Sabrina Chia,
USA
The actual quotation is “make sure to wear your face diapers, nobody wants the China Virus” and it was said by my Cross Country coach. I was one of two, maybe three, Asians on the team. But, of course, it was freshman year of high school and I was still getting to know the people on the team. I was fresh, new, ripe, and very, very Asian. And during that tumultuous time, I feared for the lives of my family, who were now very much at risk for Asian-hate crimes. I was terrified and I was so alone. Everyone there was standing and laughing at this China-virus joke, while I was simmering in the context: Asian-hate, Japanese Encampment, the 1924 Asian Exclusion Act.
