10 How is blaming them benefiting us? 

About a month ago I moved out of my apartment on campus. I’m sure you know how those things go with continuous trips back and forth to pack your belongings into your car and several trips more driving from one location to the next. But it was on that day that I experienced something I won’t forget. I was on my last few trips of stuffing my belongings into my car and my mother’s car when my next-door neighbor stopped me out in the hallway just outside my open apartment door. They asked me if I was moving and when I said yes, I was given some cookies as what I would call a ‘going away’ gift. I was surprised and grateful! Never have I had someone give me a gift in this kind of situation. In all honesty, I didn’t know my neighbor very well and I have never had a chance to converse with them much. But the act of kindness radiated from my neighbor in waves and it was that kindness I was grateful for.

When the conversation was finished, I went back into my apartment, leaving the door open behind me with intentions to carry another load back out to my car. My stepdad had questions though. He questioned me on who I was talking too and saw the cookies in my hands. Then he questioned me on if she was Chinese since the cookie package had similar writing styles on them. I had no choice but to answer honestly that I thought so but wasn’t sure. It doesn’t matter to me what ethnic or cultural origins my neighbor or others around me have, I’m friends to everyone. In fact, someone’s race, origin, culture, etc. is the least thing on my mind. My Stepdad, however, had other ideas that clash with mine. What I had said only sparked a hateful response from him. “They could have the virus,” he yelled as he snatched the cookies from me and threw them into the trash, “They could be spying for the Chinese government and check marking you off that they’ve successfully spread the virus.”

He would not shut up after that. I heard hateful comment after hateful comment and I soon found myself rushing out the door with another load of belongings because of the tears that were fighting to fall. It was unfair that he blamed someone he did not know as a cause of the COVID-19 situation that was out of everyone’s hands at the time (and still is as I’m writing this). It is also unfair that he should judge my neighbor, who did an act of kindness and nothing wrong, based on the possibility of their ethnic or cultural origin.

This is only one event of many I have experienced as a white female living in a rather judgmental and racist family and it hurts me even to hear these comments. Especially since I’m very open and curious about other cultures that are present in the United States and around the world. Human’s  are diverse for a reason so how is it helping anyone, especially here in the Midwest, to judge someone else negatively based on their skin color, hair style, height, weight, country of origin, accent, disability, anything that makes us unique and unlike the other person standing beside us? It doesn’t help and it hurts us as a society. Especially during this crisis when Asian ethnic/cultural groups are being targeted because of their relation to the starting location of COVID-19.

There have been several incidents in the United States so far as a result of this CORVID-19 scare. WGN9, a Chicago news station, posted an article accompanied by a video that told the story of a San Diego Uber driver who picked up three passengers. WGN9 describes a scene, quoting “One of the people, a woman, asks him, ‘Where are you from?’ When he says he is from Hong Kong, the woman laughs and says, ‘Coronavirus, right?’” In the accompanying video, the San Diego Uber driver expresses that he is hurt and does not take it lightly.

While San Diego is far away from me, there are incidences closer to my area of the US. The same news station, WGN9, also described an incident in Chicago within the same article/video. The article goes on to describe an incident where an Asian American woman,  by the name of Mabel Menard who is the president of Asian Pacific American Advocates (OCA)  o f Greater Chicago, stating, “She said she was having dinner alone when a man asked her, ‘Do you have the corona?’” Similarly, National Public Radio (NPR) also described a similar incident in the Chicago/Illinois area, for a Soukprida Phetmisy who had several incidences. NPR describes a couple of her incidences, “‘Back in Chicago a few days later, she was walking to her office in the Loop when two men in business suits walked by and said to her, ‘Go home.’ And not long after that, she was walking Wilbur around the neighborhood when she passed by some kids playing at an elementary school. A child said, ‘Cough, cough, corona.’” NPR also comments that Phetmisy’s “ Asian American friends in Chicago have experienced similar attacks.” But Phetmisy isn’t angry or upset. When she talks about the incident when she was walking her dog she states, “I just remember thinking that there’s no way that those kids came up with that on there own. I was more saddened to think about the adults in their lives or what they’ve been watching or things that they have been reading on Instagram or on social media that may have lead to that.”   Add one or two more sentences here in which you explain (like you did for the Uber driver, how the woman reported these interactions made her feel.

To top it off, Tthere was even a case in my home state of Indiana. CNN described an incident involving Homng guests Kao Lor and Lee Lor with 2 hotels in Indiana. An employee at the Super 8 asked Koa if he was Chinese and when he asked why, he got a reply of “‘Because of the coronavirus going around,’ he replied. ‘And anyone from China, I am told, has to be picked up and quarantined for two weeks.’” But the story doesn’t stop there. CNN then described how Koa went to the Days Inn hotel where he got an employee appearing to say no when asked if Asians were not allowed.

If this type of behavior continues towards Asian Americans, as well as other ethnic and cultural groups, where will that put us later on down the timeline? Heather C. McGhee might have an answer. She talks about the cost of racism in her TED talk “Racism has a cost for everyone” and has some interesting points with one point being the destruction of public goods. She gives an example on Oak Park pool located in Alabama before the passage of Civil Rights legislation stating, “Except the Oak Park pool, though it was funded by all of Montgomery citizens, was for whites only. When a federal court finally deemed this unconstitutional, the reaction of the town council was swift. Effective January 1, 1959, they decided they would drain the public pool rather than let black families swim, too.” She goes on to state that today the park has view visitors and that they never rebuilt the pool. She even describes how other public goods have been destroyed, saying “Towns closed their public parks, pools and schools, all in response to desegregation orders, all throughout the 1960s. In Montgomery, they shut down the entire Parks Department for a decade. They closed the recreation centers, they even sold off the animals in the zoo.”

Heather describes other examples of the effects of racism in her TED talk but her main point is that with racism comes  has consequences for everyone and she hits home on that point by saying, “Racism leads to bad policymaking. It’s making our economy worse. And not just in ways that disadvantage people of color. It turns out it’s not a zero sum. Racism is bad for white people, too.” So how has this racism/judgmental attitude of my Stepdad’s affected himself and I? I think it’s obvious how I feel. I don’t like hearing him in these moment, judging people he fails to understand. But as for himself, it’s hard to say since he’s always been like this. H however I can say he’s probably missed out on some great opportunities that would benefit himself and others as well as made life a little bit more difficult for everyone.

Works Cited

Francisco, T. (2020, March 25). Asian Americans reporting racism, harassment amid COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/asian-americans-reporting-racism-harassment-amid-covid-19-pandemic/

Kang, E. Y.-J. (2020, March 31). Asian Americans Feel The Bite Of Prejudice During The COVID-19 Pandemic. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/local/309/2020/03/31/824397216/asian-americans-feel-the-bite-of-prejudice-during-the-c-o-v-i-d-19-pandemic

McGhee, H. C. (n.d.). Racism has a cost for everyone. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/heather_c_mcghee_racism_has_a_cost_for_everyone/transcript?utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=newest-talks-2#t-848870

OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates. (2020, April 22). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCA_-_Asian_Pacific_American_Advocates

Trump says coronavirus not Asian Americans’ fault. (2020, March 24). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52013361

Yan, H., Chen, N., & Naresh, D. (2020, Febuary 21). What’s spreading faster than coronavirus in the US? Racist assaults and ignorant attacks against Asians. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/20/us/coronavirus-racist-attacks-against-asian-americans/index.html