Although the COVID-19 pandemic has seen millions of Americans face dual concerns for their health and their finances, many Asian-Americans are reporting a third major reason to be anxious.
As NBC News reported , instances of anti-Asian violence and harassment have risen throughout March and April as 30% of surveyed Americans have witnessed someone blame Asians for the pandemic itself.
This arising bias has also manifested in 1,500 instances of harassment since mid-March, which include physical assaults, refusal of service to Asian customers, and vandalism. This is despite the fact that at least 95% of Americans are staying home during this time.
And although one Texas teen has experienced this bias firsthand, she’s channelling the shock she felt into a positive initiative.
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Back in March, 15-year-old Valerie Xu of Addison, Texas became aware of a serious shortage of face masks and PPE among American healthcare workers.
As she told People , this realization came after she learned that a family friend who works as an ER doctor in Florida has had to reuse the same mask for weeks at a time.
As Xu said, “Unfortunately, he is not the only doctor that has to do that… which just goes to show the urgent need. In order for a community to fight this virus, medical workers need to be safely protected.”
Although she said she considered it her civic duty to address this shortage, she felt even more motivated to act after an encounter in her neighborhood.
Although Xu was neither coughing nor doing anything else to indicate sickness, she said that a woman who was walking nearby immediately covered her mouth and pinched her nose when she saw her.
As Xu said, “It was a shocker to me, especially since I’ve grown up in the U.S. It just made me realize that no matter how much I try to prove myself as an American, my skin color will always define me… [this] motivated me to speak out for my race and my community.”
By March 20, Xu launched a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe that she called Masks Matter.
At the time of this writing, this campaign has raised $3,550 dollars, which was then matched by an Asian American-run business in Dallas.
She had hoped to reach a $7,500 goal, but decided to supplement what had been raised in the early days of her fundraiser with $1,240 of her own money to make that possible.
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With that money, she was able to purchase 10,000 surgical masks and 1,200 FFP2 masks from a vendor in China.
This was apparently possible thanks to some family connections that her mother had in the region. And for those who aren’t aware, FFP2 masks are essentially the European equivalent of N95 masks.
As Xu told People , “I did not expect it to be this big. Our goal was to at least have 5,000 masks, but when we slowly saw it climb… [we decided to] increase the number of masks. It was definitely a surprise, but I’m just so thankful to everyone who helped spread the message and contributed to my campaign.”
On April 24, Xu had received the masks and personally delivered them Dallas hospital staff, who she described as “gracious and thankful.”
Xu also intends to continue raising funds for additional masks for as long as they’re needed and intends to send them to other hospitals, nursing homes, and homeless shelters.
As she said, “It means a lot to me because I want to try and inspire a lot of other Asian American women like me. I just want to make a difference. I want to show others that Asian Americans are standing alongside health workers [and] are willing to help contribute.”
h/t: People