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After a year of working on the frontline fighting against COVID-19 as a nurse, I did not predict that an act of anti-Asian racism would be what welcomed me at the end of my usual 12-hour night shift this week.
Standing in an immigrant-owned business that I’ve visited multiple times before in my scrubs and mask, I was shouted at for asking a maskless cashier and her staff why they weren’t wearing masks while preparing food. She didn’t answer me, instead her boss got very agitated and aggressive, shouting “It is 150 degrees back here. I have health issues I can’t (wear a mask). I never thought it would be death caused by China!”
Alarmed and offended by his response, I told him what he said was racist. Getting even angrier, he screamed back, “NO IT’S NOT. You people are always causing problems!” I asked him, “what do you mean by you people? I am a frontline worker. I work in the hospital,” as I pointed at my scrubs.
Shocked that I pushed back, he tells me he’s talking about, “Canada people.” Scared for my safety, I quickly took my money and left. I am left disgusted by this treatment and this anti-Asian racism.
I am sharing my story because I believe we need to fight back against anti-Asian racism. After a year of being told health care workers were “heroes,” “brave”, and “lifesavers” I never imagined such overt racism could happen to me. I am a Chinese- Canadian nurse that works in the emergency department. My parents immigrated to Canada in the 80s and I was born and raised in Toronto. As a result, I very much identify as Canadian.
Being a nurse is not glamorous, it is mentally, physically and emotionally straining. With the pandemic, it’s become even more challenging especially being Chinese. We are taught to be “model minorities,” to stay quiet and not speak up when we are met with racism. We are taught by Western society that if we behave and act a certain way, we will be exempt. But this is far from the truth, every day we are subjected to micro-aggression and racist comments that are passed off as “jokes.”
Questions and guesses about my ethnicity are frequent conversation starters which I often feel forced to entertain as part of good bedside manner. And in addition to the normal abuse nurses face on the job, I’ve been called a “chink” and “stupid Asian” and greeted with the all too-common “ni hao.” When I complain about it, I’m repeatedly told to brush it off. But like many in my community, I am tired of staying quiet and being gaslighted when I try to speak up. As anti-Asian racism continues to rise in Canada, I feel a duty to stand up for myself and others.
The pandemic is far from being over. It is simple to wear a mask. Nurses and other health care workers wear masks and other personal protective equipment for hours on end, even when we’re drenched in sweat. But wearing masks is not the hard part of my work. The hard part is seeing people every day in the hospital suffering from the consequences of COVID-19.
I’ve had to wipe the tears off of patients’ faces because they are sick, scared and alone. Being there for someone’s last breath because they are dying due to COVID unable to say goodbye to their loved ones, has been extremely difficult and humbling. All of the blood, sweat and tears that I, and other health care workers, have endured, I was reduced down to the colour of my skin. But that is how racism works — racism doesn’t care what your occupation, education or income level is. No one is exempt from racism, not even someone Canadians call a “hero” who has spent thousands of hours working on the front line.
So, I fear for those in the Asian community who are even more vulnerable than me, our elders, our children and our frontline workers. All I ask is that we are respected as a human being with dignity.
Article From: The Star
Author: Lisa S.Contributor
