I am a college student who attends school in New York and lives in California with my parents. Back in March, I was coming home for spring break with all my belongings when the pandemic had just begun in America (and my school was going online for the entire semester). I went into the plane with a mask on, and I sat down in my seat next to a lady. She looked at me as if I had the virus and she looked very uncomfortable sitting next to me just because I had a mask on. She then went on to texting her husband (the font on her phone was so big that I could clearly see everything and see literally had her back towards me) that, "There is an Asian girl sitting next to me". Then her husband replied, "Tell her to switch seats with [daughter's name].” They were sitting next to each other but there was a row between them. I honestly was very shocked and mad to experience this kind of hate that I've never experienced as someone living in NY and CA.
Just because I am Asian does not mean I have the virus. Just because I had a mask on does not mean I am sick. I didn't know what to do back then, so I just acted like I was sleeping so that she can't ask me to switch seats with her daughter. Now that I think about it, although she didn't do anything to me or say anything to me, I could feel the hate she had towards me because of my race and my mask. Seeing the texts also really made me feel that she and her husband have no knowledge and were just targeting me because I am "Asian." I really hope she learned by now that she should not do this and express her hate towards specific races only because of her fear or whatever it is.
I worked in an accounting/finance department of a non-profit organization. Back in late February or early March of 2020, a new accounting manager came on board. A few days after his introductory walkabout at the corporate location with the Recruiting Manager he was walking over to his large cubicle that happened to be adjacent to mine, and as he did, he looked my way and called me "coronavirus.” He continued with the other derogatory comments all through the year often talking about me behind my back with other managers and staff in the organization alluding that I didn't know what I was doing and trying to blame other people's mistakes on me. He called me inefficient and inflexible and tried to give me a very poor performance rating so that I wouldn't be eligible for the merit increase in 2021.
My 11-year-old daughter came home crying from school repeatedly because children in her class said they hoped COVID would go back to China and kill all the Chinese people. They also said Chinese people are dirty, lying cheaters who can't be trusted. I reported it to the school administration and never even got a response to my email asking for support. We have never felt more invisible.
Shopping at local grocery market, was in the aisle next to beers. White man talking loudly on phone comes to the middle of the aisle near where I'm standing and starts asking his buddy on the phone what kind of beer to get. I ask him to keep his distance given that he didn't have a mask. He turns to me, and says on his phone, "Hold on, I've got this oriental MFer bitching to me." I quickly leave the aisle, but the man follows me, yelling things like, "Hey Ching Chang Chong, go back to your f***ing restaurant and make me some chicken fried rice.”
During shelter in place + working from home, lunch walks have become my ritual to stay healthy and to clear the mind. I was on my daily walk and crossed the street at an intersection. A man had just turned the corner so I moved to the edge of the sidewalk to make room. It looked like he was walking closer to me, so I tried to make more space between us. Before I knew it, he had lunged toward me and kicked me in the arm, and muttered something as he walked away. In shock, I gasped and looked back at him to see him glaring back at me. I wish I would have done something or could have said more, but I froze and continued walking, breaking into a light jog to get the rest of the way home when I realized his actions were most likely racially-charged. I am Cambodian/Chinese. I was texting a friend before the incident so I called her and she stayed on the phone until I got home safely.
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.
A male cashier at an big chain store told a customer to "take a joke" after asking if canned cat food was the customer's lunch. This is the 2nd or 3rd time this has occurred. The cashier is a former manager, too. Seemed like everything he learned went out the door.
I was taking the subway home from the airport when a White man (not wearing a mask) started verbally harassing me. He started singing about America and continually said things like, “Get out of my country and go back to where you came from," and "Thanks for killing us all.” When I didn't respond, he said "We speak AMERICAN here, you know that?" and made fun of my name that was on my suitcase saying, "What kind of a name is that!” He also banged on the windows and stomped his feet to make as much noise as possible.
The subway had an emergency button to talk to the operator, but unfortunately he was sitting in front of it. I felt uncomfortable speaking out or taking action because I was sitting in the corner and was afraid he would try to prevent me from leaving. I think the worst part was when I tried to look around for help, I saw everyone else in the car with headphones in, heads down, completely ignoring the situation. I was able to leave the car safely, but it has made me concerned about the safety of fellow AAPIs and I feel like we can't hope that others will intervene on our behalf.
I work at a bookstore and a customer started berating me when I didn’t do what he wanted fast enough. I didn’t argue with him so he said to me, “You don’t know anything! You can’t speak English! You don’t speak English!” He said this even though he heard I had no accent (and I also have a graduate degree in creative writing).
At my place of employment, a man (likely a patient) approached me while I was minding my own business with, "Young lady are you a Chinese?" I was already thinking "What the heck?" and told him to back off. He said, "Your kind are diseased." I said shame on him and that he was being a racist. Of course, now he went in with the racial slurs. None of my colleagues stepped in to help me. Everyone was silent. I took out my phone to record him and he started to become aggressive trying to grab at me, adding in misogynistic slurs for good measure too.
I am so done. I am so tired. I am in my 20s and to be honest, I am really not sure how much more I can take. This was not the first time with the racial slurs, insults, abuse, but this was the first time the racist individual tried to physically aggress me. A freaking 200 something pound man trying to push me around because of the racism in his heart. I am so sad.
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.
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.
I was on the bus when a man in MAGA hat accosted me with, "me lux you long time" harassment and slurs. I asked him to please stop but he pointed to his hat and said, "this is MAGA country b***h" he then began shouting "blue lives matter," "jews will not replace us" and other national socialist dog whistles. When we got to his stop he gave the white bus driver a fist bump and thanked him for his service. I was seriously traumatized.
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.
My husband, daughter and I were walking toward when I saw a white woman (appeared to be in her 60s) making her way toward my husband while he was crossing the street. She got closer and closer to him until she whispered in his ear, "Why do Muslims behead only white people and not Chinese?" My husband told me to ignore her, but she continued to ask the question and escalate the situation. When she asked the question again, my husband responded, "I don't know--I'm not a Muslim." She walked away, and we started laughing because the situation seemed so ridiculous. When she heard us laughing, she turned around and walked back toward us asking, "You think being beheaded is funny? You think murder based on race and ethnicity is funny?" My husband said, "No I think you coming up to me very closely is a little rude." She said, "I think that's called a crime on humanity, to behead somebody because they're white!" This continued on about five or six more times as she came charging back toward us each time we made a comment or laughed. She started getting really close to us, and I was holding my one-year-old daughter the entire time. Concerned for her safety because this woman wasn't wearing a mask and yelling at us, I yelled back at her to "Back up! I will call the police if you come any closer!" There were multiple witnesses of this incident. Two Black couples checked on us afterward, and one of them recorded much of the incident. I also have video of the incident. It was truly an alarming and traumatizing experience.
