As I write this my heart is heavy with sorrow, not because I have lost someone to the COVID-19 virus, but because I was unaware of the dark underbelly of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected one of my most precious treasures – one of my own children.
My children are all adults, but as a mom, your babies are your babies even if they are 30 years old. The umbilical cord may have been cut, but there is a spiritual, energetic, heartstring that will never sever. When I’m 100 and they are on Social Security, they will still in my soul be my babies, my most treasured jewels.
I thought I understood racism, after all, I grew up in the era of Martin Luther King, I was a part of the desegregation of schools in the south. I’ve written about the need for greater diversity in certain professions. I have seen crosses burning in the fields when the KKK had a meeting outside of the town where I grew up. I thought I got it.
What I didn’t realize is how at least one of my children is experiencing racism routinely with his work in hospitality. Understand, none of my children fall into the ‘snowflake’ category. They are Asian American, raised by their pale-skinned white mother in a single-parent household. They survived the financial roller coaster, that goes with a single-parent household where the other parent doesn’t meet his obligation regularly and so much more. There were times in their upbringing that we dealt with bigotry head-on from individuals who simply didn’t understand their racist comments were hurtful or didn’t care.
When Congresswoman Chu requested that President Trump stop calling COVID the Chinese virus because it was offensive, I brushed her opinion aside, thinking it was politics as usual. I am learning that when we have to explain why something isn’t racist; we already don’t understand. I don’t know if President Trump is racist or not. I presumed he was using the term China Virus to annoy the media and the Chinese leaders he is negotiating with. I now am respectfully asking our President to stop because it is received as a racist term by those in the Chinese American community – including one of my own children.
My son has previously shared how some whom he comes into contact with make racial slurs, but in the Spring of 2020, after being selected as one of the top 12 bartenders in the country, he went to the Big Apple, a city he loves and because he is Asian, had people moving away from him on the New York City Subway. One of the most diverse cities in the world and my son is being targeted because of the color of his skin and the slant of his eyes!
And then there is the increase in physical assaults on Asian-Americans. Did you know that ” …advocates found 300 news articles from throughout the country reporting attacks against Asian Americans during a roughly two-week period ending March 7.”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/21/coronavirus-attacks-against-asian-americans-reported-in-bay-area-and-beyond/
I have to speak out because one of my children could become the target of someone’s attack. I will be sending this to President Trump to ask that he do the Presidential thing and make a change to his rhetoric, to lead this country away from racism and bigotry. And I am asking each of you to consider your words and your deeds.
We will come through COVID-19. Let’s make sure we don’t use it as an excuse to attack someone based on their race or the color of their skin.
Always,
Beth
Falls Church, VA