I got called a f***ing chink yesterday

[Anonymous]

I am sorry this happened to you.

It happened to me more often as a child or young adult, but I still once in a while face racism, and it stings. I remember back in 2015 or so, a friend and I were walking around NYC and were told to go back to where we came from. It was jarring at the time, but little did I know how much worse it would get during COVID.

It hurts, especially not being accepted as an American when you have been one your whole life, but an unfortunate subset of people see you as other and want to be mean to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A man who was either homeless and/or has substance abuse issues/mental illness was walking towards me last night on a semi isolated street, in that unsteady halting way. I was trying to walk around him with my head bent down to stay out of his way when he snarled "stop staring at me, you f****ing chink".

I kept walking ahead. For a split second I thought he would turn around and start following me. There were other people ahead of me so I just started walking faster to catch up to them and then I was in an area where there were many more people.

I've been called "chink" by all sorts of people since I was a kid in elementary school. "Go back to your country". [My country? I was born here.]

So it surprises me how much it still stings when someone calls me a chink. It's even hard to write that. That a man who was probably homeless thinks I'm less than him because of my skin color. It shouldn't bother me, after all this time! Right?!

So I'm just trying to get this out of my system. Weirdly I feel ashamed and couldn't even tell anyone IRL that this happened.

Thanks for listening, strangers on an anonymous messaging board.

I’m assuming this was a white man, probably a Trump supporter most likely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the last five or so years, I have thought a lot about how to be an ally as a white person, and one thing I do is when I see something like that happen I go up to the person and ask if they're okay and say that was horrible and wrong. It's all I can really think of but I want them to know it was witnessed and thought to be unacceptable.

I'm sorry that happened to you.

It's the OP. Thank you. That's very kind. When people just pretend nothing happened, it can feel shameful and embarassing. It reminds me of another time when I was waiting for the bus and a Black woman was shouting at loudly and repeatedly to "get out of here and go back to your f** country*. When I got on the bus, another Black woman looked at me and just quietly said "I'm sorry". It was small but kind gesture and I still remember it.

Thank you everyone else for your kind words.

[Anonymous]

To everyone lecturing OP - she didn't say she was better than the homeless person - i took the implication to be that the man yelling the insult who is very down and out thought the fact that she was asian made him better than her even though he was in a rough place and probably feels like he is not on a high run in society - really don't think pompous lecturing of someone who's been verbally assaulted is very kind or understanding at all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A man who was either homeless and/or has substance abuse issues/mental illness was walking towards me last night on a semi isolated street, in that unsteady halting way. I was trying to walk around him with my head bent down to stay out of his way when he snarled "stop staring at me, you f****ing chink".

I kept walking ahead. For a split second I thought he would turn around and start following me. There were other people ahead of me so I just started walking faster to catch up to them and then I was in an area where there were many more people.

I've been called "chink" by all sorts of people since I was a kid in elementary school. "Go back to your country". [My country? I was born here.]

So it surprises me how much it still stings when someone calls me a chink. It's even hard to write that. That a man who was probably homeless thinks I'm less than him because of my skin color. It shouldn't bother me, after all this time! Right?!

So I'm just trying to get this out of my system. Weirdly I feel ashamed and couldn't even tell anyone IRL that this happened.

Thanks for listening, strangers on an anonymous messaging board.

I’m assuming this was a white man, probably a Trump supporter most likely.

It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside when I see people like you that can’t talk about anything without mentioning orange man. He’s not even back in office yet and already doing an amazing job getting under your skin.

[Anonymous]

I’m Sorry. That’s terrible.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry you've experienced being called a racial slur throughout your life and today. It is not personal, and mental illness and substance misuse can both affect the way people behave, not that it makes it acceptable, but just remember that in this case at least, they are not cognitively competent.

[Anonymous]

Well he’s homeless for a reason, something is missing in his head. I wouldn’t take it personally. A lot of those people are angry and suspicious of everything.

[Anonymous]

It really bothers me when people call me racial slurs.

However, it also bothers me when white strangers come up and ask where I’m from or try to speak to me in Japanese, or want to tell me how much they love Korean food.

People dwelling on my assumed heritage based on my appearance, whether positive or negative, pisses me off.

[Anonymous]

He was dropped on his head as a baby or not hugged enough by his Momma. 🤦‍♂️

[Anonymous]

OP- so I know it's not a laughing matter and I'm so sorry that this sicko unleased on you.

You're not alone though--
NSFW video- enjoy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the last five or so years, I have thought a lot about how to be an ally as a white person, and one thing I do is when I see something like that happen I go up to the person and ask if they're okay and say that was horrible and wrong. It's all I can really think of but I want them to know it was witnessed and thought to be unacceptable.

I'm sorry that happened to you.

It's the OP. Thank you. That's very kind. When people just pretend nothing happened, it can feel shameful and embarassing. It reminds me of another time when I was waiting for the bus and a Black woman was shouting at loudly and repeatedly to "get out of here and go back to your f** country*. When I got on the bus, another Black woman looked at me and just quietly said "I'm sorry". It was small but kind gesture and I still remember it.

Thank you everyone else for your kind words.

The fact that the woman was black wasn't relevant to the telling of the story nor the fact that a black person said sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the last five or so years, I have thought a lot about how to be an ally as a white person, and one thing I do is when I see something like that happen I go up to the person and ask if they're okay and say that was horrible and wrong. It's all I can really think of but I want them to know it was witnessed and thought to be unacceptable.

I'm sorry that happened to you.

It's the OP. Thank you. That's very kind. When people just pretend nothing happened, it can feel shameful and embarassing. It reminds me of another time when I was waiting for the bus and a Black woman was shouting at loudly and repeatedly to "get out of here and go back to your f** country*. When I got on the bus, another Black woman looked at me and just quietly said "I'm sorry". It was small but kind gesture and I still remember it.

Thank you everyone else for your kind words.

The fact that the woman was black wasn't relevant to the telling of the story nor the fact that a black person said sorry.

Goodness you are truly ugly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A man who was either homeless and/or has substance abuse issues/mental illness was walking towards me last night on a semi isolated street, in that unsteady halting way. I was trying to walk around him with my head bent down to stay out of his way when he snarled "stop staring at me, you f****ing chink".

I kept walking ahead. For a split second I thought he would turn around and start following me. There were other people ahead of me so I just started walking faster to catch up to them and then I was in an area where there were many more people.

I've been called "chink" by all sorts of people since I was a kid in elementary school. "Go back to your country". [My country? I was born here.]

So it surprises me how much it still stings when someone calls me a chink. It's even hard to write that. That a man who was probably homeless thinks I'm less than him because of my skin color. It shouldn't bother me, after all this time! Right?!

So I'm just trying to get this out of my system. Weirdly I feel ashamed and couldn't even tell anyone IRL that this happened.

Thanks for listening, strangers on an anonymous messaging board.

It is upsetting, but bring so so so surprised that these things happen is not going to serve you--Asian people are people just like everyone else and will be subject to human bias at times just like any other group of humans. And no, Asians are not going to be treated like white people in the United States, meaning bring seen as the default Americans. This is not good, but if you are unaware of this you are going to be shocked daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s terrible and I’m really sorry that happened to you. He sounds mentally ill so I wouldn’t take it personally.

But also, being homeless in itself doesn’t make him less than you either.

Being racist does, though.

+1 I didn’t get the sense that OP thought the man was less than for being homeless.