Fil-Can woman reading in Toronto park threatened to be reported to police; told to ‘go back to China’

https://www.facebook.com/juzzypoo/posts/10158508011146083

To read and wait in an open space is obviously not something that would hurt or offend someone, but who would have thought that doing such harmless actions can lead to someone receiving racist remarks?

Filipino-Canadian Justine Abigail Yu went to her father’s place to drop off some food for him on Saturday. However, her dad was not at his home by the time Justine came and so she decided to go to a park around Bayview Avenue and Sheppard Avenue for the meantime to read as she waits for her father’s arrival.

Justine, the founder and editor of Living Hyphen magazine, was just sitting in a park, minding her own business, when a woman, who identified herself as a “teacher,” suddenly showed up to threaten the Filipino-Canadian that she will be reported to police because she was in a supposed “private property.”

Narrating in her social media posts what had transpired, Justine said the woman told her,

“There are signs that say No Trespassing. Can you read or maybe you don’t speak English? Go back to China.”

Her remarks did not sit well with Justine so she answered back with a sarcastic “Wow, thank you for that racist remark” reply. The woman then told her to “f*ck off,” called her a “b*tch,” and many other things that are now unclear to Justine.

She also took a video of the woman where she was heard saying, “All Chinese people should go to jail.” Justine then asked the woman to repeat her remarks louder but the latter ignored her and just walked off.

“You tell me you’re a teacher? In Canada? And you are talking sh*t about Chinese people?” Justine told the woman.

In her post, Justine believes that such an individual with a racist mindset should not be the one educating people.

“The fury I feel in my body right now is so palpable. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. I can’t imagine what it’s like to live with this every single day. I cannot imagine the kind of violence this does to one’s body,” she wrote.

“No physical weapons were drawn but believe me, this was violence,” she added.

In an e-mail, Justine told Philippine Canadian Inquirer that racist harassment like this is exactly the reason behind the creation of Living Hyphen — a magazine that explores the experiences of hyphenated Canadians or those individuals who are of other descent but call Canada their home.

“There are people in this country who continue to question, challenge, and deny Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour’s belonging in this country, our right to simply read, and our very existence,” she stressed.

An investigation is currently undergoing after Justine reported the woman to the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, and the Ontario College of Teachers. The Toronto police has also been notified but Justine has not filed a report yet.

“So far we have not ID’d her yet so [we] cannot confirm that she is even a teacher at this time,” she said.

Justine’s case is one of the many incidents of racism against Asian people amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Fortunately, a lot of people and organizations are standing up against racism, as this will not do any good for the world’s current situation.