Last Wednesday was the one year anniversary of the mass shooting in Atlanta, where six Asian American women were killed by a White man. NPR’s All Things Considered talked about a study from the Virulent Hate Project that found 75% of known offenders, verbally and physically, harassing Asian Americans were White men. They do this out of anger and fear. This is my response:
“Dear Scared White Man”
Please.
Don’t be scared of me.
I am a person,
Just like you.
Like your wife, lover, or friend.
Like your grandmother,
Your mother,
Your sister,
Your aunt.
I promise I don’t wanna
Harm you,
Like you wanna harm me.
I’m just a Korean American lady,
Here in the South.
Not of my own doing,
But
By a birth mother who sent me away
And by the White family who
Purchased me in the summer of 85.
I’m sorry
I wear
My race
On my face.1
And that you feel
Threatened
By
me.
All five feet of me.
I suppose
I am
Imposing…
Where does this fear
Come from?
Is it because
I am
An Unknown?
What’s it all for?
The heartache and pain,
Rivers of blood in the streets,
And tears
From the faces
Who look like mine.
Like my son’s.
Like the birth family
Who
Forsake
Me.
Sometimes,
I’m sorry I’m here too,
In the good ol’ U-S-of A.
But I am American.
Bought and paid for.
Naturalized.
With no plans to leave…Yet.
I have the right to be here.
And no, I won’t be going back
To where I came from.
Korea didn’t want me either.
So here I am.
Standing before you,
Asking you,
Please,
Don’t be scared of me,
So I don’t have to be scared of you too.
We have a choice to make,
You and I.
Let’s choose love, kindness, and care,
So that we may
Exist
Without
Violence
Or
Malice.
May we leave the world
A better place
Than we found it.
That’s my American Dream.
Let’s begin today.
For our future,
ALL of OUR futures.
Signed,
This Scared Korean American Lady
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1 “We wear our race on our Face,“ Alex Fabrios Jr. “Generation Rising.” Asian Americans. Episode 4. PBS. 12 May
2020.
