Tonight when I packed 6yo's lunch for school, I hesitated as I put in the toasted Nori that she so dearly loves. I caught myself thinking that it was pretty much the most “Asian” thing in the world… eating seaweed. 1/8
I thought about how this might centre her out as belonging to a group that is being actively targeted during this pandemic. And I hate that my mind went there. I hate that I hesitated, even for a moment, to give my child a healthy treat because it may look “too Asian”. 2/8
Today when I turned on the radio and checked social media, I was hit hard by the stories about Asian women being murdered. This is not the first time I’ve felt that familiar churning in the pit of my stomach after seeing news about Anti-Asian hate crimes in the past year. 3/8
Social media is full of people debating whether or not these murders had more to do with a man who suffered from an addiction “having a bad day” than anti-Asian sentiment. 4/8
I remembered the fear of that moment months ago when a drunk man yelled racist Anti-Asian comments at my child and I as we walked in our neighbourhood. I remembered how I was told to “go back to my own country” by a man who pulled over to shout hateful words at me downtown. 5/8
I remembered how a boy in school told me my eyes went “back to my ears”. I remembered kids asking me if I spoke “Ching Chong”. I remembered children chanting “Dirty knees, Japanese” in a skipping rhyme. 6/8
I remember my dad telling me how the KKK threatened him because he dared to work for a Catholic school board (and how he resigned from that board). How a hotel manager in the States wouldn't rent a room to him because he wasn't White. 7/8
I have repeatedly chosen safety over confrontation. I don’t want my child to grow up in fear. I don’t want her to ever feel like she has to hide a part of herself. I want her to be proud of who she is. I want her to eat the nori. 8/8
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