Oh no you didn’t…
by Sisi Huang
As Asians, we need to stand up for ourselves.
Though it’s the twenty-first century, racist slurs and views still color a city such as New York.
For starters, just take what I saw happening on the bus this morning.
A Caucasian woman boarded the bus and immediately began looking for an empty seat. Finding one next to the window, she quickly approached it and demanded that the Chinese woman sitting in the seat next to the aisle to move so that she could get to the empty seat. Perhaps the Chinese woman was too slow in moving out of the way but the next thing anyone knew, the Caucasian woman was screaming about how New York City wasn’t China.
What?!
“This isn’t China! When there’s an empty seat, you move! This is New York City! Everyone here’s a passenger! It’s not China, okay? You can keep your goddamn seats in China but this is America!”
What?!
Though I didn’t know the full story or what exactly triggered her outburst, I became enraged at the fact that China had anything to do with the situation. But being the passive person that I am, I did not say anything to the woman, who, by the way, continued to scream about China and its differences from New York. Was that really necessary, ma’am?
But lo and behold, a fellow Chinese man turned around in his seat, stared at that woman straight in the eye, and said, “Take it easy, will ya?” She didn’t respond and instead, continued to rant about China.
“This has nothing to do with China! You have your seat now so can you please stop talking?”
“No, this is New York. Why don’t you go back to China? Go back to China!”
“Why don’t you go back to where you came from?!”
The shoutfest went on until the woman got off the bus one stop later.
Though I am in no way endorsing the use of racist words to retort racist comments, it nevertheless satisfies me that someone out there is willing to stand up and fight back against what is wrong. Sometimes, it helps to just vent a little and stop holding yourself back.
