Julie Chang has been a close friend for over a decade. She, as I, am a Bronx native who comes from a family of immigrants. Here’s my dinner conversation with her on March 3, 2021:

Elizabeth: Hey, I just read an article in the Washington Post about the increase in Asian hate crimes, you know, because of Covid, Trump and ignorance…

Julie: Girl, please (she says in her Bronx accent, as she rolls her eyes with a negative attitude) that’s not news. It’s been going on for a while. I don’t want to read another Huff Post article or anything about how Asians are being discriminated against now.

Elizabeth: I guess. I feel you.

Julie: That’s why I walk around with a sharp friend.

Elizabeth: Wait, what? For real?

Julie: I’m dead serious. But it’s been a long day. Let’s have some wine.

Here’s a snippet of my WhatsApp conversation with Julie, eight days later after the Atlanta shooting on March 8:

Julie: “Why do you think I carry a sharp friend? Just in case I come across a fool who wants to act out.”

Elizabeth: “Was this before or after COVID?”

Julie: “After”

I cannot believe that one of my best friends walks around with a sharp “friend” to protect herself.  In the case of the Atlanta shooting, a sharp object may not have protected her. The Atlanta shooting was an assault on America. When I saw the women on television, I saw the women in NYC.  To think that someone would hurt someone who looks like my friend drew tears to my eyes and made me angry.

For me, Chinese take-out food is as American as apple pie.

Chinese food is so beloved in our country that Julie’s extended family also opened a restaurant in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  So, I jokingly tell her she’s a Chinese-Rican. According to the 2010 United States census, the Bronx is 4% Asian.  She introduced me to Chang Li, the huge Asian market in the Parkchester section of the Bronx.  It’s probably where we get all our delicious Asian produce in the Bronx.

The media’s spotlight on the Atlanta shootings changed America. I heard Asian celebrities talk about their experience with racism. Americans, including the former President, blamed China for the pandemic. Even, NBA player Jeremy Lin said he was called “coronavirus” while playing on the basketball court this season.

I’m embarrassed that I don’t know a lot about Asian-American history. But I was reminded by reading and listening to the news. For example, a major case in the Asian civil rights movement in 1982. The murder of Vincente Chin in in Detroit, Michigan. The Japanese automobile industry was on the rise and many people blamed Asians for layoffs. A man told a Chinese man, “it’s because of you little m—f—s that we’re out of work.” Vincente, an Asian man, was murdered outside a club while being called racial slurs. Almost 40 years later, America seems to blame “others” for issues they did not cause.

What happened in Atlanta is happening all over America, including my home, New York City.  The New York City Police Department started the Asian Hate Crime Task Force in 2020. NYPD says, anti-Asian violence is “coronavirus motivated.” Last week the NYPD started using undercover police officers of Asian descent to help prevent Asian hate crimes.

The statement about “coronavirus motivated” violence should have said that “the increase in violence is coronavirus motivated.”  As the Chin tragedy illustrates and as my many Asian friends know, anti-Asian harassment, violence and discrimination goes back more than 100 years.

I hope that Black and Brown communities stand by the Asian community.  They are being ostracized, harassed, attacked and killed because of misinformation and racism. The AAPI community needs allies now.