARD about how she was devastated by the incident. When she reported it to the police, it was recorded as an assault rather than a hate crime.

She said it was even more ironic because she's Vietnamese, not Chinese.

But she said that highlighted how racists don't care about where you're specifically from because they just care you aren't like them.

There were 500 reports of racism last year and 90 per cent weren't reported to authorities.

The UNHEARD series also spoke with NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong, who opened up on the horrific racist abuse she receives online.

She revealed how serving members of the NSW Police were openly posting racist comments on Facebook.

The MP also called out her political colleagues like Pauline Hanson, who have perpetuated racist stereotypes and continued to criticise minorities in Australia.

She said Ms Hanson's comments during the pandemic were elevated and spread further because of the rising anti-Asian sentiment in the country.

If you want to watch the whole episode and learn more about attacks towards Asians in Australia during the pandemic, head to Amazon Prime to watch the second episode of UNHEARD.

To support the fight against racial injustice visit ladbible.com/unheard.

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie