Author: Angela Zhang
Instagram: @angelajzhang
Note* — previously published in Phillip Exeter's The Asian
“Angela, if you go outside you better be wearing a mask.”
I look at my mother in confusion. “Why would I need a mask? Only sick people need it. Also, didn’t you hear about the Asian woman who was attacked for wearing a mask? If I wear it, I’ll attract unnecessary attention to myself and people will think I’m sick.”
I walk out the door, not thinking much of my mom’s request, nor the response I gave her. That same night, the news reported a Korean student in New York City was attacked for not wearing a mask.
I soon realized whether I wear a mask or not, I will be a target. There will be hate crimes towards people who are like me: Asian.
I reflected upon all the violence directed at Asians since the COVID-19 pandemic, and I grew more and more fearful about leaving the house, knowing the first thing everyone noticed about me once they saw me would be that I am Asian.
February 4th, 2020 10:36 pm: New York, New York, USA
A video online shows a Chinese woman with a protective face mask being physically and verbally attacked at a subway station in New York City. After calling the woman a “diseased b-tch”, the attacker hit her on the head. The victim tried fighting back but was met with a flurry of blows and kicks, leaving the scene with a bloody lip and slight abrasion on the forehead.
February 24th, 2020 9:15 pm: Oxford Street, London, England
Jonathan Mok, a Singaporean, 23-year-old student studying at the University of London, was violently attacked by two teenagers who claimed “I don’t want your coronavirus in my country.” Mok was kicked and punched, and he claims his face “exploded with blood”. He posted disturbing pictures online of his injuries and disfigured face, including a swollen and bruised eye. He may need facial reconstruction, including an operation on a broken bone near his right eye.
March 4th, 2020 9:00 am: Brooklyn, New York, USA
An Asian passenger riding the train was verbally and physically attacked. Initially, the attacker told the Asian passenger to move. When another woman asked why the Asian passenger should move, the attacker responded with, “Because he’s standing right f–king next to me! … Tell him to move. Tell him to move.” The attacker then sprayed the Asian passenger with Febreeze as the victim angrily asked, “Why is that? Why can’t I sit next to you?”
March 10th, 2020 10:00 am: West 34th Street, New York, New York, USA
A 23-year-old student from Korea was attempting to enter a building when she was pulled by the hair, pushed by the shoulder, punched in the face, and asked with the question of “Where’s your (expletive) mask?” The attacker then said, “You’ve got coronavirus, you Asian (expletive).” The student was taken to the hospital with a possibly dislocated jaw.
March 12th, 2020 6:50 am: Forest Hills, New York, New York, USA
A 47-year-old Asian man was walking his 10-year-old son to a bus stop when 44-year-old Raoul Ramos began screaming “Where the f-ck is your mask? You f-cking chinese!” Ramos followed the two victims to the bus stop, where he hit the father on the head and ran away.
March 16th, 2020 6:15 pm: Manhattan, New York, USA
An Asian woman was verbally and physically attacked by Lynn Ferguson, 33. Ferguson spat on the Asian woman, blaming her for the spread of COVID-19. The Asian woman tried escaping, but Ferguson yanked her hair hard enough to pull some of the hair out.
March 17th, 2020: Miami Beach, Florida, USA
A video was posted online showing someone chasing an elderly Asian woman with a bottle of hand sanitizer, repeatedly telling her, “Come here! You need some hand sanitizer, sanitize your a-s!”
Although this timeline only offers a snippet of the unfortunately rampant instances of hate crimes and violence towards Asians since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I grow more fearful and disappointed everyday. I can’t change my identity, and I’m proud of my Asian heritage, but what do I do now that my identity can potentially put me in danger?
I shouldn’t be blamed for something that is no human’s fault. I shouldn’t be attacked for what I look like. I shouldn’t live with this irrational fear that I can’t go outside anymore, or else I will be brutally harassed.
COVID-19 knows no racial boundaries. No virus has a race. At a dire time like this, I expected a community to unite and support and help one another. Instead, I am faced with the cruel reality of prejudice, xenophobia, and racism.
“Angela, just don’t go outside anymore, mask or not. It’s too risky,” my mother told me, just yesterday night.
“Yeah, but if I’m six feet away I should be fine, right? I’m just going for a run, it’s not a social gathering.”
“The first thing people will see is your face. They will see you are Asian, and who knows what they might do to you. I would rather keep you home and be overly protective than to be sorry.”
This is a very true and sad story, and I like how you gave out all the facts that Asians are getting teased and bullied