Opinion | Chinese who cry racial abuse amid the coronavirus epidemic forget they are as bad as the rest of us
- We’re all racists, it’s just a matter of degree. If The Wall Street Journal’s ‘Sick Man of Asia’ headline was racist, was it more offensive than the CCTV variety show featuring blackface? Unlike China, at least the US admits it has a problem
I know exactly what the Chinese are going through now. I sympathise because I went through the same thing after the September 11 terror attacks. I was working in the US at the time. The day after the attacks, I had a lunch appointment.
Some white teenagers I passed on the way to lunch called me a terrorist. A suspicious Chinese grocery store owner followed me as I shopped. Brown-skinned people with so-called Middle Eastern features were often singled out for questioning when boarding planes. I stared back at those who stared at me. As an American who believes in the values of my adopted country, I stood tall and endured those dark days, knowing they would pass. And they did.
Yes, racism runs deep in American society. But the same goes for China, Hong Kong, Japan, India and elsewhere. At least the US admits it has a problem and tries to right its wrongs. There is legal recourse against racism. Can I say the same of Hong Kong, where I was born, and China? I grew up being called mo lo cha , a racial slur against Indians. Many Hong Kong landlords still don’t rent properties to South Asians.
