Thank You For Texting

Thank you for texting to check in on me. I felt very loved. I prefer to feel safe. But some of the feelings that I had yesterday, I also had EXACTLY one year ago when I was the subject of AAPI harassment. This was not the first time, but this was the most significant time.

In a year full of collective trauma, I learned about how to feel safe. So first thing yesterday morning when I felt frightened, I thought to myself: “What are the little things I can do right now to feel safe?”

This weekend, my plans are to go to Maine for Maine Maple Sunday. I talk about it incessantly. I moved my hotel reservation to be in a more densely populated area of Portland because a mother and her children were attacked in their car this week while being screamed at “go back to where you came from”

I also signed up for a training called: “How to Respond to Anti-Asian American Harassment when it happens to you” through an organization called Hollaback! They are a global, people-powered movement to end harassment. Count me in.

I wish I had seen more folks sharing that they signed up for Bystander Intervention Training for AAPI allies.

If/when someone harasses me again, my instinct is to clam up and disappear, not stand up for myself. If you are walking next to me, it would be nice to know that you could distract, delegate, document, delay, and direct for me if/when I am a clam.

Maybe next time instead of saying “hi checking in on you” we all can say “I hope this never happens to you (again) but if/when it does I have your back and I did my homework to help you feel as safe as possible”

Here is Hollaback’s Bystander Intervention Resource + Link to Training.

If you have more resources, please feel free to contact me and I will add them.

PS - Another good idea is re-watching Ashtin Berry’s Care Kit (It’s a story highlight on her social media account @thecollectress)