Action In Shelter-In-Place From Asian Young People

What should you do in this Coronavirus pandemic? What could you do in “shelter-in-place”? How should you treat other people while keeping social distance and how were you treated by others?

A group of Asian young people showed their distinctive actions in this time of immobilization. Competent Video Club (CVC), formed in November 2019, is a new club composed of a group of Asian middle schoolers. They are trying to voice out their distinctive point of view, especially in this pandemic.

“From news and online resources we can see that a lot of Asians are being attacked and discriminated against because of the Coronavirus; kids at school were joking about it,” Alyssa We and Elaine Guo shared the similar viewpoints.

“We wanted to voice out that discrimination is not a solution to the Coronavirus,” said Yufei Xian.

But at the same time, in daily life, people are still living peacefully. “I did not see a lot of discrimination around me. So, I decided to make a video of real-life in contrast to the news.” Bella Bian said.

“I would like to be an eyewitness in the Coronavirus era to break the silence and record what people have been through,” said Keith Li.

As a so-called ABC, American Born Chinese, he could see and hear more because of his bilingual capability (Chinese culture at home vs. American culture at school). “When my Mom came back from China in January, I was confronted by my schoolmate saying “Do you still have coronavirus?” [While us Americans didn’t know much about this pandemic].”

“I saw that my parents and their friends were getting face masks from the US to help China in January, and, in March, from China to help the local hospitals and communities here in the US.”

His video shows the perspective from his eyes.

Asians are a unique fabric part of this tightly woven society of California and an indispensable part of US immigration culture.

They are being hit twice in the current coronavirus pandemic, even though they are working in both directions to help.

“As a Chinese American student, my feelings often are different compared to my other American friends.” Alyssa Wu said.

After so many years of understanding discrimination, a lot of people are still venting their fear and anger towards innocent, minorities around them like Asians. President Trump using the term “Chinese Virus” made the case even worse.

The younger generations are starting to record their eyewitness news and are making their eyewitness history.

Currently, the Asian population is one of the fastest-growing populations in the East Bay area. In the Pleasanton Unified School District, the Asian student body is surpassing all other ethnic groups, becoming the largest student body of 42%, according to data released in 2018.

San Ramon and Dublin are undergoing the same trend. But the Asian voice is still not heard in a lot of aspects. Asian young people like them hope to change this situation through their actions.