{"id":110426,"date":"2020-03-09T16:45:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T15:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=110426"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:44","slug":"corona-discrimination-most-people-complain-about-it-on-wechat-but-dont-go-to-the-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/03\/09\/corona-discrimination-most-people-complain-about-it-on-wechat-but-dont-go-to-the-police\/","title":{"rendered":"Corona discrimination: ‘Most people complain about it on WeChat but don\u2019t go to the police’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The outbreak of coronavirus has caused discrimination to take on more hostile forms, especially towards people of Asian ethnicity. The Chinese Student Association (CSA-EUR) organised a seminar to raise awareness for this issue. About twenty people attended the seminar in the Erasmus Pavillion.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople with an Asian background are often shy and are afraid to speak up, but you are not alone in this,\u201d said Jingli Gao, president of CSA-EUR, in his opening speech. The main reason for organising the seminar was the increased discrimination against Asian people due to coronavirus. \u201cRacist comments and remarks hurt you from the inside, and you don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d Gao said.<\/p>\n

Fight against discrimination<\/h2>

\u201cThis seminar was organised in only one week, which shows how important this issue is,\u201d Gao said. He welcomed the people who are attending the seminar through Facebook livestream because many people wanted to be at the seminar but were not able to attend it. He mentioned that the seminar had two goals. \u201cWe want to raise awareness for discrimination and convince you that the fight against discrimination is not something that you have to do on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, many incidents of discrimination have surfaced online. A report has been filed against the Dutch radio channel Radio 10 for playing a song about coronavirus with the line \u2018Voorkomen is beter dan Chinezen<\/em>\u2019 (\u2018Prevention is better than the Chinese\u2019).<\/p>\n

'Don't see it as normal'<\/h2>

The first part of the seminar consisted of practical information from a communal police officer and Linda Li from the Rotterdam Police. They explained to students what they can expect from the police when discrimination incidents happen. Always file a report, is their main advice. \u201cPlease don\u2019t go to the media only with your story but come to us and file a report. That\u2019s the only way we can start an investigation,\u201d the police officer said. Li adds an important note. \u201cDon\u2019t see discrimination as something that just happens all the time. If you find something discriminating, just report it. Please don\u2019t see it as normal.\u201d It\u2019s unknown how many reports have been filed by people of Asian ethnicity, but according to Li it\u2019s not that much. \u201cMost people from the Chinese public are quite hesitant to report to the police. Therefore, we try to save the trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Other people that were present at the seminar are Julia Kreuwel from the Diversity & Inclusion Office, and Confidential Counselor Marlies Vreeswijk who both spoke about how the university can help students who feel discriminated against. \u201cEveryone should feel at home and be able to excel in our university,\u201d Kreuwel says. She also pointed at the new initiative of the \u2019Living room\u2019, which is a space on campus where students can come to talk, connect and share experiences.<\/p>\n

Avoid the problem<\/h2>

Throughout the seminar, the audience could submit their anonymous questions through Menti or via Facebook chat. A lot of these questions were on practical matters, such as how you can report verbal discrimination on the university. Additionally, a question that was asked a couple of times was \u2018If a group of people is provoking you, what would be the best thing to do? The answer was simple: \u201cAvoid the problem, try to ignore it. If there is a possibility to film the incident you should do so. However, keep in mind that the most important thing is your safety.\u201d A student wondered whether it is allowed to wear a mask in public, to which the police officer replied: \u201cIt is allowed, as long as we can identify you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Racist remarks<\/h2>
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Students attending the seminar were glad that more awareness was created surrounding discrimination, especially on what students can do when it happens. \u201cMost people around me who experience discrimination complain about it on WeChat but don\u2019t go to the police. It is good to create more awareness,\u201d said a student from the audience. Other students nod in agreement. A student explained an incident that happened to her the previous week. \u201cI was cycling through the city and a group of people cycling behind me made some racist remarks about me.\u201d Unfortunately, she is not the only one experiencing such incidents. \u201cMy friends, who are fully Chinese, are not going outside at night anymore, especially in the city center,\u201d said another student. \u201cThey are afraid that they might encounter groups of people that harass them.\u201d Online comments were also shocking to the students. \u201cThe internet is a scary place nowadays; unbelievable how terrible people can be from behind a screen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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