A Chinese American doctor named Lucy Li got the shock of her life as she was walking down the subway in Boston and a man came up to her yelling "Why are you Chinese people killing everyone? What is wrong with you? Why the f--- are you killing us?" The incident left the doctor shocked and trembling with tears running down her eyes and reports are out that racism against Chinese Americans are at an all time high across the United States since January, 2020.
Lucy Li, is working day and night at the frontlines risking her own life helping patients battle the coronavirus at the Intensive Care Unit in Massachusetts General Hospital and the doctor revealed that she's not able to erase the memory and the hateful voice of the man who yelled racist tirades against her. Thankfully, she said that the man didn't physically attack her but is saddened at the way Chinese Americans are treated across the U.S.
I try not to think about it while treating my patients
The 28-year-old anesthesiology expert revealed that she tries to forget the incident when she wears her uniform but revealed that the racist words are still at the back of her head. "I'm risking my own personal health, and then to be vilified just because of what I look like. I try not to think about that possibility when I'm at work taking care of patients. But it's always there, at the very back of my mind," she told the Washington Post.
Another Chinese American and sociologist Grace Kao from the Yale University revealed the psychology of the racist attacks against Chinese people by saying that people are worried about the transmission of the disease and connect the pandemic with China and Asian faces. "People are worried about transmission of a disease that they associate with foreignness and Asian faces. Nothing erases what we look like."
Asian Americans experience sharp rise in racist attacks
As soon as the lockdown was announced across the United States toward the end of March, the FBI issued a warning of a potential surge in hate crimes against Asians. In an intelligence report, compiled by the FBI's Houston office and distributed to local law enforcement agencies across the country, FBI is reported to have said:"The FBI assesses hate crime incidents against Asian Americans likely will surge across the United States, due to the spread of coronavirus disease ... endangering Asian American communities."
Russell Jeung, Chairman of the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University, who is researching racism and xenophobia amid the pandemic, said in a report that more than 1,800 anti-Asian harassment incidents have been recorded since March 19 and victims were spat at, thrashed while walking on the street, barred from entering stores and also faced racist eye gestures against them.
