Increase in Asian-American Racism: Interview with Asian-American Chinese Adoptee

Warning: This post discusses racism, COVID-19, and politics. For complete comprehension, PG-13 readers are recommended.

Today, the United States (US) has the highest number of total cases at 1,236,819 and total deaths at 72,205 from the coronavirus. While Italy, Spain, and France have been the most hit as the virus attacked the world, the US has suddenly reached number one. Densely populated cities such as New York City and New Jersey are suffering the most. American citizens are panic stricken as the death toll continues to climb each day. It’s universally known that the virus started in China and it is causing an increase in racism towards Asians around the world, but especially in America. Just this week, an Asian man was beaten on a public subway in New York City (NYC) and accused of 'starting COVID-19', while bystanders did nothing. Another incident this week in NYC involved a man attempting to drag an Asian man off of the subway after calling him China boy and saying he was 'infected'. I interviewed a fellow friend, blogger, member of China’s Children International (CCI) Facebook Group, and Asian-American Chinese adoptee, Lily, to understand her perspective on why and how Americans are resorting to racism-fueled violence.

Please share some information about where you were adopted, what age, where you live now, and any other information you wish to share.

I’m Lily and I’m 24. I’m from Michigan in the States. I was adopted when I was 9 months old from Nanchang, Jiangxi, China. I was adopted into a White family and I have one older sister who is my parent’s biological daughter and one younger sister who is adopted from China also, and we’re not biologically-related. I graduated from Michigan State University (MSU) with a double major in Social Relations and Policy, and Chinese. I currently work for the government doing HR work.

How did we meet each other?

This is actually one of my favourite stories! We met in China’s Children International, in this [Facebook] group, and this was a few years back because I was still at MSU. I was in a chat and I remember, first of all, people were being such dumb idiots, honestly, they were saying this nonsense and I could not handle the internalized misogyny and the internalized racism. I think people should have a right to say what they want, [but] you can’t say racist things and then be like, “I’m a Chinese adoptee so I can be a racist”’, that’s unacceptable and I told them that. You messaged me, “I’m so down for this!” and I was like, “Oh my god, I love this girl!” Anyways, we started talking and we had video chatted a couple of times. It was really cool because you were adopted, obviously, and lived in Canada, and [our cultures] are so aligned. That’s how we met, it’s one of my favourite stories, I really love it.

You recently made a very passionate post on your social media about the rise of Asian racism due to the coronavirus that originated from China. Did something personal happen that inspired you to make that post?

No, I’ve been totally fine. The only thing is weird microaggressions. [For example] if I’m out shopping and I cough or something, [people think ] is it because I’m Asian? I live in a college town so it has a really high International student population. So I think there’s this sort of fear or unease surrounding that, in terms of “Where are you from?”, “Where have you been?” Which isn’t great, but I can understand that. There’s another CCI girl and she posted something about this hashtag #Jenesuispasunvirus/#Iamnotavirus. It started in the French Asian community. It basically is saying [that] you have to understand we’re still people.

It’s been interesting because, since this, I have not felt so self-conscious or uncomfortable going out on my own. I feel like I’m really really anxious whenever I have to go outside. Even if I’m walking my dog around the park, I always make a conscious effort to smile or wave at everyone, [and be] as non-threatening as possible.

I feel like it’s an intensification of as an adoptee, claiming Asianness or your Asian identity and what that means and what it means when it works against you to this point. I think that’s something I haven’t explored but I think is important to, especially now. There’s a lot tied into the adoptee identity and now tied into the Asian-American identity.

There are stories and articles online of Asian Americans reporting being spit on, yelled at, and threatened in the streets. Many Asian businesses are being targets for violence and gun purchases have increased to 'protect their families during these times'. That leads into this next question, have you personally experienced racism or known anyone who has during this time?

No, I haven’t. I think part of it is that I’ve been shut in my house, I haven’t gone out, I went grocery shopping two weeks ago. When I am at work, the people who I interact with understand there’s a mutual respect, that it’s very [much a] workplace and even customers who come in for help they understand what the boundaries are. But, I don’t go out besides that. I don’t know anyone who has experienced [it], well I think I do, from some social media posts. I’ve seen a few other people post about their experiences. I’ve seen a handful of them, but I also went to a high school that was 30% East-Asian so I have a lot of Asian-Americans on my friends list. So I know that it happens. And I think the most interesting thing is seeing people who have never necessarily taken up to thinking about racism and how it affects them, is seeing them suddenly, “Oh, this is a thing that is happening to my friend or that is happening to my family members when they go out” and people who just haven’t had to think about it. Being Asian-American you know about it, you’re aware of it, but again, it’s not the same visceral fear that Black and Brown people in America feel.

How do you think that Trump and his comments about the ‘China virus’ and the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo repeatedly calling it the ‘Wuhan virus’ even after the official name came out influences Americans?

It’s influential because a lot of Trump’s base listen to him and gets information from him and nowhere else because everywhere else is fake news. That has been a thing that we know happens, but this is why language is so important because then you have a little under half of America, who has elected him, listening to this and only this. Then you have all the connotations of calling it the ‘Chinese virus’ where their subconscious doesn’t even register it, but then they see an Asian person and they’re like, “Oh, the China virus”, it goes deeper. When you build the foundation for fear, which is what’s happening and people should be scared, when you build it on racial terms… it’s really harmful to these communities. When you build your base on pointing it at a community, it’s a dangerous game you’re playing. It’s dangerous to levels that the people who are listening, don’t understand how their brains are processing it.

What are your thoughts or concerns on the implication of how the world will view Asian communities in the future?

There was a really good piece in the Atlantic called, How the Pandemic Will End, and the author, who’s Asian-American, writes about how the virus is going to end and it’s very comprehensive. It has medical, financial, and social implications. One of the things he says is that there’s going to be two sides. The one side being dealing with racism and dealing with backlash for something you can’t really blame a racial group for. We’re at a turning point in history where there’s a rise of anti-Asian-American racism where a lot of people are going to be propagating. They will thereby be teaching their kids this. There’s going to be this point where this is what is told about the Asian community, “They have this virus, they started it, they brought this to America, immigrants are bad”. It’s going to perpetuate into our society for however long and the implications are that it’s going to continue because there’s no way that you can disprove that, which is one of the really interesting and terrible things about it. Once there’s a social stigma, it’s really hard to disprove it and it gets carried along.

The other side of that, not just Asian-Americans, but I do think personally especially Asian-Americans, are going to have agoraphobia, the fear of going outside and being in crowds. I think once we’re done with this, there’s going to be this inherent, “What if…” and “What if I need to sneeze?” I feel that’s what I’m like and what I will be like because of this weird stigma that I think is going to happen after all of this.

But, I don’t think it will be all bad though. I think this is a really momentous moment for us to learn and grow. In the article it talks about, compared to other diseases, that this has hit everyone. I’m hoping that it’s not going to destroy racial implications because you’re going to have racists who need ammo all the time, but from what I’ve seen, people are trying to build community right now. I’m hoping that’s what sticks after this, the online yoga classes, Houseparty [app], Zoom [app], people having happy hour in their own living rooms. We don’t survive by being individualistic, by pointing fingers, by saying, “You did this”, we thrived and have survived this long because we built communities and interpersonal connections to raise each other up.

Do you have a message for Asians who are fearing leaving their homes because of the increase in racism?

I would say, find community online. Obviously not in person, keep your social distancing *chuckle*. Find community, but make sure they don’t only validate your fears. I think that’s a big issue, people get stuck in this bubble. Reach out to different people, find other Asians or other Asian adoptees, whatever it is, but find people who you went to college or high school with and let them know. I think that when fear holds people back it’s really easy to turn into shame or guilt, you feel guilty for not going out or ashamed that nothing has happened to you, so why should you feel this way? I think the only way to dissipate it is to openly have a conversation about it. I think it’s important to talk about your fears and have people validate them, but for me, just being able to talk about it is all I need and have people understand. I think reaching out to people, expressing your fears to others, inside and outside of your racial identity, creates a space for you to move forward from that. You can’t stay scared and stay in the same place. You have to take action and you can either take action by not doing anything and still stay scared, or take action by letting other people know this is what you’re experiencing and accepting your feelings.

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You can follow Lily on Instagram @IronDewWellness Picture credits go to Laura Gao from this article: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/04/823825436/the-wuhan-i-know-a-comic-about-the-city-behind-the-coronavirus-headlines?fbclid=IwAR1bwX8phT7fflpSRhypyX74AEL-YIp8fYfyXRP0Pi4lZg1wMBv_R61gldg