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Filtering by Tag: anti-asian

One Asian American Woman's Voice

I came to America in 1962 as a bride, having married an American I had met at New Asia College in Hong Kong. My knowledge about American society was miserably thin and vague, but I did hear bits and pieces about racial prejudice in the South against its Black citizens, who were not allowed to mix with its White citizens. On the bus, the Whites sat in the front, the non-Whites in the back. Because I, as a Chinese, was considered “colored,” I would have had to be seated separately from my White husband. I thought then, since my husband and I were not going to live in the South, that that would not be a problem for me. But after living in New York for a few months, I was called “Madame Butterfly” at a dinner table by the frowning grandmother of my husband’s college friend. I pretended not to hear her.

That was 59 years ago. Since then, my Asian appearance has attracted unwelcome attention, even living far away from the American South. For more than half a century, I have lived in an affluent town in New Jersey, in a Victorian house with a garden and yard which slopes down to the street. After we moved in, the house was egged and racial epithets scrawled on the sidewalk. A store clerk referred to me as “you people.” Once when I gardened near the street, White youths in a car yelled at me to go back to where I came from as they drove by. Twice I have been accosted in parking lots by young Whites screaming racial obscenities. As a result, I learned to wear a big floppy hat and large sunglasses to cover my face whenever I leave home or garden. Another time when I was out without my hat in front of my home chatting with an African-American landscaper, a car screeched to a stop, and a White woman ran up to us and said that she wanted to hire us to work in her garden. After learning that I was the home’s owner, she concluded that I must be a Republican and asked me to join her to work for her candidate. When I told my White American friends that my children were being bullied in school for being half Chinese, I received a reply neither of outrage nor indignation, only a dismissive excuses that “children are mean sometimes.”


​For decades I treated these events as one would the annoying flies and mosquitoes of daily life. But for the past four years, during Trump’s presidency, I experienced increased rejection, rudeness, and the feeling that I was being viewed as an alien in my own country. Simply cashing a check became an unpleasant experience at the bank where I had done business for decades. I was made to stand for twenty minutes after I gave the cashier all the documents he asked for, including my bank card, check book, and driver’s license. They were apparently not enough, as the cashier checked and double-checked the computer screen that clearly showed that my accounts more than covered the withdrawal. As he continued to scrutinize, I asked if there was something wrong, but he did not answer; instead, he called for the bank’s manager, who came out, looked me over, then peered at the screen with the cashier. I waited, puzzled, feeling that I was being singled out. After they finally gave me my cash, I asked the manager why I was being so rudely treated. He replied that it was for my benefit, since there were so many clever crooks these days. So, I was left to conclude that my Chinese face must have been the reason I looked so clever. More recently, a sheet of paper covered with handwritten, childish gibes was dropped through my mail slot. I was quite shaken by the personal invasion, and even though it turned out that it was a prank by local children, the awful feeling of having been targeted has not left me, particularly since I have been targeted before.


Having lived in America for six decades as a legal citizen, I now feel as foreign as when I first came to this country. I had learned to keep my silence, but reading about the recent anti-Asian violence that I believe can be traced back to the words of former President Trump, I want to add my voice against those attacks and the prejudice that underlies them. I want my fellow Americans to hear our anguish, with empathy and without minimization. It was heartening for me recently to hear the outrage and anger from my friends when I told them about the paper through my mail slot and how it had shaken me. Nevertheless, for the first time since I can remember, I have been asking myself whether I am still an alien in a foreign land, rooted precariously in thin soil, subject to exclusion or even physical harm by the cruel wind of discrimination. I know, though, that I am just one of millions of Asian-Americans who believe that our beloved America is our home, a country to which we belong and fiercely love.

Blamed for coronavirus at a Taco Bell

I was at a Taco Bell with two friends and had just received my drink cup while waiting for my food. There were two other customers in the store, both white men. As I pushed the button on the soda dispenser, one of the men yelled, “The oriental touched the dispenser! Someone stop her!” As I turned around confused and as my friends moved around me to block this man from getting closer to me, the man pointed at me and yelled, “She started this whole thing!”

This was a complete stranger who blamed the Covid-19 pandemic on me just based on seeing my Asian eyes peeking out from my mask at a fast food place in South Chicago. I made eye contact with the other white man waiting for my food his food several times during the whole ordeal. Each time, he immediately broke eye contact and went back to scrolling through his phone. That hurt too.

In shock

An unmasked man in his 30s verbally assaulted me on the subway line around 11:50am. I was sitting down and reading a book. He came into the car at a stop and started asking everyone to pay attention to him. When he neared me, he also demanded my attention and announced "You think I don't know? You eat live frogs, you people eat frogs, and cats and dogs." He was very loud. I was in so much shock I didn't say anything. Nor did any of the passengers sitting around me.

" I am tired of being seen only for the stereotypes."

My town is a predominately white area, and I am of the few Asian American students attending my school. It's disheartening to me the normalization of racism toward Asians. Even my close friends often make stereotypical racist jokes regarding my eyes, food, and academics. The other day phrases such as "So you're Asian, do you eat dogs?" made an appearance on a call with a friend. When I confronted them about their racism, they replied with, "Stop being so sensitive. It's just a joke." I am sick and tired of these so-called jokes. They were never funny and never will be; they are only shallow and insensitive. I am tired of being seen only for the stereotypes.

No action after racist incident

I was a victim of a racist incident (spitting/racial slurs) under the awning of my own apartment building in NYC. Despite the apartment staff having seen everything (recorded in the video I took while the man was still threatening me), he didn't come out the door to help me or even address the assault. When I confronted the apartment management, they expressed no regret but just that "what happens outside the building is outside their control." And though there are Asian and other POC residents in the building, the apartment provided no warning to keep the residents safe. Since then I've not been feeling safe living in the building and asked to terminate my lease early, but they're refusing to, despite 4+ month heads up. It's hard to believe the incident would've been completely ignored like this, had it happen to a non-minority or even non-Asian.

Cat food as racism

As I was checking out by an Caucasian female cashier, the cashier started an conversation with me regarding food. The cashier asked what I was having for lunch, grabbed the cat food, and asked me "Is it this?" Cashier also had a line of customers. I never had conflicts with this cashier. This is not the 1st, 2nd, nor 3rd time this cashier had used cat food as racism. I don't eat cat food nor cats.

Blamed for starting the virus while working

I am a railroad conductor for the MBTA Commuter Rail in Boston, MA. I was approached by two white male passengers on the train station platform, who asked why the trains were operating two hours apart. I told them that the reduced schedule was due to the COVID-19 state of emergency.

They replied, “oh right, the virus you fucking C****S started.” I responded by telling them to leave and that the police would be called. They walked away while shouting racial slurs and death threats.

Consistently shunned and discriminated against”

I am a graduate student. I was jogging on Sunday and a woman yelled at me loudly and repeatedly "Go back to hell, go back to China. Your country is hell."

I was caught off guard and I froze for a moment. Then I tried to say something to defend myself but it came out nonsense. I choked and stuttered for a minute and I then ran away. Afterwards, I felt so angry with myself because I was so weak and completely forgot how to defend myself. I felt so powerless, I thought that I should have fire back with words since this was not the first incident that happened to me.

Over the past 5 months I have been the target of many curse words around my area. Every time, I promised myself to record the next time this happens, but every time I freeze up and fail to do anything. I was so angry and had no way to seek justice for so many times, and that day was just a tipping point for me. I couldn't take it anymore. I cried when I got home in the shower and then the whole night. It has become too difficult to handle and I barely sleep right now. I just don't know how to fight back and take back some of my dignity. I feel useless, but I want to change that and that is why I am here. I want to help every Asian faces for the right of my people, and take back what those people has taken from me -- my agency as a human being. Please tell me whatever I can do to fight back. 

Racist singing at a store

I was looking at some items on a shelf at a store and noticed two women walk by and where one of them clearly and loudly directing an anti-Asian term at my direction, specifically sounded like "Ching. ching, chang, chong". She repeated the phrase before walking further down the aisle. 

Racist remarks while cycling

I was riding my bicycle and needed to cross over from the bike lane to the left hand turn lane. The stoplight ahead turned red and I let several cars pass me. One car was approaching but since it was slowing down for the light I looked behind me a couple times and then crossed in front of the car. I thought it was a reasonable move without inconveniencing the driver. As I crossed, the driver shouted angrily, "Go! Go! Go fucking chink!" I was so angry I flipped the driver off as I turned left. But I felt some fear for the next few blocks as I worried the driver might come after me. Luckily, he didn't. But I've been shook up ever since. 

Racism at an Anti-Racism Protest

As we were nearing the end of a Anti-Black racism rally, a white teenage boy rolled down his passenger seat car window and yelled, "This is not Chicago! If you don't like our country, go back to where you came from! Get out! Go back to where you came from!". 

My spouse and I (both of Asian descent) were the only two people on that side of the street at the time since folks attending were practice social distancing. 

Discrimination via Email

The tax accountant I was working with at the time sent out a blanket email in late March to all his clients saying he was advising doing tele-conferences rather than meetings in person due to the “Chinese Virus Epidemic”. At best, this is unprofessional and insensitive, and at worst, it’s in-your-face racism (to use his business as a platform from which to project his racial biases). He later sent out a second similar blanket email where he referred to the "Wuhan Virus". This behavior encourages racist people to openly express their racism towards Asian-Americans, as it serves no other purpose. 

 

Acts of hate in a Pizzeria

I work at a pizzeria. A customer refused to come up her food because I was working. The customer asked if there is an Asian girl working at the counter and refused to come. She then said that she will come the next time the girl isn’t working.  

Yelled at in stereotypical gibberish

A multiracial group of people were social distancing outside the fence of the home of an East Asian family. One of the parents was celebrating a birthday and the family was gathered in their backyard while friends were arrayed along the fence. A middle-aged masculine person was biking down the sidewalk toward the house and I noticed that they were yelling something at the family/our group. At first I thought it was birthday greetings from a neighbor but as the person biked closer I realized they were shouting Asian-sounding gibberish (i.e. "ching chong" noises) at us. I shouted after them but they were already biking away.

"Your people disgust me"

I was walking back from getting groceries when I saw an older gentleman approaching so I started walking closer along a building wall to practice social distancing. I became a bit more on guard as I noticed he kept staring at me and wasn't moving farther away. As he approached me, he snarled "your people disgust me" and spat on the ground at me.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national affiliation of five leading organizations advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities to promote a fair and equitable society for all. The affiliation's members are: Advancing Justice - AAJC (Washington, D.C.), Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, Advancing Justice - Atlanta, Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus (San Francisco), and Advancing Justice - Chicago.