USA TODAY International Edition
Asian Americans wary amid travel
As world reopens, racism’s toll has a lingering effect
As the world reopens, many travelers are eager to get back on the road, but Asian Americans may have some additional baggage after more than a year- and- a- half of attacks on their community.
“Before the pandemic, I had no problem really going out and traveling,” said Hana Lee, a Korean American from Colorado Springs. “It was just fun.”
She said the first time she felt targeted for her ethnicity was on a trip to New York, when a stranger called her “a Chinese cockroach” and took her photo, which she said made her “very uncomfortable.”
“I was shocked, but at the same time ... this unfortunately is normal for people like me these days,” she said.
“This feeling of having a loss of sense of safety is such a violation,” said Cynthia Choi, co- executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, a founding partner of Stop AAPI Hate. “It’s such a basic human right to feel like you can leave your home and not be subjected to discrimination, to hate.”
Stop AAPI Hate received more than 6,600 reports of hate incidents from mid- March 2020 to late March 2021 as China was blamed for COVID- 19.
“It’s such a basic human right to feel like you can leave your home and not be subjected to discrimination.”
Cynthia Choi
Co- executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action
“Our reporting center is the canary in the coal mine,” Choi said. “We know that there are many, many more who are being affected.”
Many Asian Americans have felt the toll of racism throughout the pandemic.
Nicole Brooks said she felt it when she took her parents to see the cherry blossoms in Portland, Oregon.
“I was actually really scared to have them sit by themselves and walk away from them,” she said. “My parents are from Singapore. English is their first language, and yet in spite of that lack of a barrier, it still has felt like the increase in Asian American hate crimes has certainly changed our perspective.”
Asian Americans have been targeted in attacks, such as a 65- year- old woman who was beaten in broad daylight outside a Manhattan apartment building as staff watched, then closed the door without helping.
“For me, there’s this fear of who’s going to shut the door and not understand and not speak up for me, for my parents,” Brooks said.
“How should I feel about traveling to a city where I don’t know anyone or that I have to worry when I’m taking my mixed- race child to the park without my husband?” she asked.
Hate affects everyone
Her husband, Barrett Brooks, who is white, said he’s talked about the power of words with his side of the family.
“I’ve really tried to emphasize the importance of language and how we talk about the pandemic and its origins and the people impacted,” he said, noting the danger in conflating criticisms of China with Asian Americans and treating them as a monolith.
“People take action on that,” he said. “They feel empowered to abuse people and to harm people, and it affects more than just the people we see in videos. That affects the entire population.”
“We know that the attacks on Asians, it’s not just here in the United States,” said Stop AAPI Hate co- founder Choi. “It’s abroad. It’s everywhere.”
‘ I’m here to fight back’
Winton Tran of New York said he feels safer traveling abroad. He visited the Dominican Republic this past spring and said people seemed much friendlier and more welcoming. The majority of Dominicans are mixed descendants of European ( Spanish) and African heritage, and there is a small Asian Dominican population.
“They didn’t look at you with the disgusting look that I feel like ( I get) in America,” Tran said, recalling how he felt judged for wearing face masks in the USA before they became the norm.
People in Asia have worn face masks for years for various reasons, including protecting themselves and others from illness and blocking out air pollution.
In a webinar for travel industry professionals in March, U. S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said, “The community and the world is taking a look at the U. S. and watching these horrific things and ends up saying, ‘ Hey, is America really a welcoming place?’ And that’s been something we’ve built our whole travel industry on for decades. ... It’s not who we are.”
Tran said hearing about Asian hate was so hurtful that it felt like “my heart was bleeding,” but he channeled that pain into activism.
“I’m here to fight back,” he said, acknowledging the struggles refugees faced just to get to the USA from countries such as Vietnam, where his family is from. “We can’t just be quiet.”
‘ Best revenge is to live a good life’
“I think it’s important to stand up for yourself and be aware of your surroundings and look out for the people around you,” said Sam Fong, a Chinese American from the San Francisco Bay Area and moderator of the Facebook groups Subtle Asian Travel and Asian Investors Network.
Fong said he’s not really worried about himself. “However, I’m worried about my parents who are definitely in the age range of people who are targeted. I’m worried about people like my sister, my friends.” But he’s not letting that steal his joy.
“You know the best revenge is to live a good life and not get bothered by people who are more ignorant than you,” he said.
“I can’t wait to get back out there, once it’s safe to do so again,” said the traveler who has visited more than 40 countries. “I would just be a little more cautious.”
“Travel is one of the joys, right?” Choi said. “I think we need to be vigilant but not allow this period of racial trauma, this racial reckoning, to take away the joy of those experiences.”
Hana Lee said she has let go of the name- calling she faced on her trip to New York.
“I still think that we should be forgiving for the people who attack us verbally,” she said of people who may be experiencing homelessness and have mental health issues.
Moving on
Nicole and Barrett Brooks plan to keep traveling, as do her parents.
“Definitely an added layer of consciousness now to our surroundings, no matter where we are, whether that’s travel or here at home,” Nicole Brooks said.
“But they’re excited to travel.”
“We love it,” her husband said. “It’s a core part of our life and our shared experience together as a couple. We definitely want to extend that to our son.”
Tran, who has visited dozens of countries through the years, is thinking about his next trip.
“What are you going to choose, to stay home all day?” he asked. “That’s not the life that I want.”