Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE)

COVID-19 and Racial Discrimination in the United States

Since the start of Covid-19, there has been an increase in racial discrimination in the United States. In this study, I examine the relationship between Covid-19 and the variation in discrimination across various ethnic groups. I hypothesize that Asian Americans are more likely to experience racial discrimination that is directly related to COVID-19 or biases regarding the outbreak of COVID-19. For example, verbal and physical violent incidents to blame for being the cause of the pandemic are likely to be more experienced among Asian Americans than other racial minorities. By contrast, I hypothesize that African Americans are more likely to experience discrimination for a systemic reason such as being more exposed to and thus being more vulnerable to the coronavirus. Using survey data compiled from the PEW research center, I conduct a series of multiple regression analyses to examine the relationship between race and the types of experiences and discrimination individuals experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, controlling for potential confounders such as gender, age, socioeconomic status, education, occupation and political ideology among others.