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It’s a very tragic time we’re living in, on so many levels. But that ignorance continues to grow into hate and racism that has levelled so many is the most atrocious of all.
The irony that you and I, my Asian friends, from very different backgrounds, have such similar stories. I too was called all the mean and derogatory slurs for Chinese yet I’m Japanese. My sister and I would come home from school crying having been hit and shoved around. But, my mother’s stories from being interned made mine seem like child’s play, so of course I tried to put it into perspective while being grateful that at least I was half white. But still not quite right... as a young woman told I wasn’t Asian enough or too Asian for jobs. The philosophy that I adopted was just keep your head down, try to fit in, don’t draw attention to yourself.
Racism can be innocuous with a tease or a shrug of indifference, or worse, the denial that it doesn’t really matter, not a thing. It’s just a little joke. “Why do the commercials and magazine covers all have BIPOC faces now, how annoying” I’ve heard said. Is it my job to teach them how destructive and hurtful their comments are?
To be beaten down verbally or physically because you’re not white? That’s an obviously wrong thing to do but passive racism feeds the beast that becomes wicked and uncontrollable. It has to stop.
Stop and think about what you’re saying. Don’t roll your eyes. Don’t say it and really, don’t even think it. And don’t stand by and allow someone else to say those things. Just stop it!
How outrageously fucking sad it is...
#stopasianhate #stopracism
