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7 December 2020
Immigrants in San Diego, California
Statistics indicate that Asian Americans are among the most stable racial group existing in the United States of America. They have learned to love their jobs, living standards, the country’s political situations and focus on working hard and their success in their fields of specialization. Most of them trace their origins to Vietnam, India, Korea, China, and the Philippines. However, the Chinese form the largest number. The Asian Americans grew in numbers with time as they intermarried and gave birth. Statistics show that among them, only 3% makes the number of whites, blacks consist of 7%, Hispanic are 6% of the population. In comparison, the mixed-race persons have multiplied, making 60% of the Asian American community. This essay will mainly focus on Vietnam and the Chinese Asian groups, considering their origin, economic activities, their challenges, and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their businesses and the possible solution to help them.
To begin with, Chinese immigrants originated from China to the United States. Their numbers began skyrocketing in 2013, with most of them getting in the country without authorization (Tatiana). However, they started flocking in the country back in the 1850s. Recently, the number of Chinese Americans is higher than any other group in the Asian population. It totals to approximately 2.5 million (Tatiana). The leading cause for their immigration was the urge to run away from the economic chaos in their country, planning to try their luck in business in California during the gold rush period.
Despite the Asians being focused on creating businesses and impacting the city’s economic growth, most of them did not mind building the community to make it a better place to live. However, the county council of San Diego plans to use a cultural and business district convoy to promote both the community’s cultural and economic growth (Bowen). In turn, this will positively impact the various companies and organizations in the area. It aims to transform, leading to a dining destination, innovative economic hub, and a vibrant cultural center. Kearny Mesa Community Plan would also make an objective to build homes for the residents (Bowen). For instance, the Chinese had invested in the China Max restaurant in Kearny Mesa, which offered favorite Chinese dishes prepared by experts. On the other side, the Vietnamese dealt with nail salons whereby they decorated ladies by applying the gel, nail art, plating, among others. In general, the immigrants adopted different culturally accepted ways to earn income to raise their living standards. Both businesses have been thriving well for the past decades until the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.
The coronavirus’s impact has been hitting the Salon and Spa businesses hard since the public health made orders for their closure to prevent further spreading of the virus (Sault). LA Orwuidea Salon owners who are Vietnamese, Tracy Tran and Steven Tran, tell how it has been difficult for them to survive. Trans confesses how since March when the coronavirus pandemic hit, all their earning has been going to the business’s expenses leaving them with little or nothing to save (Sault). However, all other countries have been affected, with an additional estimated 11 000 nail salons being shut down. With different types of businesses being allowed to resume doing some of the activities they were doing before the pandemic after lockdown, the nail salons remain under closure following the state and the local health orders (Sault). The Nail salon was almost getting closed during this period due to a lack of enough cash to run the businesses. With a large percentage of the Vietnamese working in nail art salons, they were more affected by the pandemic (Sault). It has been their mode of making income since the first generation of Vietnamese immigrants.
On the other hand, China max had already been having a hard time balancing its accounts since April, just before the devastating fire hit (Lewis). When the coronavirus started spreading rapidly in most parts of the world, everyone had to be cautious, including failing to take meals in hotels due to fear of contamination (Lewis). The quarantines pushed the businesses to a corner too. The Chinese’s trouble began when the coronavirus was first realized in Wuhan, and the country locked entries to Wuhan to prevent the disease. The people in San Diego, too, did not want to go to the Chinese restaurant due to fear (Lewis). Racism arose as the Americans started complaining of the Asians having brought the COVID-19 viruses to the country. Everyone became bitter and hence the anonymous burning of the China max hotel (Lewis). Burning down the hotel brought up many questions concerning who could have done such a thing without a valid answer.
However, the coronavirus affected the businesses and the many people working in the hotel and the nail salons. Most of the employees working in the nail salon were not allowed to open their salons until June. Most of them survived for three months, where most did not have the capital to resume their businesses after being allowed to restart some of their activities, hitting them even harder. The China max restaurant was burnt, but it was worst for the owners and the employees since there was no hope of getting another employment (Lewis). Organizations and businesses were busy firing employees to reduce the number to a manageable one. The hotel owners did not know how long it would take for them to find justice for their business’s burning and how long it would take for them to begin another business. Therefore, the unemployment rate has increased in San Diego city, generally, although similar instances have also occurred worldwide.
Nevertheless, the Asian American group has had a rough time during this coronavirus period since it turned out to awaken the spirit of racism in America. It sometimes gets traced back to America’s president, Trump calling the disease a Chinese disease, nicknaming it the ‘Kung flu” (Weiner). People recoiled from visiting Asian American shops because they are linked to the coronavirus outbreak. This led to the closure of most of the businesses and incurring huge losses. For instance, Kim, who vied for a seat in Los Angeles, stated that he could not look at his Twitter account as people attacked him directly for being one of the Asian American group members (Korean). He confesses he had not seen such kind of racism whereby people say it on his face (Weiner). For example, he a message telling him to go back to his country and continue eating bats.
However, to stop the spirit of discrimination, the public has to be controlled to prevent the nature of racism. To the extent of almost closing down due to lack of money to propel the activity, the most affected businesses need to be supported by receiving small loans from the government to keep their operation in control (Weiner). After clearing the misunderstanding in the public domain concerning the pandemic issue, it could also be better to stop the spirit of racism. Setting the working hours less also helps to bring back things to normal (Weiner). This may involve opening for a few hours.
Due to the increasing gap between the Americans and the Asian Americans, it could take time for the two groups to have their relationship and bond as strong as before (Weiner). This is because most of them had been brainwashed by Trump’s negative statements against the Chinese since the coronavirus started in their country. People blamed it on the Asian Americans that the pandemic struck their nation and killed many people (Weiner). It might result in Low-Income Asian Americans being more neglected, which could impact their children being able to get equal opportunities to the rest of the Americans. This could include the chance to get a quality education, furthering their career studies, among others. However, it could be solved if the Asian organizations fight for their people’s rights in the government to help air out their challenges (Weiner). Also, because the Americans chose the vice president to be Harris Kamala, it could be more comfortable for the Asian’s problems to be addressed. The nation united once more since she is out to fight for human rights and stop racial discrimination. Further, making people understand why the community matters and why they need to support them to make ends meet could stop racism (Weiner). It only needs an intervention by the government to show the Americans the importance of unity among them and the benefits they could gain from working together.
Conclusively, for things to get streamlined, there is a need for investing more in education in terms of the rate at which the universities take in new students. The Asian universities should aim to enlighten the students on their rights and gain skills to fight discrimination even in workplaces since their skills would be needed. Fighting illiteracy also gives them the power to venture into new areas and fight against poverty amongst them. Therefore, one way of empowering the racial groups is giving them the education to depend on themselves and create employment for themselves. This would also allow them to compete favorably with the Americans, hence having a common ground of understanding. Another important thing that should also be done is preaching about respecting everyone despite their racial background. Racism should be eliminated by offering equal chances in workplaces, education, and socializing among the communities to help bridge the gap. People should understand that each soul matters despite social status, living standards, race, etc. The more they fight against discrimination, the more the people are likely to get used to co-existing and valuing each other.
Works Cited
Bowen, Andrew. “San Diego City Council Names Convoy District A Pan-Asian Cultural, Business Hub.” KPBS Public Media, 20 Oct. 2020, www.kpbs.org/news/2020/oct/20/convoy-district-pan-asian-business-hub/.
Elijah Alperin and Jeanne Batalova. “Vietnamese immigrants in the United States.” 2018.
Lewis Scott. “For China Max, a Devastating Fire Was Just the Climax of a 2020 Nightmare.” Voice of San Diego, 1 May 2020, www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/food/for-china-max-a-devastating-fire-was-just-the-climax-of-a-2020-nightmare/.
Sault, Laurence. “Coronavirus Shutdowns Are Hitting Vietnamese-Owned Nail Salons Hard.” MSN, 2020, www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/coronavirus-shutdowns-are-hitting-vietnamese-owned-nail-salons-hard/ar-BB18JVh4.
Tatiana Sanchez. “Chinese migrants flocking to San Diego, stats show.” 6 June 2016.
Weiner, Chloe. “What It’s Like For Asian American Candidates During A Pandemic Marked By Racism.” NPR.org, 1 Nov. 2020, www.npr.org/2020/11/01/929960255/what-its-like-for-asian-american-candidates-during-a-pandemic-marked-by-racism.
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