On Saturday , McDonald’s apologized for a racist sign posted in one in all its restaurants in China.
A McDonald’s restaurant located in China’s southwestern port city of Guangzhou posted a laminated sign which says,”Notice: We’ve been informed that from now on black people don’t seem to be allowed to enter the restaurant.” “For the sake of your health consciously notify the local police for medical isolation, please understand the inconvenience caused,” the sign advised black patrons.“
McDonald’s has since removed the sign, closed down the placement and issued an announcement that the sign was “not representative of our inclusive values.”
On Saturday, McDonald’s spokeswoman, Regina Hui said,”McDonald’s China apologizes unreservedly to the individual and our customers.” It has since pledged to use the sign incident to “further educate managers and employees on our values, which incorporates serving all members of the communities during which we operate.”
When the various questions were asked by the news reporters and different people, the corporate hadn’t responded. However, the sign is just one instance of accelerating racism within the city as Chinese citizens openly blame African natives for spreading coronavirus. Concurrently, national politicians have drawn up more scrutiny of foreigners, afraid of resurgence in COVID-19 cases.
Guangzhou has the largest African community of about 4,500 individuals in China. Over the past 15 days, residents of Africa say that they’ve faced forced evictions, rejections from hotels, involuntary testing without results and sequestration into two-week long quarantines whether or not they test positive or negative for the virus, haven’t recently traveled or had no contact with any person who is infected with COVID-19.
The Washington Post told social media posts from African people in Beijing and Shanghai allege being barred from entering bars and restaurants on police orders. Photos and videos available on social media claim to indicate Africans sleeping on the streets after their evictions or being herded away by police. The speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and Ghana’s secretary of state, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, have both condemned this racist discrimination and how the people are being treated. Other politicians of Africa have demanded explanations from Chinese officials and asked for assurances that such discriminatory treatment will end. However, African residents in China say that the epidemic has merely caused long-simmering xenophobia and racism to aggrieved.
China banned all the people outside of china from the country entering the country even though around 90 percent of the new of this COVID-19 disease cases had come from the Chinese netizens who were returning from Europe, The U.S, and the Middle East.
On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, “Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, China and African countries have always supported each other and have always fought against the virus jointly.”
He further added, “I would like to emphasize that the Chinese government treats all foreigners in China equally, opposes any differentiated practices targeted at specific groups of people, and has zero tolerance for discriminatory words and actions.”
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