On our way to the neighborhood comic book shop, I was waiting to cross the street with my Israeli-American husband and our Chinese-Filipino-American niece and nephew when we heard someone behind us yell, “Get out of my neighborhood! Stop your damn Asian invasion. Go back to China! It’s your fault that the ‘rona is here.” All of us swung around to face this man acting foolish. In the moment we turned around, my brain calculated every consequence permutation like anyone who has faced bullying or feared for their personal safety. I settled on the safest option. I said, “Excuse me?!?” and gave him a very stern look. He reacted by running scared and crossing the opposite street into traffic while yelling racial slurs.
This was by no means an isolated incident or new to me. This happened often enough that I had compartmentalized it with all of the other incidents over the years. In elementary school, kids used to ask why my face was so flat or why my house always smelled like weird food. In middle school, kids got meaner, calling me Mt. Fuji because I was taller and stronger. FYI — I am not Japanese. In high school, I lived under the weight of the Model Minority label with classmates teasing me if I didn’t get 100 on a quiz in my math and science classes. In college, I was both undateable and coveted because of my ethnicity. It didn’t matter how many of these incidents I experienced and tolerated, whenever there were forums and discussions about race and equality, I became invisible. The conversations always became black and white. The idea of the “yellow peril” is nothing new, but it took a massive tragedy for others to see us again and finally let us in on the race conversation.
pocstock stands with our Asian-American and Pacific Islanders sisters and brothers in condemning AAPI hate and violence. We began our yearlong #IncludeUS campaign in January with a commitment to amplifying stories of BIPOC, partnering with them, and continuing to uplifting and support. To learn more, please visit our website and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and LinkedIn.
