9.4a Overt Racism

Overt racism is blatant and usually explicit. Overt racism can range from using racial slurs to inflicting violence on members of the out-group. Overt racism is still prevalent. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, President Donald Trump began referring to the virus as the “Chinese Virus.” Researchers analyzed social media data and confirmed that the number of anti-Asian hashtags on social media increased after the president used the hashtag #chinesevirus (Hswen et al., 2021). Linking COVID-19 to Asian people led to an increase in anti-Asian language, violence, and other forms of discrimination toward the group (Ruiz et al., 2023). A considerable number (40%) of Asian Americans knew another Asian person who experienced overt racism (threatened or attacked) since the start of COVID-19.

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Anti-Asian Racism Increased During COVID-19