Blaming minority and marginalized communities for disease outbreaks is nothing new. Gay men and people from Africa have been stigmatized in regard to HIV/AIDS since the 1980s. After it became known that the coronavirus that led to the current COVID-19 pandemic likely crossed over to humans in China, Western figures such as former President Donald Trump blamed China and Asians, or people of Asian descent more generally, for the pandemic, and used racist labels such as the “Chinese virus.” Many believe this racist demonization is responsible for the alarming rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States, including deadly attacks and at least one mass shooting. Similarly, the Omicron variant of the virus was labeled the “South Africa variant” after scientists identified it in that country, and travel bans were placed against southern Africa despite the variants’ prevalence in Western nations.

Although Western media continues its trend of problematic reporting, non-Western media has not been compelled to follow its lead. Kenyan news reports, for example, have used images of white people to illustrate the story of the monkeypox outbreak. “Good for Kenya TV,” British Nigerian author and activist Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu posted on Twitter. “Show White people with #monkeypox in response to targeted racist tactic of Western media only depicting Africans with monkey pox.”

Good for Kenya TV – show White people with #monkeypox in response to targeted racist tactic of Western media only depicting Africans with monkey pox. We know the rhetoric they’re deliberately selling with this. Given #MonkeypoxVirus is in Europe why aren’t they using White skin? https://t.co/8t4o3MFpO6

— Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (@SholaMos1) May 24, 2022

As Western media continue to paint problematic narratives concerning diseases like monkeypox, such counternarratives will continue to be important.