Last week, my friend and fellow GAPABA board member Justice Carla Wong McMillian, became the first Asian American judge appointed to the Supreme Court of Georgia. She is now the sole justice of Asian American descent sitting on the highest state court in the South. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, her investiture was broadcast live on social media by Gov. Brian Kemp's Facebook page. One viewer commented during the live feed, "Really, a Chinese lady?" and received many likes from others.

Racist comments such as these are a stark reminder that Asian Americans are still considered by many to be foreign. Justice McMillian's family has been in the United States since the early 1900s. Most of her family have never been to Asia, and many do not speak Chinese. Justice McMillian was educated and practiced law entirely in the United States. Her heritage, education and background could not be more American, and yet she is referred to as "a Chinese lady."  How many more generations must her family live, work and contribute to our country to be considered American?

As we hunker down in our homes, Asian Americans worry about what awaits us on the outside. As the coronavirus spreads, incidents of racial discrimination, hate crimes and violence are on the rise—they already number more than 1,000, according to "PBS NewsHour."

People all over the world are understandably anxious and fearful. Human fear resides in the most primal reptilian part of our brains; fear, by its nature, is unreasonable. So it is natural that some people want to blame others for their pain. Some associate this disease, originally from Wuhan, China, with Asian Americans living thousands of miles away.

A common slur is "you Chinese brought this disease into this country," which is factually false. Scientists have traced the particular strains prevalent in America to Europe. Those who hurl these insults do not distinguish Asian Americans of various ancestry—Korean or Vietnamese for example—from Chinese. Nor does the accusation acknowledge that COVID-19 was introduced to humans by unhappy biological accident rather than malice. Is this different from accusing Americans of German descent of being complicit in the Holocaust? Is it fair to blame all gun owners for all mass shootings?

Racism in the context of the coronavirus pandemic is an affront to the heroic efforts of Asian Americans on the front lines of this fight. In Seattle, Dr. Helen Chu was one of the first people to identify the coronavirus in her community in defiance of government restrictions. Dr. David Ho, credited with groundbreaking work in solving the HIV/AIDs epidemic, has been called to action. Dr. Charles Chiu of UCSF has been critical to analyzing the spread of this disease. There are hundreds of APA researchers working on treatments and vaccines across the country, along with countless APA medical professionals working to save lives.

Before normalcy returns, each of us will be touched by this disease. This is an unprecedented fight for the survival of humanity.  As of this writing, there are 254 separate clinical trials moving forward in a worldwide effort to find a cure. The vilification of Asian Americans is even more bizarre in this context because the true enemy is an invisible predator, hopping silently from species to species, person to person.

I have always been fascinated by the fact that human beings are 99.9 genetically the same, yet countless wars and conflicts have arisen out of that 0.1 percent difference. As we sit trapped in our homes in an effort to keep our families and communities safe, I hope we will reflect on how tribalism has wrought destruction throughout human history. My hope is that in its final chapter, this pandemic demonstrates the triumph of mass cooperation over the destructive force of discrimination.  It needs to, because defeat of the coronavirus depends upon the collaboration of our entire human family.

Angela Hsu is president of the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association and counsel at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.