Having to educate others about what hurts my feelings or offends my race is so tiring. Even people who love me and don't believe they are racist need to make a better effort to walk in my shoes.
First-hand micro aggressions
- I went to the optometrist last weekend and my white doctor commented on my glasses: "wow I notice a lot of asians have the same kind of glasses as you. That Harry Potter type of round spectacle look..."
- Standing in line with my husband at immigration, a white man from Texas says to us: "Oh so you're Chinese and he's German, you guys will have beautiful babies!"
And then there are the exchanges that you just *feel* are racist and hard to describe why. Like when someone begrudgingly has to provide a service to you and doesn't want to because you're asian.
First-hand outright racism
- After the 2016 election, I walked into a bar in NY on the UES and a belligerent woman shouts at me and my cousin: "go back to your own country!" Nobody in the bar tells her to leave including the bartender that witnessed the exchange. We had to leave instead.
- In Paris, I gave a homeless man and his dog 5 euros. He then looks up at me and says in French, my dog hates Chinese people.
