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