During the television airing 
of the 2020 Grammy Awards 
Ceremony, 
Google 
released 
its new Black History Month 
advertisement. The 1-minute 
commercial titled, “The Most 
Searched: 
A 
Celebration 
of 
Black 
History 
Makers” 
demonstrates the amazing feats 
Black people have accomplished 
throughout history based on 
how many people have looked 
them up on the search engine. 
The Civil Rights Movement 
holds the spot of the “most 
searched 
movement,” 
Maya 
Angelou is the “most searched 
female poet,” and so on.
I 
personally 
enjoyed 
the 
video. It reinforces the fact 
that Black people have been 

vital to American culture and 
history 
since 
the 
creation 
of our country. It is a small 
but powerful way of getting 
the 
recognition 
we, 
as 
a 
community, deserve. However, 
it had me and other Black folks 
wondering about the integrity 
of companies who use Black 
History Month as a marketing 
tool.
This isn’t a new suspicion. 
People are often wary of the 
motivations of companies who 
use Black History Month and 
Pride Month to appeal to those 
communities and sell them 
products. This is because once 
the month is over, the support 
is wiped away along with the 
exclusive 
merchandise 
that 
comes along with it.
While it is nice that big 
companies like Google celebrate 
Black culture, they are not 

successful in supporting their 
Black employees. In 2018, Black 
people made up a disappointing 
4.8% of Google’s workforce, 
while the population of Black 
people in the United States 
is 13%. In addition, multiple 
former Google employees have 
released 
memos 
expressing 
the 
hardships 
they 
faced 
while 
working 
there. 
One 
former employee has even said 
they, “never stopped feeling 
the burden of being Black at 
Google.”
This 
situation 
opens 
up 
a major conversation about 
companies, 
institutions 
and 
people 
adoring 
Black 
culture while neglecting and 
marginalizing 
Black 
people. 
Black 
History 
Month 
is 
important, no one is denying 
that. Year after year, people 
take the time during Black 
History Month to look further 
than the prominent figures 
like Dr. Martin Luther King 
Jr., uplifting Black people from 
our past that have done great 
things to make a better future. 
It’s a time of reflection and 
celebration.
Further, there are calls for 
Google to include “the good 

and the bad” experiences of 
being Black in America. While 
many Black people excel in 
their 
respected 
fields, 
this 
does not mean that the racism, 
discrimination 
and 
violence 
our group faces has magically 
disappeared. 
While 
we 
celebrate the greats, we need 
to acknowledge that there are 
systemic disadvantages Black 
people face that stop them from 
being able to become the next 
great judge or heart surgeon.
But Black people deserve 
more. We deserve to be hired 
at companies that are making 
strides to be anti-racist and 
have equitable hiring practices 

that eliminate racial biases 
in the employment process. 
We deserve to be present and 
represented in history books 
but also lecture in classrooms, 
in front of and behind the 
camera, serve on city councils, 
and act as CEO at our dream 
jobs. We are more than the 

entertainment, 
scientific 
advancements 
and 
political 
quotes we give to the world.
So this Black History Month, 
if you plan on creating an 
advertisement, 
program 
or 
event celebrating Black culture, 
make sure you move beyond 
that and uplift Black people too.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan in Color
Monday, February 10, 2020 — 3A

Coronavirus Epidemic: a Conundrum on 
Chinese Imperialism and Xenophobia

News Flash! 
You can criticize the Chinese 
Communist government and 
the 
Chinese 
imperialism 
sympathizers 
for 
the 
coronavirus 
epidemic 
while 
standing against racism and 
xenophobia, as you should.
For the past month, Asians 
in the diaspora have been 
speaking up against racism 
and 
xenophobia 
they 
have 
encountered because of the 
coronavirus 
epidemic. 
The 
narrative that Asian folx are 
dirty and diseased based on the 
fact that coronavirus started 
in China skews the perception 
of Asians in the public eye. 
For example, the UC-Berkeley 
health center received backlash 
by saying that “recognizing 
any of [the xenophobic actions] 
can be normal reactions.” 
Yesterday, 
a 
man 
in 
Chinatown in Sydney suffered 
from 
a 
heart 
attack 
and 
people were scared to give 
CPR because of the fear of the 
epidemic. 
Many 
insensitive 
memes about the epidemic 
and negative connotation of 
Asians have also surfaced on 
the internet and around our 
communities in the U.S. lately. 
In reality, if you are currently 
living in the U.S. and have 
not been to China for the past 
month, you are more likely to 
catch the flu and die from it 
than the coronavirus. 
On the other hand, leftists 
on social media, specifically 
the tankies, have criticized 
the racialization and are also 
so quick to draw conclusions 
that it is western propaganda 
to report the epidemic in a 
way that vilifies the People’s 
Republic 
of 
China 
(PRC) 
government. 
Whenever 
any 
political issue involving the 
United 
States 
and 
China 
relations 
comes 
up, 
it 
is 
exhausting to see that a lot 
of diasporic Asian folx in 
“leftist spaces” have such a 
U.S.-centric understanding of 
the imperial power in the 21st 
century. I always have to let you 
gaslight my lived experiences 
as a Hongkonger before I 

can chip in my two cents to 
debunk your fake-wokeness on 
China. The PRC government 
doesn’t actually care about 
the well-being of its everyday 
citizens, it only cares about 
economic stability so that the 
ones who hold political and 
economic power in China can 
harvest their fruits of social 
capitalism in the name of being 
“communist.”
Let me be clear here, we 
should stand against all forms 
of 
racism 
and 
xenophobia 
and we will continue to do so 
while living under oppressive 
structures upheld by white 
supremacy. Criticism of the 
crisis control on the PRC 
government’s end does not make 
it acceptable at all for anyone 
to make microaggressive jokes 
about the epidemic or make 
hateful comments about any 
Asian people. This is not only 
extremely 
disrespectful 
to 
patients, everyday citizens and 
clinical staff who are suffering 
from the epidemic in Asia, but 
it also feeds into the racist 
narrative that people of color 
are dirty and diseased. 
In short, people who care 
about social issues should start 
having more intuitive thoughts 
and discussions about the root 
causes of these problems and 
how countries use borders as 
a colonial construct to impose 
their nationalist agendas in 
the 21st century. I am writing 
from the perspective that I 
have witnessed fear from the 
epidemic 
and 
government 
mishandling in the last few 
days of my winter break in 
Hong Kong and have close 
friends 
and 
family 
back 
home who are terrified. It is 
important to recognize that 
I am NOT analyzing from a 
diasporic lens. Today, China 
is not a developing country, it 
is an imperial power, actively 
commiting 
genocide 
and 
colonizing Lands in Tibet, 
“Xinjiang,” 
Sri 
Lanka 
and 
countries 
in 
Africa. 
Since 
the Great Leap Forward and 
economic reform in 1978, the 
class 
barriers 
and 
wealth 
disparity we all witness in the 
capitalist countries like the U.S. 
can also be seen in mainland 
China under social capitalism. 

It is dangerous to think in a 
binary sense that standing 
against U.S. imperialism is to 
deny Han Chinese imperialism, 
when in fact they are mutually 
exclusive. It is reasonable to 
critique the lack of health 
measures and policies in any 
fascist, imperial country.
Here 
are 
some 
puzzle 
pieces I have gathered of this 
epidemic:
During 
2003, 
the 
PRC 
government covered up the 
SARS epidemic, until it spread 
across Hong Kong, leading to 
286 deaths confirmed in Hong 
Kong alone. The SARS virus 
is fundamentally the same as 
the coronavirus in terms of its 
root causes and biostructure. 
It is reasonable for the PRC 
government to take the SARS 
epidemic as a lesson to take 
more 
preventative 
actions. 
However, PRC covered up data 
and figures of coronavirus 
for at least two weeks before 
it 
realized 
the 
escalation 
and 
eventually 
declared 
emergency.
While 
food 
culture 
and 
habits should not be mocked or 
racialized, research has proven 
that both the 2003 SARS 
epidemic 
and 
coronavirus 
potentially 
stemmed 
from 
the wildlife markets. Medical 
researchers 
around 
the 
world have warned China to 
stay alert when consuming 
wildlife during the aftermath 

of the SARS epidemic and 
to establish heavier health 
measures and legal actions 
on 
endangered 
animals. 
Despite 
having 
Wildlife 
Protection Law in place since 
1988 and last amended in 
2003, many loopholes exist, 
leading to failure in actual 
implementations. 
A few days before China 
declared 
an 
emergency 
in 
Wuhan, 
8 
people 
on 
the 
Weibo 
blog 
posted 
about 
the urgency and escalation 
of 
the 
coronavirus. 
Not 
only did the local district 
government not act upon it, 
but they also arrested them for 
“misinformation,” potentially 
destabilizing the state, when 
they were telling the truth. 
These 8 people are still jailed 
at this moment. Additionally, a 
self-proclaimed Wuhan citizen 
has publicly expressed fear 
over the lockdown and anger 
towards the PRC government 
recently in a video.
Contrary 
to 
many 
news 
sources stating that the first 
case 
of 
coronavirus 
was 
confirmed on December 31st 
in 
Wuhan, 
recent 
medical 
research from the medical 
school at the University of 
New England has shown that 
the earliest signs of human 
transmitted coronavirus can be 
traced back to mid-December. 
Due to increased tension 
between Taiwan and PRC, 

China has prevented Taiwan’s 
involvement in the World’s 
Health Organization including 
the international emergency 
implementation 
against 
the 
coronavirus epidemic. Since 
the 
geographic 
distance 
between China and Taiwan is 
so close, this deeply impacts 
Taiwan, as they do not receive 
information 
from 
WHO 
in 
a timely matter or have any 
say within WHO. China also 
has close ties with WHO. 
Diplomatic sources in Geneva 
criticized the late declaration 
for an emergency, suspecting 
that the close ties between 
China and the UN lead to biases 
and questionable credibility of 
WHO.
Since hospitals in China are 
mostly occupied, high-speed 
rail border entry increased 
by 40% in Hong Kong last 
Monday. 
Many 
rushed 
to 
Hong Kong last week to seek 
treatment when most hospitals 
in Hong Kong were already 
overcrowded by an average of 
113% in the first place, having 
huge health and fire hazards. 
Clinical staff in HK were so 
frustrated that 3600 clinical 
staff 
are 
unionizing 
and 
planning to go on strike. Chief 
executive of Hong Kong, Carrie 
Lam, described the medical 
staff strikers as “using extreme 
means to beleaguer Hospital 
Authority.” 
HKU medical school has 

successfully 
developed 
a 
coronavirus 
preliminary 
vaccine, but the Hong Kong 
government 
decided 
to 
withdraw $250M of research 
funding 
for 
HKU 
medical 
teaching facilities due to the 
Hong Kong protests. Public 
hospital staff has not received 
any 
overtime 
compensation 
working overtime in high-
stress 
environments 
either. 
To give you a comparison, 
Hong Kong police, infamous 
for its brutality for the past 7 
months in Hong Kong protests, 
has just received $950M of 
funding from the Hong Kong 
government 
for 
overtime 
compensation last month.
To reiterate, speaking on the 
PRC government’s failure on 
health measures doesn’t mean 
it’s okay for anyone to make 
fun of this epidemic, but rather 
get everyone to think more 
critically of the root cause and 
what is actually happening 
here. 
You 
can 
be 
critical 
of 
a 
government 
without 
being racist or xenophobic. 
It is unproductive to twist 
criticisms as U.S. propaganda. 
In fact, while we are criticizing 
the 
health 
measures 
from 
this epidemic, let’s also have 
discussions on the U.S.’s poor 
public health implementation 
as 
well, 
especially 
when 
34,200 
Americans 
died 
during flu season last winter. 
Comparatively, 
measles 
is 
one of the most common viral 
infections in the U.S. since the 
1900s largely affects patients 
who are not vaccinated. Let’s 
start 
having 
conversations 
about what kind of global 
changes in public health we 
should be implementing as 
we carry hope for our future 
generations. If health crises 
aren’t thrown onto a political 
playground 
by 
imperial 
regimes, we can be way more 
productive 
with 
healthcare 
systems and more cognizant 
with epidemics. And to white 
people 
in 
the 
west, 
next 
time you joke about having 
coronavirus when you cough 
without covering your mouth, 
consider asking yourself if you 
have gotten your flu shot yet 
this year.

SAMUEL SO
MiC Contributor

 Beyond the ‘Most Searched’

CAMILLE MOORE
MiC “Off the Record” Blogger

Photo from GOOGLE

 Photo from MACAU PHOTO AGENCY/Unsplash

