Yes, here is another one. One of hundreds which have been reported over social media, in surveys and to authorities. This one comes to us from Melbourne. Asian Australian Linda Chan posts in a Facebook public group called “The Kindness Pandemic”, which has over 550,000 members about the racial abuse her and her family experienced in Melbourne whilst out buying something to eat. Whilst waiting, a white Aussie guy rode his motorcycle onto the footpath and began to abuse Chan and her family telling them to “go back to China” and kept edging closer to them as though he was going to physically attack them:
“But no, this man then faced my family and started racially abusing us – telling us to go back to China etc. creeping up closer and closer with his bike helmet in his hand almost ready to throw/attack us.”
It was a bystander who defended Chan as she ran into the restaurant with her baby daughter who was scared and about to cry. Chan describes herself as feeling shaken after the ordeal.
Chan identifies herself and her husband as being “born and raised” in Australia and are “as Aussie as you can get”. Chan also states that she is not of Chinese background herself.
One question that remains is why this type of shit is still happening? The answer is simple and it is because racism and anti-Asian racism has been happening for over 100 years and now people are just more bold to be direct. The Australian Government and our PM have not officially and adequately addressed the severity of this issue and asking for racial attacks to stop, so we will only continue to see more and more racial incidents happening.
What is most concerning is that the majority of racial attacks within the Asian/Asian Australian community remain un-reported. So far, the Asian Australian Alliance COVID-19 Racism Incident Report Survey has recorded over 500 incidents of COVID-19 related racism, with almost 90% stating that they did not report their experiences to the police.