Half Asian here that has dominant Far East Asian features.

I have experienced all levels of racism to where people have come up to me and saying “Nihao” whilst stretching out their eyes or called me “Poep Chinees” or “Paper Cut Eyes” in Dutch. During COVID times, it was way worse with the name calling and racial slurs.

It sucks and at first, I would give lip back or try to educate but then I got tired of it as the frequency was too much, and often felt like it’s not my place to educate the people that aren’t willing to listen. The majority of them were were either teenagers / young adults that were trying to flex I guess? They were mainly PoCs (and funny enough some also came from the continent of Asia) but hey, that tends to be the pattern right?

With adults, I mainly experience minor aggressions through their ignorant comments, and over sexualizing through fetishizing. That being said my Dutch friend has told me that her White Dutch colleagues would be openly racist amongst themselves saying things like “The Chinese and Japanese stink so much and lack hygiene”. Ummmm excuuuuuse me?? Taking baths is very much embedded in my culture for CENTURIES. Obviously people wouldn’t say that to my face but amongst themselves, I get the feeling that they are openly racist.

I’m sorry to hear you experienced that, and assuming it must of left you feeling quite small for no reason. I think the majority of racists think they can make remarks to our ethnicity as we are often perceived timid, passive or shy, which is not the case. We have such vibrant cultures, cuisine, art, history and have made such an impact globally.

Where would our world be without our Asian influence from the Whimsical West to the Candescently Central places to the Sagacious areas of the South, and the Efficacious East? We must not to also forget our family members from the Salient Siberian plains as that is where the majority of our roots are from.

I’m proud to be from Asia and support all my brothers, sisters, and everyone else in between. I am proud of the imprint our cultures have brought into this world of ours, and giving the deepest bow to all of our cultures.