For Asians in Australia, a collective memory of racial trauma
- Feelings of low self-worth and anger from discriminatory incidents during the Covid-19 pandemic are affecting the mental health of ethnic minorities
- Society needs to change its understanding of what racism is and speak up against it, experts say
Charmaine Celine, a Eurasian-Chinese student attending La Trobe University in Melbourne’s Bundoora, said she had been grappling with feelings of inferiority and embarrassment over her race amid the coronavirus pandemic.
As infections rose across Australia – it has just over 7,100 cases across its eight states and territories while 103 people have died – strangers who she saw in public made comments such as “go back to your own country” to the 21-year-old and accused her of “stealing” their jobs.
“I am a confident and outgoing person but ever since the pandemic, I am almost ashamed and embarrassed about being Asian,” said Celine, who moved from Singapore last year.
“It feels like I have lost my social skills when out in public … when it’s in a public place, I think everyone else watching agrees with the person making racist comments too. I feel small and immediately inferior.”
After 35 years my Australian-ness is still being called into question
Gabby Malpas, an adopted Chinese-New Zealander, was stared down by an elderly white Australian woman in Redfern in Sydney while she was at the shops.
“She gave me a look of hatred. I have had a lifetime of racism to know what a look of hatred is,” said Malpas, who decided she could not deal with the stress of going out and asked her husband to take over the shopping.