On March 16th, 2021 - 8 people were mercilessly murdered in Atlanta, Georgia, of which 6 were Asian women. This spurred on a wildfire of anti-Asian hate messaging in the news and social media, but in reality - Asian hate and the racist rhetoric has long existed before the murders in Atlanta, only to be exacerbated by the COVID pandemic.
As phrases like model minority, systemic racism, microaggressions along hashtags #STOPASIANHATE, Protect our AAPI and images of protests across all of North America have been popping up in our Instagram feeds, we wanted to share two different viewpoints that only touch the tip of the iceberg which is racism. We spoke with two of our Olve insiders to shed some light on this important issue.
Tell us a bit about yourself?
EK: I am a first generation Chinese Canadian, born and raised in Toronto. My parents immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in their 20’s before settling down in Canada to complete their undergraduate degrees in Canada and established their careers before raising a family. Like many other Asian families - my parents moved to Canada to give us more opportunities. We were very fortunate growing up - piano lessons, swimming lessons, art classes, badminton and tennis lessons. Retaining our cultural identity was also very important to my parents - I spent many years at Chinese school learning Cantonese, spending Sundays in Chinatown grocery shopping, going out for weekly dinners at popular Chinese restaurants.
QN: My parents were born in Hong Kong, both immigrated to Canada in their teens where they met and married in Vancouver. They later moved to Toronto in the late 1980s to open their own restaurant and subsequently, I was born. Like many families who ran their own business, my parents worked 7 days a week without any breaks. From a young age, my sister and I would also help out at the restaurant on the weekends until we graduated from university. After, I started my career in marketing working for various organizations and now, I run a restaurant with my husband.
How do you feel about the current events that are unfolding here in Canada and the US?
EK: One of the most important values in the Chinese culture is filial piety, which is the honor and respect that children show their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and elderly. We are taught this at a very young age to respect our elders - properly greeting them, opening and holding doors, helping carry groceries, offering them seats on public transportation. The ongoing violence against all Asians especially the elderly is absolutely heartbreaking. We have all suffered in varying degrees during this pandemic but to layer on an additional layer of fear because of how you look, the language you speak is unfathomable. No one should have to live in fear like this.
QN: My grandparents immigrated from Hong Kong to Canada with their children in the early 1970s, hoping to provide them with a better education and standard of living. They raised my parents with an ethic to work as hard as you can in order to respect the amazing opportunity they’ve been given in this country. These were the same morals passed onto me and my sister as we watched our parents work tirelessly for over 30 years while striving to be a contributing member of society. I’m sure my family’s upbringing is not unique to many Asians living in North America but for them to potentially become the target of violence simply due to their ethnicity and skin color is heartbreaking. As Asian hate crimes escalate, I also fear for the safety of my family and friends especially those living in the United States, where these events are becoming commonplace.
What has your experience been with racism?
EK: One of my challenges is the pronunciation of my first name, which was based on my Chinese name. It was extremely challenging growing up as a kid not having an easy name to pronounce, and continues to be an ongoing challenge that I’ve lived with all my life. For all my life people have made fun of my name, mis-pronounced my name despite multiple corrections, used nicknames because it simply was easier. I’ve quite often shrugged it off and let it slide, not realizing that I was allowing it to happen and contributing to the problem. I am extremely proud of my name and where it came from - I will continue to honor my heritage and respect myself, my culture and my name.
QN: Growing up in Toronto, I’ve always lived in a multicultural area so fortunately, I may be one of the lucky few who have never been the target of racial slurs. That being said, racism can exist in other forms and for me, it was most obvious at a few of my previous workplaces when opportunities and promotions were not decided based on merit but seemingly on one’s race and nepotism. I was brought up by my parents to stay quiet and just do the work even if things didn’t seem fair because eventually my hard work will pay off. However, a part of me always had a tough time shrugging off the implicit feelings that I had to work much harder than my non-Asian peers to be acknowledged.
Through this article, our insiders, QN and EK wanted to provide their perspectives growing up in Canada with an Asian ethnic background. Thinking about the stories of their families and the hardships they overcame to start a new life in a foreign country, many of them only hoped for a chance at a better life. If there is only one takeaway from this - as long as racism and Asian hate crimes continue to exist in the communities around us, we are allowing the dreams of many to turn into a tragic story.
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