Recently, the “Stop Asian Hate” protests are taking place like a raging fire around the country. I feel like I need to say something to my Asian friends and my American friends.
I saw the recent news reports about the attacks toward Asian people, especially several videos showing senior Asian people were attacked brutally on the streets and some of them lost their lives. As a Chinese American, I am heartbroken, can’t imagine the sadness of those people’s family and friends, and I hope the criminals will be punished according to the law. I believe that any reasonable person would feel the same way as me regardless their races.
Here is the top five cities in which Anti-Asian Hate crime cases increased the most from 2019 to 2020:
1. New York: from 3 to 28
2. Los Angeles: 7 to 15
3. Boston: 6 to 14
4. Seattle: 9 to 12
5. San Jose: 4 to 10
6. ......
More numbers in the figure.
I also heard several cases in Fargo, my Chinese friends were harassed verbally in grocery stores or gas stations.
It’s undeniable that the Anti-Asian hate is real, and the COVID-19 pandemic plays a major role in triggering this type of hatred. I support the Anti-Asian Hate protests and hope the protests will sound an alarm to people who are obsessed with this kind of hatred.
But is Anti-Asian a trend dominating American people’s mind? I don’t think so. Those people committed to Anti-Asian crimes or harassments are losers who can’t think reasonably and they are only a tiny portion of Americans. They don’t understand that nobody wants this pandemic to happen, Chinese Americans, even people in China are the victims of the pandemic.
We should not let this kind of hatred cover our eyes and occupy our hearts. Everyone should open our eyes and think independently, did we experience more love or more hate when we come to this land?
I still remember when I just came to the US, my English was so poor that I couldn’t understand a sentence more than four five words long. I was not laughed at, my advisors and lab mates patiently communicated with me, taught and explained to me whenever I had a question. I felt the patience and tolerance from them.
I still remember the year my son just came from China, the first week he went to preschool. One day I was late to pick him up, he was the only child left. When I entered the classroom, he was crying and the teacher couldn’t understand his Chinese and didn’t know how to comfort him. The teacher was holding my son in her arms and she had tears in her eyes too. I felt the love from her.
I still remember we bought our first home but didn’t realize we were not geared up for the cold, snowy winter. One snowy day, we got several feet of snow, my advisor drove his truck carrying his snow blower to our home and blowed the snow on our driveway in -30 degree weather.
I still remember we were invited to many many Thanksgiving and Christmas parties, received heartwarming presents from our American friends. I also heard a Chinese student’s story, he went to a grocery store before Thanksgiving, a lady he didn’t know walked to him and asked if he had a place to go for Thanksgiving. He said yes, he was invited to his supervisor’s Thanksgiving party. The lady was so relieved and said she was glad he was invited. We felt the acceptance and care in this country.
I still remember, my friend was moving to other state after graduation from NDSU, but hiring a moving company was little too expensive for their student income, and they were not confident enough to drive in the big city by themselves. An American friend volunteered to drive and helped them moving, it takes a whole day to travel back and forth between Fargo and that city. Later I heard that it was not the first time for this friend to do that for Chinese students.
This kind of stories can go on and on, I am pretty sure I am not the only lucky and special person to experience the love and hear these heartwarming stories. These real stories are dominated in our day to day lives, not the hate. I don’t deny the existence of the hate, but that’s the theme only in the media, not the theme in our real life. I don’t deny there is still discrimination against Asians for college application or career development, and I agree we should fight for our rights through lawful approach.
Yes, we want to stop the Anti- Asian hate, actually any type of hate, that’s how we make America a better country, that’s how America improved step by step in the past. But we need to be careful not to fall in Satan’s lies and tricks, America is so split now and we need to unite together not against each other.
Looking back at the history and around the world, there was never a winner in identity politics. Emphasizing racial identity only makes us hate each other and makes racial segregation back to life with a makeup. We are Americans, more importantly, we are God’s children.
My friend, always think independently using your own experience and common sense instead of media feeds.
Please forward my message if you feel more love than hate in your life in America. Tell people a heartwarming story that happened to you that you can never forget. Spread love, support law and order!
Thank you!
