Being Asian and wearing a mask in US

Last Saturday marked the beginning of spring break for many primary schools and some colleges in Texas. It was also the first weekend after Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order for Texas to reopen 100 percent beginning on March 10, which removed the mask mandate.

With some young children in our extended family, the five of us decided to take a trip to Old Town Spring near Houston.

Old Town Spring has a chic downtown area with more than 150 shops, restaurants and art galleries.

Main Street was bustling when we arrived in the late morning. Both sides of the street were full and we had to drive around to find a parking spot in a small alley.

The first shop we went into was an antique store. We were greeted with a warm “hello” from a woman in her 30s, wearing no mask.

We wandered through the store. The shop was converted from a small house just like many in the town, so we had to rub shoulders with other customers.

Slowly it dawned on us that, the rest of the customers, just like the store clerk who said hello, were all white without masks. Some customers had young children with them.

We suddenly became aware of how different we must look to the others: Asians with masks. That awareness immediately brought on a very uncomfortable feeling. We stood out and might not belong.

We left the store, stood on the sidewalk and had a good look around. Old and young folks, couples with young children, young parents pushing strollers, they were pretty much all white. The first few groups passing by had no masks.

My teenage niece began to panic a little. She read news of Asians being verbally or physically attacked. She has been dreading the day when she will be required to go back to school for in-person learning because she fears she will be targeted due to her race.

I felt a little fearful myself. I am very aware of attacks on Asian Americans in the US throughout the pandemic. Asian Americans have been spat on, pushed around, yelled at “go back to your own country”, and worse.

A report by the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council documented 3,795 incidents between March 19, 2020, and Feb 28, 2021. Physical assaults accounted for 11 percent of the total.

We continued to watch people in the street. A couple in their 40s came out of a shop wearing black cloth masks. A while later, another family walked by with masks dangling from their ears. We relaxed somewhat. We were not alone wearing masks.

The next store had a “Mask Required” sign on the door and we felt better. Everyone inside wore masks. That feeling of not belonging and fear gradually disappeared. The trip ended without incident.

That Saturday, for a few moments and for the first time, I had a sense of not belonging and feared others around me.

I couldn’t help but reflect on how the past year of divisive politics and the pandemic have poisoned perceptions, how we feel about others on wearing a mask.