Stand Against Hatred

Tell your story. Help us track hate.

Report a hate incident

An unsettling encounter

Was on an afternoon neighborhood walk with my toddler son near our home. We needed some sunshine as we're self quarantining in a small apartment.

For context, we are a multiracial family -- our adopted son being Japanese American, his dad (me) being a white guy, and my wife/his mom being Filipina American.

A white, middle aged man in a gray/silver Prius slows to a halt near us, lowers his passenger side window, and tries to get my attention. Thinking he needed help, I approached with my son in my arms while keeping a safe social distance. The guy says to me, "Tell your kid when he grows up that China did all this."

In my confusion, it took a moment for the words and their intent to fully register. By that time he had pulled away. He was a complete stranger to us and yet decided a 2-year-old and his dad out for an innocent walk were fair game for aggressive hate mongering. I was pretty shaken up and the little consolation I had is that my son couldn't understand the words or the hateful intent. But my family, loved ones, and friends feel more unsettled with each passing day of this.

Screamed at on street

Me, my sister, and my mother were crossing the street with a stop sign. Nobody else was around us when a truck approached the stop sign. As were were crossing the street, I heard a man’s voice yell, “Walk faster! This is AMERICA!” I looked inside the truck and saw three white men (probably in their early 30s and late 20s). I immediately retaliated and responded with, “f*** you!”

Not seen as American

I decided to go grocery shopping early in the morning on a rainy Monday, hoping to avoid a crowd. I did my shopping faster than usual, in an unusually empty store. Still, I wanted to be in and out to minimize my exposure to anyone. As I was finishing up in self check out, a young staff member was watching me check out. He turned to his co worker and said “I’m going to throw all my shit from China in the garbage. F*** China.” He then looked right at me at said “F****Chinks”.

I could have punched him in the face. I could have confronted him. I could have called a manager. But I just wanted to get out of the store. Getting him fired wouldn’t change his attitude or hate. It would make it worse. This is a store in my neighborhood that I go to all the time. I fear for my kids who I often take shopping with me all the time. This isn’t the first time I’ve experienced racial epithets in my lifetime. But it’s been a while. People used to think these thoughts but realize saying them out loud wasn’t socially acceptable. Now, people feel they can say what they’re thinking, out loud. I’m 100% Japanese, but was born, raised, and educated in New York. I‘m American. But all that guy sees is a “f**** Chink.”

"You got corona!"

My husband, daughter and I went to a local park to practice hitting tennis balls when there were three teenage boys on bikes and scooter hanging around the wall we wanted to use. When they saw us, one of them began to yell, "You got Corona? You got Corona?" It didn't dawn on my family immediately that they were yelling at us because we were talking. Soon, they started yelling, "You got Corona! You mother *****! You got Corona! F** you! F** you!" Then they sped by us on their bikes and scooter. Another Asian family entered the park at that time and had the same thing happen to them.

"Signed for by C.COVID"

A FedEx driver put in "Signed for by C.COVID" after handing the package to my mother, who is Chinese American. The package was addressed to my sister, whose first initial is C.

I don't understand how they think it's okay to refer to customers as the coronavirus.

Not funny

Union Jack liquor store, located in Louisville, CO had on their marquee “Thanks China”, and advertised a beer special for $14.88 (White supremacist number). When called out by the community, there were multiple stories given by the owner. As quoted in the local paper, he expressed that he has a sister in law who is Chinese, and who thought it was funny. Likewise, he defended the use of 1488 by saying that he didn’t know that this was derogatory, and “still doesn’t know what it means”. The latter assertion seems very unlikely.

Cambodian American Man Called a ‘Ch*nk’ After Man Cuts in Front of Him at 7-Eleven

This story was covered by NextShark.

A member of the Board of Directors at Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL), who wants to be identified only as Billy, was walking his bike into a 7-Eleven at 14th Street and O Street near Thomas Circle and Logan Circle at 11:45 a.m. EST on Wednesday when a man walked past him to cut in line.

“He tries to cut in front of me and I told him I was in line. That’s when he got upset and proceeded to unapologetically and shamelessly call me a ch*nk multiple times,” the 30-year-old Cambodian American told NextShark in an email. “I tried to immediately get people’s attention so others were aware of what was happening. There were 1 or 2 other bystanders standing closeby, besides the cashier.”

"I am now scared of going anywhere."

I am sharing my story hoping you could help Asians to stay alert. I never imagined it actually happens to me. I was wrong. I was about to go outside of the building where I reside [and] there were three men passing by. One of the men … yelled “Corona” at me. They walked on. Then after two seconds, the same man came back and yelled louder at me again, “Coronavirus! Coronavirus everywhere!”

I was so frightened that I felt frozen, I could not even think of running back inside the gate, just stood there…

It happened right in front of my condominium building in a quiet residential area. I am now scared of going anywhere.

Taunted at Starbucks

My mother and I are Korean Americans, we were traveling in Florida for business so we stopped in a Starbucks and while we were waiting for our order a group of 4 people at a table started staring at us with very disgusted looks, two of them pulled up their shirts to cover their mouths. They as a group then proceeded to point, laugh and taunt my mother and I, they even mentioned the “coronavirus is here.” My mother and I are not confrontational people so we stood there and avoided eye contact until our drink was served and immediately left. I was left shocked and somehow felt disgusted with myself because I was viewed as inferior simply based on my looks. I sometimes get anxiety before going out for that reason.

Racism at a Chinese American Festival

I was in a car, two people were walking past about 30 feet away, one of them, the woman, mimicked a stereotype face directed at me when she saw me; she put her front upper teeth over her lower lips to imitate bucked teeth. I have experienced racism in SF, CA in the past however this particular type has never happened to me. I knew exactly what she was trying to do, make fun of me and Chinese people in a way she knew how. This racism occurred last month while I was attending a Chinese American Festival in Marysville, California, a gold rush town and one of the oldest Chinatown's in California, on a day Chinese Americans were streaming in for the festival. What this situation told me whether blatant or in this case, a surreptitious gesture because there were no other people near me, racism is alive and has been elevated to socially acceptable. You think there is strength in numbers and security in urban areas in the Country but contrary to legislation recently enacted to make bullying illegal, Trump and his administration have made it acceptable to harass and inflict violence on folks who look different, again, like other American administrations succeeded in doing over the past 150 years of America's relatively short existence. I am angry and don't have the tools to respond to or combat vulgar uncouth behavior in our society. What do we do?

Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national affiliation of five leading organizations advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities to promote a fair and equitable society for all. The affiliation's members are: Advancing Justice - AAJC (Washington, D.C.), Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, Advancing Justice - Atlanta, Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus (San Francisco), and Advancing Justice - Chicago.