In our own words: The impact of anti-Asian hate

Allison Mi, Copy Editor

This is a continuation of the vignettes from the last page of our issue 5 paper, which has an overarching theme of fighting AAPI hate.

Fan Wu – Huron DP Chinese teacher

Allison Mi

I am pretty sensitive, so if anti-Asian hate happens, I definitely will feel [some kind of emotion], but lots of Asian people just hide under the carpet when in public — maybe they’ll talk to friends. But now we realize we have to speak out, especially when, after the pandemic, we really didn’t do anything wrong. Sometimes you go outsideand and you feel scared. You never know what will happen to you. Those kinds of things I think everybody should be aware of at least.

Allison Mi

That’s why I want my students to start understanding what happened in this world, especially after the pandemic. That’s why I wanted to redesign a week’s lesson to watch videos related to anti-Asian hate, research Asian American history, and interview Asian-American families about their American Dreams. Through this project, my purpose is I want my students to feel proud to be Asian American.

 

 

 

Virginia He – Huron Sophomore

Allison Mi

“I think that [the blame of the Coronavirus on Asians, the fox eye trends, the sexualization of qipao] was labeled as a joke because it goes back to a normalization of anti Asian racism, and it’s obviously not because it has led to a crime that has led to people getting burned and slashed and murdered. Now, when I go outside, it’s like there’s tension in the air. Is [what happened in Atlanta] going to happen to me? It’s almost terrifying to a point.”

Allison Mi

“It’s like there are conflicting emotions in my head. When I experience anti-Asian racism, am I allowed to feel sad? Or angry? Or anything? Or am I simply overreacting? It’s no longer a question of if I’m going to be a subject to anti-Asian hate, but when.”