One bus got fed up with racism
When a woman stood up against hate, passengers around her had her back
VANCOUVER— As she boarded a bus Monday after a morning of classes at a downtown Vancouver campus, Tina Hoang was pleased to see that most passengers were physically distancing.
She sat down at an empty area near the middle of the bus.
But soon, a white man got on board and walked by a row of people who were all wearing masks, who all happened to be people of colour.
“Jesus Christ! Everyone is wearing a mask. It’s the f---ing Chinese virus,” he ranted loudly.
Hoang, who is 21, said she snapped at that moment after enduring months of dirty looks from people in Vancouver, which she attributed to scapegoating for the coronavirus outbreak.
“I told him, ‘Hey, that’s really racist! Don’t say that! It’s very rude of you.’ ”
The man stopped and stood over Hoang, who is a small woman of just five feet.
At that moment, Hoang felt scared, but she stood her ground and demanded an apology from the man.
He snarled, “No! It’s a Chinese virus, from Chinese people eating s---.”
That’s when other passengers on the bus stepped up.
To Hoang, it felt like a collective uprising against a spate of racist attacks in the city.
In March, a man pushed a 92year-old man with dementia to the ground outside a convenience store while yelling racist insults about COVID-19.
In another incident, a man punched a woman of Asian descent near a bus stop downtown and walked away.
Eight per cent of Chinese Canadians respondents said they have been physically attacked by strangers during the pandemic, according to a recent survey from the Angus Reid Institute and the University of Alberta.
On the bus, the passengers weren’t going to stand by for another attack.
Two older women, one of Latino descent and the other of Southeast Asian descent, began to lecture the man about his “shameful” behaviour.
They were trying to educate him about why people wear masks, Hoang told the Star.
“The women said something along the lines of, ‘Everyone is trying to be respectful and take care of each other by wearing masks and keeping a distance.’ ”
Some passengers said, “Don’t be racist!” while others chose more subtle means of solidarity, changing their seats to stand or sit protectively around Hoang, who had burst into tears.
“You made this girl cry; how can you do that?” one man said.
Hoang told the Star she was shaking from anger, thinking about the racism her family endured when they lived in a mostly white suburb of Mississauga. Her parents are immigrants from China and Vietnam.
“People belittled my mother for not speaking English correctly, and white men hit on her. I couldn’t believe my mother had to stand up for her rights, and I still have to do it now,” Hoang said.
Before she reached her stop, the man struck out again, telling her, “You’re a piece of s--- for eating s---.”
“I hope you can find inner peace,” Hoang said calmly.
Of the 516 Chinese Canadians who responded to the poll from the Angus Reid Institute and the University of Alberta, 43 per cent also reported being threatened or intimidated.
“Every day, I pray that you people die,” is one of the threats and name-calling instances respondents reported.
“Since March 2020, I have been repeatedly yelled at on the sidewalk in my own neighbourhood,” said one person who took part in the survey.
Because of the support of her fellow passengers, Hoang says she feels hopeful about the future.
“Canada has systemic racism, but people are willing to stand up for change and that makes me proud to be Canadian,” she said.