At middle school basketball game at the Barclays center, the girls behind us are cheering for the opposing team. One bursts out: “If we lose, I’m going to smack one of those Chinese girls.” I talk to her. She denies it. Her mother comes over and gets in my face. #thisis2023
Not unusual, of course, but talking to two other Asian American parents nearby…we talked about the heart-pounding. The fear.
They’re kids. Where is this coming from? Just shows how people who seem foreign, alien, different…are perceived in America. It’s embedded in our history.
It’s why I got up early this morning, as I have for the last year-plus, working on this book—the story of the first Asian Americans, Chinese immigrants who came to “gold mountain” and endured bigotry and violence and were driven out of dozens of towns in the American West.
Aiming to finish the manuscript late this year, so hopefully out in 2024 from @doubledaybooks. 
One final, ironic note: I actually had the latest draft of my book in my lap when this happened! I suppose I could have handed the folder over to the mother and asked that she read it. Happy to come to the girl’s school to talk about AAPI history.
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