Verbal harassment at gas station

I was at the gas station down the street from my apartment in Highland Park when a man pulled up behind me and got out of the car mumbling about Wuhan and Chinese people. He seemed a little manic and unstable so I tried to leave the gas station as soon as I could.

When I turned to glance at him, he had his phone out at chest level as if being covert, seemingly filming me. When we briefly made eye contact he said "f*** you" as he continued to film me. Each time I made full eye contact, he turned his back from me and continued to mumble as if trying to hide that he was filming. I felt unsafe so I got in my car and quickly snapped a picture of his license plate. I really didn't know what else to do. It had me fuming...there's so many Asian American communities in Alhambra and SGV which are neighboring Highland Park - I was thinking about their safety and how this man might've already harassed them.

A culture of racism

In a live-streamed video of USD 309's Board of Education meeting, President of the board, Dan Schweizer, made a racially charged statement in regards to the increasing price of anti-virus software that "we gotta keep them Chinese out of our back door", before immediately acknowledging the inappropriateness of the comment, stating "that's right, I said it on YouTube, you can come and get me".

I'm a 2012 graduate of the USD 309 school district, and am an Asian-American myself. Attending a school system in a rural area of Kansas, I was one of the few Asian-Americans who attended the school, and as a result faced regular discrimination and racial remarks during my time there by both my peers and faculty members. People would make fun of me using math stereotypes, driving stereotypes, stereotypes involving Asian genitalia, and called me derogatory names such as "chink", "gook", "zipperhead", and most commonly a "dirty Jap". One faculty member went so far as to jokingly ask me, in front of the entire class, if I could come over sometime and "take a look at his rice cooker sometime" because it was broken. I was actually unaware of a majority of these stereotypes and names until students in my former high school started using them to refer to me and my siblings. It always confused me as to why people treated me this way because I'm half-Japanese and half-white, yet it seemed to be ignored that I was a mixed race individual, and that treatment makes me very concerned for Asian students who attend the school district now, and for those who will attend in the future. I'm well aware that I'm afforded a significant amount of privilege in this country because I'm partially white and a male, and the fact that I was still treated the way I was in high school, I can't imagine the treatment that a student who is not mixed like me would experience.

This incident with the President of the Board of Education at my high school has allowed a lot of unresolved emotions surface in me in regards to my time in the school district, and makes me disappointed to see that the culture of racism and discrimination in USD 309 is still very much alive. If leaders in our education system can't be held accountable for racial remarks, then I have little hope that others in the same district are being held to high standards on the topics of racism and discrimination. The live stream of the incident can be viewed here, with the remark occurring at the 28:05 mark: https://youtu.be/Et7ze3Y4rfs?t=1670

Trump Press Conference

Weijia Jiang, a White House correspondent for CBS News, asked the President why he sees coronavirus testing as a global competition when more than 80,000 Americans have died. "Maybe that's a question you should ask China," Trump told Jiang, who was born in China and immigrated to the United States when she was two years old. "Don't ask me. Ask China that question, OK?"

Gum wads found on minivan

Our Japanese American family went shopping at Sam’s Club in Orlando. When we finished shopping, we found two gum wads pressed onto our minivan’s exterior. We know it’s because of the social climate due to the pandemic. My dad just took it off and we carried on.

Misconceptions and ignorance

During the news of the closure of non-essential businesses in Nevada, my apartment complex sent out a general email noting that there was a first confirmed case of COVID-19. A majority of residents I spoke to on my walks with my dog (from 6 feet away) told me they hoped that whoever it was, gets better (since the name listed on the apartment-wide announcement was anonymous). However, a few neighbors had called me on my phone and asked if it was I who had COVID-19 because they presumed I was "Asian" and more "accessible" to the virus because of their assumptions on where I might shop, eat, socialize, etc. In my own apartment complex, where I've called home for the past year or so, I didn't know that I would be surrounded by misconceptions, hate, prejudice, and plain ignorance. Nevada is a diverse state, and I was not expecting to be surrounded by such negative assumptions about who I am, where I go to get groceries, and how I live my life. This form of "attack" is not as violent or physical like many of the cases we now see in the news. However, this type of prejudice-filled thinking is what brings many people to attacking Asian American Pacific Islanders across the country.

Racism has many forms and transforms itself in many ways - even in intimate settings like at home. I hope the attacks, prejudice, and racist-filled thinking stops.

Online harassment during an Asian American-led webinar

Attended a webinar organized by the Coalition of Asian-American Leaders called Countering Xenophobia and Anti-Asian Discrimination During COVID-19. A group of Zoombombers began unmuting themselves. One said "shut the f***up" while a person was presenting. When all the mics were muted, they began writing hate speech in the chat including: ‘stfu ching chong F*** JEWISH PEOPLE F*** SPICS DISGUSTING WET BACKS … CHING CHONG EAT BATS **** F*** U ASIAN”

Spat at while on a walk

I was walking down the street in Manhattan with my partner and a woman wearing a mask turns to us, pulls down her mask, and says with disgust “the virus came from China.” We were in shock, and that’s when she spat in our direction. She kept walking and when I realized what happened, I called her a racist and I couldn't hear what she said but she said something back and kept walking, and that was the end of the interaction.

"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.

While playing basketball

My cousin, Chinese, 40’s, had racial slurs yelled at him by a white, homeless person while shooting hoops by himself in NYC, Chinatown. Suspect it was also COVID-19 motivated.

An unsettling encounter

Was on an afternoon neighborhood walk with my toddler son near our home. We needed some sunshine as we're self quarantining in a small apartment.

For context, we are a multiracial family -- our adopted son being Japanese American, his dad (me) being a white guy, and my wife/his mom being Filipina American.

A white, middle aged man in a gray/silver Prius slows to a halt near us, lowers his passenger side window, and tries to get my attention. Thinking he needed help, I approached with my son in my arms while keeping a safe social distance. The guy says to me, "Tell your kid when he grows up that China did all this."

In my confusion, it took a moment for the words and their intent to fully register. By that time he had pulled away. He was a complete stranger to us and yet decided a 2-year-old and his dad out for an innocent walk were fair game for aggressive hate mongering. I was pretty shaken up and the little consolation I had is that my son couldn't understand the words or the hateful intent. But my family, loved ones, and friends feel more unsettled with each passing day of this.

Screamed at on street

Me, my sister, and my mother were crossing the street with a stop sign. Nobody else was around us when a truck approached the stop sign. As were were crossing the street, I heard a man’s voice yell, “Walk faster! This is AMERICA!” I looked inside the truck and saw three white men (probably in their early 30s and late 20s). I immediately retaliated and responded with, “f*** you!”

Bullied at school

My ten year old son is Chinese. Before his school closed kids were picking on him, telling him he had the coronavirus.

Not seen as American

I decided to go grocery shopping early in the morning on a rainy Monday, hoping to avoid a crowd. I did my shopping faster than usual, in an unusually empty store. Still, I wanted to be in and out to minimize my exposure to anyone. As I was finishing up in self check out, a young staff member was watching me check out. He turned to his co worker and said “I’m going to throw all my shit from China in the garbage. F*** China.” He then looked right at me at said “F****Chinks”.

I could have punched him in the face. I could have confronted him. I could have called a manager. But I just wanted to get out of the store. Getting him fired wouldn’t change his attitude or hate. It would make it worse. This is a store in my neighborhood that I go to all the time. I fear for my kids who I often take shopping with me all the time. This isn’t the first time I’ve experienced racial epithets in my lifetime. But it’s been a while. People used to think these thoughts but realize saying them out loud wasn’t socially acceptable. Now, people feel they can say what they’re thinking, out loud. I’m 100% Japanese, but was born, raised, and educated in New York. I‘m American. But all that guy sees is a “f**** Chink.”

Standing in line at grocery store

Was standing in line to get into market when white woman passing by shouted a profanity at me and then lowered her mask and coughed purposely in my direction.

"You got corona!"

My husband, daughter and I went to a local park to practice hitting tennis balls when there were three teenage boys on bikes and scooter hanging around the wall we wanted to use. When they saw us, one of them began to yell, "You got Corona? You got Corona?" It didn't dawn on my family immediately that they were yelling at us because we were talking. Soon, they started yelling, "You got Corona! You mother *****! You got Corona! F** you! F** you!" Then they sped by us on their bikes and scooter. Another Asian family entered the park at that time and had the same thing happen to them.