Meng Foon: ‘My prayer is New Zealanders see themselves as human’ – Racist stereotypes on the rise in the Covid-19 era

COMMENTARY

The focus on family at the center of the latter group led to a mob mentality on social media and the secret racial biases of ‘confirmed’ people, Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon writes for RNZ.

When Auckland returned to level three lockdown a month ago, many New Zealanders focused on the identity of the “South Auckland family” at the center of the emerging group.

He would have hoped the team of five million would do their best to avoid confusing Covid-19 with racist stereotypes about South Auckland and the Pacific community.

Instead, we were inundated with stereotyped and class tropes about South Auckland. Within hours, media stories confirmed that the family that tested positive was ‘Pasifika’, prompting racist and xenophobic comments about all Pacific people, as well as comments directed at the Chinese and Asian earlier this year.

Within days, a harmful and racist conspiracy theory was shared and widely circulated. The theory has been disproved, but not before the damage was done. It was laced with racist innuendo based on ethnic stereotypes, fueling a mafia mentality on social media and ‘confirming’ people’s secret racial biases.

The speed with which many people accepted these racist lies shows how ingrained and damaging stereotypes are, and the influential role that social media giants, other outlets, journalists and politicians play in modern race relations.

There is an imbalance of power between who is stereotyped and who does it. That is why Pacific academic Emmaline Pickering-Martin pointed out the racial privilege of the person who started the conspiracy and the platform that was given to explain herself.

And although the first wave of Covid-19 primarily affected Pākehā, as a group, they escaped defamation or blame for the outbreak. This should be the case for anyone who contracts Covid-19, but unfortunately skin color has been a factor in assigning stereotypes to this new group and the spread of rumors.

Many people contact me concerned about ethnic and racist stereotypes. Not all stereotypes are based on malicious intent, but without context, they almost always cause harm.

The prevalence of stereotypes is a motivation behind Voice of Racism, stage two of the Give Nothing to Racism campaign, launched in July.

The website includes more than 400 examples of common racist comments about Maori, Pacific, Asian, and other ethnic and religious minorities. These are the real experiences of real people, yet many New Zealanders still deny racism and racial privilege. They downplay the effects of racial stereotypes.

Those who do not experience racism are often privileged to think that it does not happen to others, but wishing for it does not mean it will go away. That is why the public health message of “be nice” should include anti-racist messages.

The Human Rights Commission has received many complaints of racism towards Chinese and Asians due to Covid-19.

So I am encouraged that the Prime Minister spoke specifically about the impacts of stereotypes in a meeting with Pacific leaders, saying that it is dangerous to vilify or stigmatize people with Covid-19.

Also, Health Director General Ashley Bloomfield has stated that “the virus is the problem, not the people,” and “there is no shame or guilt” in contracting the virus.

This will comfort those who are stigmatized by Covid-19. Make no mistake, racism hurts you.

Covid-19 means the world can look again at long-standing problems. To begin with, we need to stop blaming and shaming minority groups for our problems.

In addition to Covid and economic damage, 2020 has introduced many stereotypes into public discourse, playing on people’s fears and phobias, either by blaming the ‘Chinese and Asians’ for Covid; shaming two women for driving to their father’s funeral; fear of ‘gang members’ controlling iwi-run checkpoints; speculation about a ‘homeless man’ enjoying luxury accommodation at the taxpayer’s expense; or xenophobia towards migrants. In each of these situations, the story and the fuller facts became irrelevant, but a stereotype was reinforced.

Left unchecked, these stereotypes can have dangerous results.

Last week I was in Christchurch to offer support to the families of the victims of the Mosque attack and to members of the Muslim community.

My prayer is that the day will come when New Zealanders see each other as human beings and less as stereotypes based on fear and ignorance. We all have a role in the non-racist ‘waka eke noa’: as politicians, media, educators, neighbors and whānau.

-Meng Foon is the Race Relations Commissioner for New Zealand. He was mayor of Gisborne from 2001 to 2019 and is fluent in English, Cantonese and Maori.