A Newton resident posted this on Nextdoor Newton…
As a Chinese Asian American, I just experienced my second incident in a week and I’m wondering if anyone else is experiencing or witnessing this horrible, ignorant trend in our own neighborhoods. What makes this second incident so disturbing to me was that I was standing in my own front yard with my daughter and our dog when 2 women walked by, moved to the street and made comments to me about being Chinese and not wearing a mask. As far as I know, there is no CDC guidance abouAt wearing masks on my own property, and being Asian has nothing to do with whether or not I should be wearing a mask. I yelled back at them but they kept walking away. I’ve heard about a rise in racism against Asians throughout America, and perhaps I was naive to think that living in Newton would insulate my family from this ugliness. Just last week, an elderly, white haired woman walked by me at the supermarket and said for me to go back to China. Why am I posting this? I’m hoping to raise awareness that these incidents do happen in our very own neighborhoods, and I hope that people are brave enough to confront the culprits, whether you are a victim or you are a witness.
I am so sorry this happened to the person who made this post. While unfortunately incidents like this can and do happen “even in Newton”, they cannot be tolerated or allowed to go unchallenged.
Subtle racism against asians have been tolerated by both political parties for quite a while in USA
– discrimination for college entrance
– violence against asians not reaching the same level of outrage as other races
– celebrities and hollywood caricatures/sterotypes of asians still tolerated(chris rock, steve harvey as most recent examples)
I am so sorry to hear this! I hope you know not every one is like the people you met.
I’m sorry this happened to you and your daughter. It happens more often than we admit. It causes lasting damage to its victims. It’s deplorable in every sense and I’m sure your post rang true for many Asian-Americans and to all other minorities in Newton and in our country as a whole. The insidious and systemic racism that marks the birth of this country is ever-present. Your call for bystanders to stand up is heard and seconded.
It’s why we must teach inclusion, diversity and equity to children in schools as well as empathy and compassion to break the generational hatred passed on to children. We must break the cycle of teaching hate.
Thank you for posting this. The Town of Brookline recently held a Zoom forum on racism and hate incidents against Asian Americans. We need to do that here in Newton as well.
I agree wholeheartedly with Amy’s suggestion for a strong and highly visible response. This needs to be nipped in the bud with a strong show of community support for our Asian friends and neighbors because it will only get worse if it is not confronted and neutralized. You can never let the perpetrators think they have a blank check to up the ante against any group of people their twisted ignorance assumes are not true and loyal Americans. It just emboldens them to commit even greater assaults on their perceived enemies. This time it’s the Asian community. Twenty years ago it was the American Muslim and Arab community that felt the brunt of this ignorance. Anti Semitic acts ebb and flow, but it’s always there below the surface, and I’ve heard more insults hurled at people with a Spanish surname than I care to remember. Almost 200 years ago,strong anti Catholic and Anti Irish bigotry first surfaced in Boston when mobs attacked the Ursuline Convent and school in Charlestown. It ushered in an 85 year period where my ancestors and other Irish Americans faced rank discrimination throughout America, but nowhere stronger than here. Some of this bigotry will always be with us and the only thing we can do is stand together against it when it does. We’ve always been diminished when we failed to respond.
I’m so sorry to hear about your experience. I am, though, not at all surprised, and that’s why I’ve just launched a research project to document, assess and understand the stressors being faced by the Asian American community during the pandemic. We must be clear-eyed about what is happening.
If you, or anyone you know would like to participate I would love to have you join the study. Below is the announcement, but in short, it is a three part project. The first is just the survey below. In that survey, in addition to being asked about your experiences, you will have the opportunity (or not) to volunteer to participate in a follow up interview and/or donate a small hair sample so I can measure the amount of the stress hormone cortisol in your hair.
I would be very grateful for any assistance anyone might offer in spreading the word about the study. The more people willing to participate, the more meaningful the results will be.
The announcement:
I am an anthropologist and I’m conducting a research project to systematically assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Asian American community. I am seeking research participants who live in the US and are of East Asian or South East Asian descent.
The Survey:
https://smu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bOdNntaIUtkw20Z
Dr. K. Ann Horsburgh
[email protected]
Assistant Professor and Director
SMU Molecular Anthropology Laboratories
Department of Anthropology
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX
214-768-2724
http://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Academics/Departments/Anthropology/People/Faculty/Horsburgh
Bugek:
“- violence against asians not reaching the same level of outrage as other races”.
Let’s not compare & rank racism. Let’s unite against racism wherever & whenever it occurs.
Nathan,
my point was(pre covid): do you remember any large city march against violence against asians?
Do you recall any boycott or persons fired for racism against Asians?
I must say, china has been effective in using their financial might to punish racism (eg dolce and gabana). American asians must get more politcally involved to encourage change.
This statement was sent to all Newton Teachers Association members this past week in response to the long term racism the Asian/Asian American community has experienced that the pandemic has exacerbated:
“Support Asian and Asian-American Students, Educators and Families––and Reject Hate
The COVID-19 pandemic has been brutally hard on all of us, as we struggle to balance work and other commitments, care for family members, and support our students emotionally through this traumatic time. To get through this, our solidarity as union members and our supportive relationships with each other are more important now than ever.
While acknowledging the struggles we all face, it is critical to recognize that this pandemic has unleashed an ugly and extremely dangerous form of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia that we must fight and defeat. We see it on the national stage in increased incidents of harassment and hate crimes against Asian Americans and in despicable rhetoric from politicians. In our own community, we have seen Asian and Asian-American educators and students targeted in hate-filled “Zoom-bombing” incidents in high school classes. We must be absolutely clear and unwavering in our support for Asian and Asian-American students, educators, and families who have been targets or are at risk of being targets of this hate.
Let us take this moment to think about how we can use our collective power to take a stand against racism in all its forms and acknowledge that hate and xenophobia have no place in our schools and our community. Let us also see this as a call to action to reflect on our own privileges and biases, and commit to further educating ourselves and becoming even better allies for our students and fellow educators of color.
As we develop a plan as a union at the local and statewide level to counter this hate, each of us is called upon to reflect on how we can show support and solidarity for our Asian and Asian-American coworkers and students on an individual level. This can be as simple as checking in to see how your Asian-identifying students and coworkers are doing, organizing a video or photo collage with your colleagues sending the message that we love and support our Asian and Asian-American students and that we stand firm in rejecting hate. If we all commit to being allies in our everyday interactions with our colleagues and students, we can make this crisis just a little more bearable for many of us who are most at risk.
In the longer term, our Asian-American students need us to learn even more about their experiences and the challenges they face. Many Asian-American students have had to contend with long-standing explicit and implicit bias and discrimination that the current, alarming rise in anti-Asian American sentiment has exacerbated. The “model minority” stereotype, an assumption that all Asian-American students do exceptionally well academically, can lead many of us to assume that Asian-American students are thriving. Too often, this means that Asian-American students face risks to their emotional and mental health that we as a school system fail to identify. And more Asian-American students face socioeconomic challenges than many Newton staff would imagine. These struggles may not always be visible to educators for a variety of reasons, but they are a very real part of many Asian-American students’ lives as they go through the Newton Public Schools. We must commit to showing our Asian-American students that we see them, hear them, and value them as individuals and as an essential part of the Newton community.
If you have ideas for how we can leverage the collective power of our union to support Asian-Americans and all communities of color, please let us know. And to our members who identify as Asian or Asian-American, please know that you are not alone. Just as we reaffirm our commitment to supporting all of our students and members of color, we pledge to stand in solidarity with you, support you as coworkers, friends, and allies, and take actions large and small to defeat hate and bias in all forms.”
The original post (on NextDoor) is titled in reflect racism, but heavily influenced by the fear of Covid-19 and public mask shaming that was more prevalent a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully the latter has subsided a bit since.
But here’s the other thing…that original post quickly devolved into a political debate. What started as a debate on black, white, brown and yellow turned into one about blue vs red.
The original post on NextDoor has been taken down – either by NextDoor or the author, in frustration that his post was hi-jacked by the gang mentality of blue and red politics. Hope it wasn’t the latter as we should be uniting, not dividing. Sad.
Matt,
We are all in this together but the hard questions still need to be asked.
How can some residents who live in one of the most liberal towns with 15% asian population in one of the most liberal states think its ok to make racist comments INFRONT of asians?
This is not some redneck area but a town that prides itself on inclusion. What has lead to this? If you cannot identify the problem, it cannot be solved
Bugek, it’s awful that some residents of Newton are harassing Asians of any descent but the problem is just being exacerbated at this time – it didn’t just start.
Matt, I agree that this virus should not be a blue/red issue but as soon as the president called the novel Coronavirus the China virus, along with his other conspiracy theories about the virus being made in labs and spread and Democrats making this up, the harassment has magnified just as it did when he mocked other ethnicities – making it become a blue/red issue. It isn’t and shouldn’t be!!
This is not some redneck area but a town that prides itself on inclusion.
This site is killing me lately
Patrick, me too.
My point exactly. Not saying what happened was ok. Just sad how quickly it flipped to divisive red/blue, blue/red politics.
Using a pejorative in a sentence where you are bragging about your inclusiveness is Newton to a “T.” Similar to nearly being run down in the Whole Foods parking lot by a car with a “Coexist” bumper sticker.
Patrick, I agree with your comment and comparisons just not it’s referring to all of Newton. Luckily your description doesn’t apply to all of Newton. Referring to “Newton to a “T” is saying all Newtonites are the same which, as confirmed by this thread, is obviously not true.
I agree that some folks in Newton, and all over the country, suffer from cognitive dissonance, a psychological condition that was rare but is becoming common place. Because of the anxiety produced by holding 2 contradictory thoughts in their heads at one time, these folks will do all they can to make them seem consistent – at least to themselves. I could cite residents and city government officials that treat many issues this way but we are way off the message of this post.
Marti, of course I do not mean all Newton residents. If I did, I would not choose to live here.
Contradictions like the one I pointed out are quite common here though.