Xenophobia and International Travel in 2020

COVID-19 has fundamentally altered the way people move between countries, states, cities, and even from the house to the grocery store. Freedom of movement is a pillar of life; recent restrictions on travel between countries have made international headlines. Italy, Spain, and China have imposed lockdowns of varying degrees of severity in different regions. The United States recently blocked most flights from Europe, except for travel from the UK and travel by US citizens. Other countries have floated the idea of blocking travel from other regions as well. Recently, speculation that Mexico might shutter its borders to its neighbor to the north has caused a stir, considering the current rhetoric in the United States surrounding immigration from Mexico. 

However, the most immediately visible and tragic impact of the outbreak has been the hatred and violence against East Asians in response to the association people now have between the virus and people that hail from its country of origin, China. Across the world, there have been instances of hate speech against and even assault of folks of East Asian origin. Of course, this must end. But those responsible for creating the impression that one group of people is culpable for this pandemic—governmental officials who have called it the “China virus,” media companies that have plastered sensationalist headlines, and others—should bear blame for the experiences described above. Especially in these times, language and perspective matters. Hopefully, we as a nation and a world can swiftly move toward more peaceful times.

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