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Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

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Great write up Lizard. I can relate, I got called names and shit growing up too and mostly from other POC's in my case. I never fought back (since fighting was dicouraged by my parents) and its part of the reason I picked up BJJ, because I knew this shit would never end. I wonder what its going to be like for us when we go into our older years? Are we going to end up like these poor folks getting mugged?
 
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Agent Orange said:
Great write up Lizard. I can relate, I got called names and shit growing up too and mostly from other POC's in my case. I never fought back (since fighting was dicouraged by my parents) and its part of the reason I picked up BJJ, because I knew this shit would never end. I wonder what its going to be like for us when we go into our older years? Are we going to end up like these poor folks getting mugged?
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+1, great writeup. My experience was not quite as nasty (actually not anywhere near it), but there definitely was casual, daily racism. The heightened sensitivity these days to anything perceived as racist, or insufficiently "tolerant," is generally a good thing, but can go overboard. On UCD's campus, and probably others at least in CA, is a student center that has an African students room (literally says "safe space for African students" on the door), a LGBT room, etc. etc. I find these more divisive than helpful, and sometimes I wish today's kids could see the shit we put up with on a daily basis, to gain some perspective.

I'm also not a fighter (discouraged by parents, and would have gotten my ass kicked). I will say, now as a professional adult, I don't really deal with or experience any racist nonsense. Times have changed. The covid-related attacks are descipable and cowardly (and incredibly stupid), but nothing I've seen or experienced firsthand.

Oh, we can only guess, but based on the long-term trend line, I think racism will be less and less of a problem. We may never eradicate it, but racists are more and more despised, sensitivity to racism continues to increase, etc.
 
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lizard said:
Most likely haven’t heard a peep from your peeps cuz we mostly keep to ourselves and don’t like to stir shit up.

So my story..

I’m an older gent. Family from HK. Grew up in the Sunset when it was all Italian and Irish. I lived on 40th and Taraval. There were no Chinese restaurants on Taraval. We had to drive to CTown for food.

Grade school: Got picked on all the time. Always fought back. Punched out bully Ken Ryan. Then his mommy calls my mother to complain. Fucking pussy.

Then my fam moved to Walnut Creek when I was 12. WC was like frickin’ Idaho.

Junior high: There was one other Asian in my class. And he wore glasses and was the school photographer. Always had a camera around his neck. Enforcing the stereotype :rolleyes

I was short and skinny but athletic. Got picked on all the fucking time. Got spit on. Got rocks thrown at me. Got called names. All. The. Fucking. Time. Fought back. All the white guys thought I knew kung fu :rolleyes

High school: Same thing. Whole school was white. Don’r recall another Asian. Yay for me. More name calling. More fights. Once got surrounded by 6-8 guys. Thought I was going to die. Talked my way out of that.

Got called a gook in class by huge guy. Punched his lights out but he smashed my face and crushed my glasses. Ended up in principal’s office. Nothing was done cuz pre-hate crime.

Kids today have it so easy - participation trophies, MMA dojos on every city block, hate crime legislation, blah blah blah. What would today’s kids do back in the day?

Two guys followed me when I was walking home. One was huge. Self-taught thrust kick to his stomach then punched his face. Next day his older brother came looking for me. Shit never ends. On and on and on...

College: Went to ‘SC. It was great cuz met so many Asians! Met lovely Asian girls!

Post college: Random name calling... Stereotyped by others in work environment (quiet, easy to push around, etc.).... Walking in restaurant and diner asks me to bring her a napkin... Gardening in my front yard and passerby stops and asks to give him an estimate... on and on and on...

I’m not a young guy anymore so I have to maintain my composure. Especially, after scrapping with some big asshole about 10 years ago. I’m 5’6, 160; he was 5’10, 210. He crushed me. I ended up having two hand surgeries. Sometimes I wish I learned some martial art but today everyone trains so fuck that. I’ve learned to just let things go.

Recently, had a boss that put his foot up my ass for about 6 months. I have no idea why. Longest Goddamn 6 months of my life. So as a reader of the Art of War by Sun Tzu, I planned my exit following one of my favorite Sun Tzu quotes. I can’t share the details of what I did but here’s the quote:

“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

These recent hate crimes bring back all those wonderful (sarcasm) memories. As AO said above, my parents, if still alive, would not have survived a physical attack.
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very cool of you to share all of that, sounds rough but you survived :thumbup

Kids today have it so easy - participation trophies, MMA dojos on every city block, hate crime legislation, blah blah blah. What would today’s kids do back in the day?
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True, but isn't that the point? That we try to make life better for the following generation? The same could be said about Gen X by the older generation/WWII generation.
 
Growing up in california it was 99% off the time blacks and Hispanics always trying to start trouble. Friends that actually threw hands or worse was always over beef with the Hispanics and was typically gang shit. Never was with the whites though, that was usually short lived or petty things, isolated incidents. In my military 20s, being Asian living in non Asian areas was like...... Ridiculous, booty booty booty on the regular. Living and traveling the country, I found more acceptance and friendly people where Asians were not common.
 
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jdhu said:
+1, great writeup. My experience was not quite as nasty (actually not anywhere near it), but there definitely was casual, daily racism. The heightened sensitivity these days to anything perceived as racist, or insufficiently "tolerant," is generally a good thing, but can go overboard. On UCD's campus, and probably others at least in CA, is a student center that has an African students room (literally says "safe space for African students" on the door), a LGBT room, etc. etc. I find these more divisive than helpful, and sometimes I wish today's kids could see the shit we put up with on a daily basis, to gain some perspective.

I'm also not a fighter (discouraged by parents, and would have gotten my ass kicked). I will say, now as a professional adult, I don't really deal with or experience any racist nonsense. Times have changed. The covid-related attacks are descipable and cowardly (and incredibly stupid), but nothing I've seen or experienced firsthand.

Oh, we can only guess, but based on the long-term trend line, I think racism will be less and less of a problem. We may never eradicate it, but racists are more and more despised, sensitivity to racism continues to increase, etc.
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Good points!

Also, the law of unintended consequences happening with the over-sensitivity to racial issues that has become an excuse, by some, to justify their racism which is getting encouraged by scrupeless talking heads.

I had bright red hair growing up and went to 6 different schools my first 7 years. I did have a temper (1/4 Irish) that I let loose for one day that solved most of the issue of getting made fun of and bullied, I found that it was better to not be an easy target.
 
Definitely great write ups.

Sadly a new incident today, ..

gnahc79 said:
... My dad ignored it as well. Very much the typical silent ... I'm trying to change that for myself, teaching my boys to stand up for themselves too.
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Not sure, your elder probably did good on that one. How wise is it to "do" something .. against a peeling off car?

Related, what would you have to do if you had to teach girl-children? Again, "standing up" is not very safe sometimes.


Agent Orange said:
..concerning for us Asian Americans because we all have parents, grandparents that certainly could've been any of these people in these videos.

[YOUTUBE]qvKS3QQ2Qbk[/YOUTUBE]
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That video was about a laundromat.. we don't know (or I didn't read) whether it was a customer--or the laundromat attendant, who would have certainly had some cash on him, no? Could it be an easy pray for three people passing by a dark window with a purpose--and each of them seemingly taller.
 
Climber said:
I had bright red hair growing up and went to 6 different schools my first 7 years. I did have a temper (1/4 Irish) that I let loose for one day that solved most of the issue of getting made fun of and bullied, I found that it was better to not be an easy target.
Click to expand...

Redheads always got picked on back in the day. Sorry you had to endure.
 
Agent Orange said:
Great write up Lizard. I can relate, I got called names and shit growing up too and mostly from other POC's in my case. I never fought back (since fighting was dicouraged by my parents) and its part of the reason I picked up BJJ, because I knew this shit would never end. I wonder what its going to be like for us when we go into our older years? Are we going to end up like these poor folks getting mugged?
Click to expand...

I believe you’re much younger than me. Did you grow up in the City?
 
So here's a weird cultural "thing". I didn't know being red-haired was something for which people got bullied. I didn't learn about this until like maybe 10 years ago. It's was the most weird and irrational thing. Growing up I heard all kinds of racial epiphets, this and that, but never ginger-hate.
 
Karbon said:
So here's a weird cultural "thing". I didn't know being red-haired was something for which people got bullied. I didn't learn about this until like maybe 10 years ago. It's was the most weird and irrational thing. Growing up I heard all kinds of racial epiphets, this and that, but never ginger-hate.
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Me neither. I never even heard the term ginger until within the last 10 years. When we were little, there was a vague idea that red-haired people had greater tempers than others but that was it. I was clueless about any kind of discrimination. We had our share of redheads growin up in my town...

In my elementary schools, being who I still am, I was bothered when kids would get picked on. It was usually that they just had weak egos, rather than any kind of physical characteristics or race. Kids can hone in on weakness like nobody's business. I remember feeling bad for it and refusing to pile on. But I didn't defend either so hands not clean...Later in life, I wonder if kids like that were already being abused at home because I remember one of the prime targets in my elementary schooled ended up knifing his father. I figured there was more to the story, later in life. At the time, I just remember how everybody picked on him.
 
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gnahc79 said:
:thumbup

btw the respect for elders is a double edged sword. To honor and respect your parents usually means obeying your parents...even when you're in your 40s. Ask me how I know :laughing
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:laughing 100% also applies to Filipinos.


[youtube]PSicdnahJ7o[/youtube]


KooLaid said:
Growing up in california it was 99% off the time blacks and Hispanics always trying to start trouble. Friends that actually threw hands or worse was always over beef with the Hispanics and was typically gang shit. Never was with the whites though, that was usually short lived or petty things, isolated incidents. In my military 20s, being Asian living in non Asian areas was like...... Ridiculous, booty booty booty on the regular. Living and traveling the country, I found more acceptance and friendly people where Asians were not common.
Click to expand...

Yeah, most of the reports of attacks I am seeing is not clearly European descended people attacking Asians.
 
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Karbon said:
So here's a weird cultural "thing". I didn't know being red-haired was something for which people got bullied. I didn't learn about this until like maybe 10 years ago. It's was the most weird and irrational thing. Growing up I heard all kinds of racial epiphets, this and that, but never ginger-hate.
Click to expand...
It's just one of those things like being asian/black/hispanic/jewish/etc, others aren't really much aware of what they're going through, it's the targets who are most aware.

I really don't like the 'ginger' term, it has formalized and made 'acceptable' putting down red heads. It's just another one of those shitty terms that have been created to malign a group of people.
 
Eldritch said:
Kids are assholes.
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So true. I remain friends with high school cohorts, and we regret some of the things we/said did to people. I was also picked on at times (youngest in class always, small stature), but by high school, I was probably the asshole.
 
I'm 42.

I was that FOB kid. New to the country, freshman year in high school, San Leandro High School had a lot of asians but I was asianer than most so it was OK to pick on me. Got a lot of shit from the black kids (and only the black kids). Ended up fighting one of them (Nwozuzu FU wherever you are) ended up with a black eye and a suspension. Ended up joining a Filipino gang (KNP) and almost started a brawl in the schoolyard when the whole posse came to back me up. The harassment from the black kids did stop after that but the gang involvement would haunt me long after...

Moved to and went to two other high schools in San Jose. The Vietnamese and the Mexicans were going at it in the 90s and I looked like both so I was getting it from both sides.

Joined the Army and there were actually very few racist incidents I could point to in there. Ended up filing an official complaint against an E5 squad leader (white) for calling me a "dog eater". I served with a lot of true rednecks but 90% of my incidents involved black soldiers. Hung out with a lot of white and hispanic soldiers and never really had much issues there with regards to race.

Went back to San Jose after the Army and haven't really had any overt racism issues in the past 20 years. Did get the whole "ching chong" treatment from some kids at a Cabelas in Reno, and had a white gun store owner ignore me at his booth at a gun show (he talked to everybody else but me and acted like he didn't see me).
 
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