—emilyrxyang —Anonymous, 27, California —Katherine —Anonymous, 33, Canada —Emily —Yikui (Coy) Gu, Pennsylvania “For example, while I was waiting for the bus as a college student, someone yelled at me to go back to where I came from and that he would gut and drown me like a kitten if I didn’t leave his country.” —Anonymous, 28, Washington —Anonymous, California “I’m American, and I have had my fair share of racism here in America, too. But for some reason, when traveling, I seem to see and experience racism from British people the most.” —Anonymous “I once went on a two-month road trip around the western US with my white-passing, South American roommate. My invisibility powers worked at several restaurants in some northern parts of California, Oregon, and Arizona. We’d walk into a restaurant, and I’d approach the host since my roommate was still learning English (I spoke to him in Spanish). They’d always look right past me and to him. He’d then just point back to me, and I’d ask for a table. “Overall, for most of the trip, I was not invisible and was treated well, but it did happen. We’d laugh it off, but we knew how ridiculous it was. I could go on and on, but I thought I’d express my experiences with passive racism making me invisible while abroad and at home.” —John, California —Anonymous —Tyler “In the US, I’ve experienced more overt racism. I went to college in a central PA town where, in the very beginning of the pandemic, I was shouted at by a truck driver to ‘go back to your country and die!’ I’ve had people call me slurs when I used to deliver pizza, saying, ‘Oh, some ch*nk delivered this, we need to wash our hands.’ Similarly, older men who served in the Korean War tell me I remind them of a lover. I’ve been fetishized since I was 15, dealing with jokes and comments about wanting to date me because I’m Asian. “The racism I’ve described doesn’t even cover all the micro-aggressions I never really processed as racism, simply because I was too tired. Some of the racism came from fear, others from a misguided, generational view. Some people have Asian fetishes, while others were well-intentioned but still offensive.” —Anonymous, 22, Pennsylvania
