April 8 Recently, racial discrimination and hate crimes against Asian groups in the United States have been frequent, which not only makes ordinary people complain, but also Asian Olympic athletes representing the United States have become targets. Recently, many Asian athletes have described their experiences of discrimination and called for their own efforts to combat racism.
ESPN, a U.S. sports news website, recently interviewed Chloe Kim, a Korean-American who won the U-sport championship in snowboarding at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. King is frequently discriminated against and harassed on social platforms, mostly very insulting words. She said that she had to face discrimination every day, worried about her safety and that of her parents, and even wore taser guns, pepper spray and knives when she went out to walk out.
“Even if I am a professional athlete and have won an Olympic gold medal, I will still be discriminated against.” “Just because I’m Asian, people belittle my athletic achievements… Some discriminatory messages say, let me roll back to China and stop grabbing white American medals,” King said. She said she would not speak Korean to her parents in public because of fear of discrimination, and as the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, she felt that she could no longer be silent and had to stand up and condemn.
Even Asian athletes preparing for the Olympics for the United States face racial harassment. AFP and Los Angeles Times reported on the 7th that Sakura Kokumai, 28, a 28-year-old Japanese karate player, will represent the United States at the Tokyo Olympics, and she has also been discriminated against recently. I was training in the park and a man began to harass me.” She recalled, “I’m a little shocked. I was still thinking about this situation, but then I laughed because there was no need to intensify the contradiction at all. man) ended up with some discriminatory words, and now I think I’ll be emotional.”
Yul Moldauer, a 24-year-old Korean gymnast who is competing for the Tokyo Olympics, said that he often faced racial discrimination and American stereotypes of Asian descent when he grew up. Just in March, Moldal was suddenly stopped by a woman while driving on the road and was insulted by the other party.” When I heard these words, I just shrugged my shoulders and laughed at it. Moldal said, “Because in the end of the day, my job is to represent the United States. If anyone wants to harass and scold me, I will only push it away.
These Asian athletes hope to speak for the Asian American community in a way that is openly discriminated against and condemns discrimination.” Compared with what I saw online, my experience is nothing. There are so many people who have been beaten, injured and even killed. Inter Sakura said, “I want to raise people’s awareness, because it may happen to anyone. We need to provide support and protection to those around us.”
