Hate is a Virus

[Music]

[Applause]

hey

it all started comfortable evening

around the end of november i’d been

messaging a friend

who technically was supposed to be

paying attention in class

but he wasn’t

and because of time zones uh it was in

the evening for me

[Music]

this friend we can call him patrick

patrick we were just talking and

suddenly

another classmate of ours we can call

this classmate

chad chad had come up behind patrick and

started reading our texts

and after a few minutes patrick had told

me

of what chad had said about me and

honestly it had surprised me

because it had been about two years

since i moved

back to china and i hadn’t really been

close with that ever

and because there’s a lot of custom

involved um

i will be simplifying the customers into

peanut butter

for the sake of your discretion and the

sake of

my reputation with my teachers

chad had said wow she can’t even peanut

butter spell

what a stupid she’s some peanut

butter that lives in china

that nobody loves

this isn’t the only time something like

this has happened to me

although it’s not usually as direct

maybe you’ll be

when i come out of class and a classmate

will chase me down and ask me

do chinese people actually eat cats and

dogs

do you own pets can you own pets

or maybe you’ll be when i pack my lunch

and instead of

it being a sandwich as it normally is it

might be something that my dad had made

the night before and all my classmates

will crowd around me

what is that does that taste good

i’ve had full grown adults have

conversations with me

or they say something along the lines of

you must really hate

america because you’re from a communist

country

and i’d have to awkwardly explain to

them that um

i was actually born in america and also

raised there

not really but all right

sometimes i get absolutely floored by

the things that people say

so here’s a little public service

announcement for everyone out there

my culture might not be the same as

yours but that doesn’t make me any less

of a person

than you the ski the color of my skin

might not be the same as yours but that

doesn’t make me any weirder than you

and i’m not restricted to the

stereotypes of my culture

just like how you are i don’t need you

to come up to me and pull your eyes back

like this

to remind me of how i look and i don’t

need you to come up to me

and say chinchon and then expect me to

laugh about it

because it’s not i don’t need you to

isolate me from the place that i always

thought

i’d have a home in

when people ask me where are you from i

always give the general answer

well i was born in america but my family

is chinese

it avoids the question that people ask

of

yeah but where are you really from

nowadays when people ask me where are

you from

i’m scared to say that i’m chinese

and one day when i said when i realized

that

i was hesitating and not willing to say

that

i’m from china or i live in china now or

i’m chinese

i was furious with myself how

dare i be afraid to say that i’m chinese

but i can’t help it i’m scared of the

jokes that will be made at my expense

if i say that i’m changed i’m scared of

the things and

the things that people will say to me

and the slurs that people will call me

if i say that i’m chinese i’m scared

of the people that won’t leave room for

conversation

who sound so sure of themselves who say

that i am brainwashed

and i am a lost cause and won’t listen

to anything that i say

i’m scared to say that i’m chinese

sometimes it can be hard to be open

about your identity

especially if someone is always pushing

you down and get odd and eccentric

but some sometimes

sometimes places that lack

representation can be made up for in

unity

i used to live in a place where the

population itself was not boasting in

numbers

so most of the people that lived where i

used to live

was white and looking back on it now

my family was in the center of the asian

community in my city

i’d come home and there would be there

would always be talk

about who did this or who said that or

what not

sometimes it’d be about what happened to

the lee family in the next city over

or maybe it’d be about the jinning

family who were having a dinner party

and we were invited

or maybe a new asian newcomer had come

to town

and we were planning a party to welcome

them and

introduce them to everyone else in the

community

it was home i could sit in my library

and listen to the battle of chinese and

feel like home

these times taught me to love

my culture and who i am

so you know so now all of you have sat

here and wondered

why i’ve been talking about myself for

this long

i can’t speak for all the people of

color out there and i can’t speak for

all of the american born chinese people

out there

but i can understand how lonely it can

feel

and how it might feel like the whole

world is on your back

when you’re a kid your entire school or

your neighborhood or your city

is basically your entire world and

that’s it

so if you’re if someone’s bullying you

or discriminating against you

it’s going to feel like everyone is

against you

i had a friend who taught me something

really important

this friend told me that sometimes we

don’t have to raise our voices

against the people that are always

trying to push us down always

feeling disgusted about our culture or

anything

sometimes we can celebrate our culture

and embrace it

and that can also be a form of fighting

against

all of this hate

kobat 19 isn’t the only virus that’s

been spreading around

hate is also a virus and if we don’t do

something about it

it’s going to slowly seep into all of

our lives because people of color

might be wearing masks protecting and

protesting against this hate right now

but it’s going to end up affecting

everyone

so why don’t we agree to disagree if we

must leave room for conversation

educate ourselves before assuming

educate ourselves before assuming

leave room for discussion and allow each

other

the dignity for each other’s thoughts

and opinions and have pride

in our culture our race our heritage

religion gender sexuality anything

thank you very much