Close your eyes. Take a moment to envision an American person.
Now open your eyes.
It isn’t me.
Is it you?
Music Educator, Activist, and Amplifier of Youth Voice
Close your eyes. Take a moment to envision an American person.
Now open your eyes.
It isn’t me.
Is it you?
“Yellow Peril.”
“The Wuhan Virus.”
“The Chinese Virus.”
“Chink.”
“Cough into your elbow.” (Comes closer) “I SAID COUGH INTO YOUR ELBOW!” (Repeats multiple times in a train between stations, so I cannot get out).
“Get away from me.”
– What people have directly said to me on the street
COVID-19 is most definitely changing my experience as an Asian American. When I first wrote about the coronavirus “back in February” (so… just a month ago), I had no expectation that my life would be where it is today. (Did anyone though?) What I shared on video with USAToday had a greater impact than I thought it would – for better, for worse, for everything in between.
I am a proud Asian American, a proud Chinese American, first generation raised in America, first to go to college and earn a Bachelor’s and Master’s, currently pursuing my doctorate, and just truly so proud of my culture and who I am. To many, and hopefully my family and in some ways even myself, I am the epitome of the American dream.
This is sadly not about that.
I want to detail what it has felt like to be an Asian person in America since the outbreak of coronavirus.