Chinese mother and son were scolded while riding the subway, -I’ll spit on you if you speak Chinese-

Recent events have highlighted the difficulties that Asian families face in America, particularly following a distressing incident that took place on a subway in Manhattan. We spoke with Mrs. Chen, a Chinese-American mother, to understand her experiences and the broader implications of the racial discrimination that she and her six-year-old son encountered during their daily commute.

On September 30, around 4 PM, Mrs. Chen was picking her son up from school when they boarded the N line at Union Square. They were having a conversation in Chinese, as they often do, when a man seated about five meters away began to shout aggressively. “I wasn’t really paying attention at first because the subway was noisy and we were talking,” Mrs. Chen recalled. “But then I heard him say ‘Chinese.’ That’s when I noticed three white women across from him looking in our direction. It hit me that he was directing his comments at us.”

Mrs. Chen described the man as having dark skin and a slender build with a scruffy beard. As they neared their stop, he yelled, “If you speak Chinese, I’ll spit on you.” To her shock, her son also picked up on parts of the tirade, including a disturbing remark about spitting being “a stroke of luck” for them. Even after Mrs. Chen and her son exited the subway, the man continued to hurl insults at them.

This incident reflects a concerning trend. According to a Pew Research survey, 32% of Asian adults reported experiencing threats or attacks due to their race since the onset of the pandemic. The situation has not improved, as studies indicate that anti-Asian discrimination is still widespread. Social media platforms, such as Xiaohongshu, are filled with posts about discrimination against Asians in New York, with many garnering millions of views, signaling a growing conversation around this issue.

For Mrs. Chen, this marked the first time her young son encountered such overt racial discrimination, bringing to light the complexities of raising a Chinese-American child in today’s society. “It’s really challenging to navigate issues of identity when incidents like this happen. I want my son to keep his Chinese language skills, but I worry that experiences like this will make him hesitant to speak it,” she explained. The biases and tensions between different ethnic groups can leave young Chinese-Americans feeling confused and conflicted about their identities.

This incident does not just reveal the personal struggles of individuals like Mrs. Chen and her son; it also underscores a larger societal issue in the United States that demands urgent attention.