2020 found students dealing with a variety of challenges. Novel Coronavirus-19 spread globally and in order to protect ourselves, we needed to change our lives dramatically. Additionally, George Floyd, an African-American man died as law enforcement officers detained him, one with his knee on Floyd’s neck. Floyd’s death sparked protests and riots around the nation and the world. With the world’s attention focused on these horrifying events, the way some middle school students are experiencing the repercussions have gone unnoticed, though we think they should be heard. Here, Samantha W. tells her story:
As a young Chinese girl living through a pandemic, life hasn’t been the easiest. Having a president who blames China for COVID-19 has had an impact on my life. My life as a teenager is pretty simple. I wake up and find myself sitting at my desk, staring at a computer screen. I juggled online school and a president insulting my race. My family and I like to watch the news when we eat dinner just to know what’s going on in the world. Our appetite is spoiled from listening to President Trump using racial slurs such as “Chinavirus” and “Kung Flu” and encouraging other American citizens to use them as well.
It was stressful and upsetting for the first couple of months. I would go outside to get groceries with my parents only to receive glares and words that broke my heart. My father held his head up high and proud, but my mother didn’t pay attention to what others said. I’m a rather sensitive person, so my eyes started to water as I heard the same words over and over. “Look at that family. Why are they here?” Looks of disgust were also things I noticed that people said or did. There have been times I cried myself to sleep and acted like everything was fine the next morning.
But things never really got better for us people of color. Other Asians were getting attacked for “carrying the coronavirus” and our elderly are still being targeted. An elderly man in San Francisco who was on a bus getting home was assaulted for being Chinese. Another elderly Thai man was shoved on the ground when he was taking a walk. He was pronounced dead in the hospital a couple days later. Thankfully, this situation has caught the eyes of those who care. Volunteers have been helping our elderly in any way possible to get them to be safe.
To this day, I still wonder why the Asian race is always brushed under the rug. Especially in a situation like this where people have been assaulted, bullied, and killed. Even though we live in a small town, I have been bullied because of my race. It was an incident that only happened twice, but it will forever scar my life.
Currently, other Asians and I are trying to educate others and make people aware of the struggles we’ve been through. I really hope we can change something this time.
“Unlearn Racism 1” by Overpass Light Brigade is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Sources: (old man getting attacked for being Chinese) https://abc7news.com/video-elderly-asian-man-attacked-while-collecting-cans-in-san-francisco/5964588/ (84 year old thai man killed) https://www.ktvu.com/news/family-of-84-year-old-killed-in-sf-believe-attack-was-racially-motivated (volunteers helping out elderly asians) https://abc7.com/attacks-against-asian-americans-racist-racism-american-pacific-islanders/10345680/
Note: The student author of this post, Samantha W., wrote her first draft in December of 2020. Since then, violence against Asian Americans has increased in our country. CNN Opinion, March 18, 2021, NBC News, March 16, 2021, by Kimmy Yam, The New York Times, March 18, 2021, by Nicole Hong and Jonah E. Bromwich.
You can be part of the solution by joining other Americans in taking action to fight violence and racism against Asian Americans. Here are eight specific things you can do: PBS Article: 8 Actions You Can Take to Fight Racism Against Asian Americans.