Mine (VeeMark one-shot)

IMPORTANT (Hate Crimes against Asians)

I'm sorry this isn't another story. But, please don't skip it, as it is VERY important.

Before I say anything else, I want to say that in NO way am I trying to downplay the importance of the fight against racism towards any other group. They're all very important. But right now I want to focus on the racism directed specifically towards Asian people.

I personally am not Asian, but I do live in a country that, though wants to pass as progressive, is pretty much the opposite. And I've grown up with attitudes towards Asian people that, even though they don't "seem so", are racist and offensive. For example, I've always been fascinated by Asia's history and culture, ever since I was very little. And so, I would actually ask people to sing the "Chinese happy birthday song" on my birthday. If you don't know, the "Chinese birthday song" is basically the melody of the "Happy birthday" song, but with "ching, chang, chong" as the lyrics. As I grew up, I came to realize how offensive that is and, with starting to listening to actual Chinese, how inaccurate as well.

I've said all this to explain that, even though it doesn't get as much attention as, for example, racism towards people of color, racism towards Asian people has existed for just as long and, in my opinion, happens more, because it's more subtle and less people are actually educated about it.

Now with the pandemic, things have gotten worse. I'm not going to go into detail about all the hate crimes that have happened against Asian people recently, I'm sure you can imagine (people getting beaten up, shot to death etc.). What I want to focus on, is the "reason" racists use to "excuse" their actions against those people. I have actually heard people talking about Chinese and Taiwanese families in my neighborhood and saying "they brought the virus here" and other shit like that. These people have lived here for years. And I live in Greece – if you don't know, let me tell you, it is a very long and expensive trip all the way to all of the East Asian countries, they're basically on the other side of the world. These people aren't able to take just a quick trip to and from their homeland just like that, in order to be able to "bring the virus here". What's worse, people sometimes actually believe that Asian people... "birth" the virus.

What I'm trying to say is, if you didn't know that racism against Asian people exists... WAKE UP. It's all around us and, as I said, it's very subtle. But that doesn't mean it's not hurtful. It's time to end all of the disgusting stereotypes and attitudes towards Asians because of their race.

I'm going to give you some examples of racism that I personally have encountered and am very sad to admit have actually supported when I was younger:

(previously mentioned) the "Chinese birthday song" – if you want to sing the Chinese version of the song so much, learn the actual lyrics

Halloween costumes tilted "Chinese" and are just an inaccurate "traditional Chinese" attire

cartoons and comic characters that are Chinese and have yellow skin and only two lines as eyes

"jokes" about the way Asian people speak and pronounce a language – this annoys me so much because usually the people who make fun of others' accents can't speak more than one language, but still have the audacity to judge someone who tried hard to learn their language, even though it's not their native one

"jokes" about their size – on any body part

"jokes" about their diet ("dog-eaters" and the very popular since the pandemic started "bat-eaters")

pushing the edges of your eyes to have "Chinese eyes"

just the fact that people title all of the Asian population with all the different beautiful countries as "Chinese" – if you didn't notice, most of the examples above are directed only at Chinese people and that's on not recognizing any of the other countries

on more recent events, of course, as I mentioned, all the hate crimes that have been happening, that have actually been happening for years

let's not also forget all the times BTS (and K-POP in general) have been looked down upon because of their race, with the most recent one being how the Grammys treated them and used them just for clout

With all of this happening, a lot of Asian celebrities have started speaking up about hate against the Asian community. A lot of my personal favorites have talked about this, but the one I want to mention is Mark Tuan of GOT7, because it simply broke me. In the video I saw, Mark actually said he tells his parents not to go out by themselves. He's so scared that something bad is going to happen to them that he tells them NOT TO GO OUTSIDE. I highly recommend watching the video, because the way he speaks is a thousand times better than how I explain it.

Another thing that I want to say is that, even though everyone should be against racism, we absolutely can NOT sit back and do nothing – or even worse support racist opinions – if we:

enjoy Asian food

listen to C/K/J-POP (or any of the music from Asian countries)

watch series and movies produced there

follow Asian creators

do yoga, martial arts etc.

We are consuming part of their culture, there is NO excuse for us to not fight for them. We cannot say that we truly support them, if we no longer care when bad things happen. If you follow me, you know that most of the things I write are related to K-POP (but also K-Dramas and BLs). And I imagine that, because of that, most of the people that read my stories also enjoy and consume that type of content. So, please, please don't overlook this. If you truly support and love the musicians, idols, actors etc. you can't sit back.

Of course, in NO WAY am I saying that those who don't like the things listed above can just go on and be racist. The only thing I'm saying is that it's completely idiotic to not care for this if you do. But it is EVERYONE'S duty and responsibility to treat others like HUMAN BEINGS. We live in the 21st century, it is inexcusable that we still have opinions like these. We have to move forward and for that we have to do something.

Before I finish I want to personally apologize. As you read above, I too have taken part in the racism against Asians. And I cannot tell you how sorry I am for that. To any Asian person reading this and every one of them out there the only thing I can say is that I AM VERY, VERY, VERY SORRY.

What I want to ask from you is to please fight against the racism, any way you can. Even if it is just a text like this one that you'll publish on a platform DO IT. Anything, as much as you can, do it. Small or big it doesn't matter. I know that not everyone can fight, but we can at least inform and educate. And through that someone else will learn and fight. So, please, anything you can do, do it. Also, if you find something in what I've said that you don't like or you don't understand, please tell me in the comments so I can understand my mistake and fix it or we can talk about it.

Asian people are beautiful. And we do owe them a lot. So, let's not let the hate against them go on for any longer.

Thank you for your patience.