

Over the weekend, New York Times editor Michael Luo and his family were walking down the sidewalk in Manhattan pushing along a stroller when they were told to “Go back to China! Go back to your fucking country,” by one impatient, but well-dressed woman.

Luo responded by sprinting to confront the woman and telling her “I was born in this country!” Luo later told Gothamist that while this sort of thing happens all the time, this time, he felt a real sadness and had started dwelling on the question of Asian American identity and belonging.

In that spirit, after publishing an open letter to the woman. Luo asked Asian Americans to tweet him about their own encounters with racism in the US, hashtagging them “#thisis2016.”

Asian Americans, tweet at me your own racist encounters and I'll try to collect them. Hashtag it like I did #thisis2016 — Michael Luo (@michaelluo) October 10, 2016



He received quite a few responses:

@michaelluo Colleagues have asked, without malice, "When does your work visa end?" I was born here. #thisis2016 — Nina Lin (@nlinphoto) October 10, 2016

@michaelluo I was eating fried rice at a friend's store. Guy walks in and booms "HOW ABOUT THAT. CHINAMAN EAT'N CHINARICE!" #thisis2016 — Allan Chow (@chowspecial) October 10, 2016

@michaelluo Ching Chang Chong Cho as I was walking out of a Wells Fargo in Chino Hills, CA. #thisis2016 — Jason Chan (@jasonmarkchan) October 11, 2016

@michaelluo "What's your background? I can't tell because of your accent". My family's been here since the 1800s. #thisis2016 — Justin Wong (@jmnwong) October 11, 2016

@michaelluo That one time an employee at the Home Depot bowed with praying hands to me and my dad and said, "Ni hao". #thisis2016 — Tiffani Ng (@aesthetiffs) October 11, 2016

"Where are you from?"

Chicago.

"No really, where were you born?"

M'F'er, my mother gave birth to me IN CHICAGO.#PerpetualOther #thisis2016 https://t.co/FXBqiKNTNu — e.ahn (@ahnfire) October 10, 2016

At my 15 yr olds HS, after she introduced herself, a white girl said "No your name can't be Skye, it's Ching Chong Oh!" #thisis2016 — Ellen Oh (@ElloEllenOh) October 10, 2016

@michaelluo I was complimented recently on how well I spoke English despite being a Professor born and raised in Florida :-)! #Thisis2016 — Anthony Chow (@anthonyschow) October 10, 2016

Man on street: How do u say hi in ur language?

Me: HELLO

He changes direction to follow me: No ur real language

Me: speedwalks#thisis2016 https://t.co/2UIJnXBwk6 — Alissa Zhu (@AlissaZhuNL) October 10, 2016

A woman asked me if my husband was Chinese (I'm Korean) and I said "No. He's white."

"You can do that now??" #thisis2016 https://t.co/ebOIeLvkXe — yoomi (@angrylilasian) October 10, 2016

@michaelluo "We should've killed all you f***ers in Nam". I was born in Washington DC & uncle is a US Nam vet. I'm Fil-Am. #thisis2016 — robert casumbal (@robertcasumbal) October 10, 2016

@michaelluo I received these texts from my younger sister AS I was reading your article. We're 1st generation Americans #thisis2016 pic.twitter.com/9TQmQTQaDZ — KP (@KP_erez) October 10, 2016

i get asked all the time, "where are you from?" "california" "no, where are you FROM from" this happened today in nyc #thisis2016 https://t.co/80S17MES7A — Tracy Chou (@triketora) October 11, 2016

@michaelluo Interviewed a sitting Senator for 1/2 hour about Obamacare. Got up to shake his hand–he bowed instead. #thisis2016 — Suzy Khimm (@SuzyKhimm) October 10, 2016

@michaelluo When I was house hunting, the realtor guy said that my husband is a lucky guy to have a such a beautiful Geisha wife #thisis2016 — kelwoon (@kelwoonjoo) October 10, 2016



Luo told CNNMoney that he was “incredibly moved” by the response, adding that “It’s resonating because Asian Americans have this feeling that racism against them is not taken as seriously as other groups.” In a New York Times article published yesterday, Luo writes that his own experience tapped into “a deep reservoir of emotions held by many Asian-Americans about the racial prejudice they have experienced and a hunger for it to be recognized more broadly.”

Last week, Fox News aired a segment on “The O’Reilly Factor” that many found to be shockingly racist, even by Fox News standards. Correspondent Jesse Watters visited Chinatown ostensibly to get people’s views on the election, but instead returned only with an impressive amount of antiquated Asian stereotypes. Later in the week, The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng came back with a brutal takedown of the offensive segment, but it appears that even that has still failed to cure racism.

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