In this episode of “To Health and Back,” we’ll hear from Rachel Priest, the content editor at The Bitter Southerner, to hear about her personal experiences with xenophobia as a transracial adoptee.
Check out the show notes here.
NOTE TO LISTENERS: This conversation was recorded 2 days before the Atlanta spa shootings on March 16, 2021.
0:13, Madeline Laguaite: Hello, and welcome to “To Health and Back,” a podcast about how health, medicine, and wellness decisions from the past help inform us today. I’m your host, Madeline Laguaite.
0:23, Laguaite: And in this bonus episode, I’m sitting down with my best friend and former college roommate of 4 years, Rachel Priest, to talk about xenophobia and some of her personal experiences this past year and during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Laguaite: The COVD-19 pandemic has fueled xenophobia, specifically anti-Asian sentiment across the globe, and Rachel has experienced that firsthand. So Rachel, welcome to the show. Do you want to introduce yourself and tell us who you are?
0:53, Rachel Priest: Yeah! Hey, Mads, thank you so much for having me on your podcast. Yeah, I’m Rachel and the content editor at The Bitter Southerner, which is this incredible publication where we basically just tell stories of the South, you know, both the good — there’s a lot to celebrate of the South, obviously — And also, you know, we aren’t afraid to talk about the bad as well. So I’m really loving that. And I’ve been there for about 7 months now. So it’s been really great. And I am excited to be here with my best friend and roommate. We’ve had, you know, similar... I feel like, you know, we’re sitting down and talking about this for the podcast, but we’ve also had conversations throughout the past year about these things, as they have happened, and you know, even before this, too, so.
1:34, Laguaite: Yeah, I think it I think it kind of says a lot, just the fact that we’ve had this exact conversation so many times, especially just the past year.
1:44, Priest: I know. I mean, it’s crazy to think that recently it’s been the 1-year anniversary since America has shut down and since it was declared a pandemic, but I feel like even a year ago, we were, again, like having similar conversations. And yeah, it’s crazy how much time has passed, but how little has changed in regards to xenophobia. And actually, it seems like it’s gotten worse in some ways, and I don’t know if that’s because of more national media attention, but yeah. So I’m so glad that we’re able to talk about this and bring some light to it because I feel like in some of the conversations I’ve had with family members or other friends or co-workers that or other people, I feel like some of them have been like, “I had no idea this is going on,” which yeah, you know, I think that for them, it’s always easy to ignore things that don’t impact you directly. And so I think for them, it’s obviously not impacting them because most of them have been white and so if they don’t have to pay attention, or if this is not something that they’ve seen, then they wouldn’t know, but most Asian people have been really aware of this the past year, especially, so.
2:52, Laguaite: Yeah. Can you just give us a little background? So you were born in China, right?
2:56, Priest: Yeah. So I was born in China, and I was adopted a couple days before I was 1 year old. And I grew up in Minnesota, and then I moved to Georgia when I was in high school. So that’s kind of background. So my adoptive family is, yeah, white, Caucasian.
3:11, Laguaite: Yeah, OK. I know that we just mentioned that COVID has added even more instances of racism, but have you faced anti-Asian rhetoric or attitudes in the past when you were growing up?
3:23, Priest: Yeah. So it’s a really interesting question. I mean, I think as a whole, not really, just because I think that their white privilege often protected me. I think that whenever I was seen with them, people understood that I was, “one of them,” like I was not seen as Chinese or Asian, I was just seen, as, my mom’s adopted daughter, and I think that there has been that umbrella of privilege that I was able to enjoy. I’m trying to think like, there was a couple instances in elementary school, and people would make fun of my eyes and stuff like that, and, you know, pull them back at the corners, which is interesting, too, because I remember seeing recently that there’s some sort of maybe makeup trend that was going on that would make it look like your eyes are a little more like curved at the end and the Asian community, people were like, “That’s not right.” It’s kind of not an appropriation but I think it’s turning into something that has been often seen as setting people apart and making it you know, “stylish” for white people to do, which is interesting. And that’s not just happened to the Asian-American community or the Asian community, but also happened to Black hair, or you know, nails and stuff like that, that have often been seen as these things that set them apart from their white counterparts, but once kind of white people move into that space and take it over, then it’s seen as trendy.
Priest: And so, kind of going back to your original question. I didn’t experience it too much. Because again, like I said, I lived under my parents and my family’s white privilege, but it’s something I’ve definitely noticed. Post-college is kind of when I really really experienced a lot of racism against me or I guess was more aware of it just because again, I was no longer associated with my white family. I was kind of on my own, and people didn’t see me as part of this white family, and they just saw me as an individual. And so I think then they were able to take their own preconceived notions or their stereotypes or their fear, or stereotypes, all those things, and really channel them at me. And yeah, so I think it’s only been within the past couple of years that I’ve really experienced a lot of it.
Priest: And I think we’ll get to talking about this later too but I think it’s interesting because I think that for a lot of younger Asian Americans, a lot of them are scared, not necessarily for them, but for their parents. Because there’s been a lot of instances of violence, especially against elderly Asian people, in like New York and California, where there’s large concentrations of Asian populations. And so luckily, that’s something I don’t have to worry about because my family is white. And so that is... luckily for me, I don’t have to carry that burden or that stress being like, “Are my parents going to be OK, like walking outside or doing just everyday life things?” I think that’s my experience and other Asian or Chinese adoptees who are adopted by white parents, again, I think that their experience is different than other— like, my experience is different in a lot of ways, but also similar in a lot of ways to other Asian Americans right now.
6:27, Laguaite: Yeah. OK. So maybe in the past, you’ve faced some microaggressions like being called other people’s names at work...
6:37, Priest: Yeah, yes.
6:38, Laguaite: So that sort of thing. Um, and I’m laughing because I know you. Of course, it’s not, it’s definitely not funny. But it’s—
6:45, Priest: No, yeah, yeah.
6:45, Laguaite: I do think it is kind of funny how often this happens to you, though, you know, how often these little like microaggressions happen.
6:52, Priest: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
6:54, Laguaite: But if you’re comfortable, can you tell me a little bit about some recent examples of racism or xenophobia that you faced, in the past year or? Yeah, I guess a year, it’s been?
7:04, Priest: Yeah. So I mean, I would say that some of them weren’t necessarily COVID-related, but just ignorance or racism in general. But I think that in the context of this last year, I think that things that I would have kind of been able to just brush off and be like, “They didn’t mean any harm by that,” I think has carried a lot, more weight, because you’re never sure, like, “Is this person saying this because they’re ignorant, and obviously their intentions aren’t bad?” but again, within the context of this past year, when you’re seeing all these headlines, and you’re reading about all these people have been attacked, like questions as ignorant as like, “Where are you from?” which usually for people that don’t look American — and American, in this context, being white American — people being like, “Oh, where are you from?” Usually, they’re trying to ask about your ethnicity. I mean, that’s happened to me twice in the last year. And both times, I don’t think that it was necessarily from a point of malice, but again, at the same time, it does carry this like, much heavier weight of, “Are they asking me because they’re scared of me, or because they want to like distance themselves from me, or because they want to do any of the things that have happened to other Asian people?” Like I’ve seen people are like— they’ve been punched, they’ve been spit on, they’ve been pushed, all these things. So I think that that’s kind of been the main, you know, some of the bigger things have happened to me personally.
Priest: So last year, I moved back home with my parents for a couple months, kind of as things were happening, and now my parents live in a suburb of Dallas. And the neighborhood they live in is predominantly white. You know, there’s definitely people of color there, but it’s a pretty affluent area outside of Dallas, and so—
Laguaite: And that’s Dallas, Texas, right?
Priest: Yeah, sorry. And so yeah, we would go on walks as a family and you know, my parents are white. And then I have three brothers who are not adopted, and so they’re white. And then it’s me and my sister. And so sometimes we’ll all go out, walk around the neighborhood, and it was fine. You know, nothing happened. But one time, it was just me and I was walking and these kids who — again like these were kids too, so I can’t again say if this is like, racially motivated — but these kids are riding their bikes, and one of them screamed at me. He’s like, “You have coronavirus!“ something like that, he like “Coronavirus!“ and then he like coughed and he just rode away and I think I was mostly taken aback like again, it just always takes you out of the moment when you— again, like you feel like this is your home and you feel like you should be able to live a life like I should be able to live my life like my friends or my parents or my brothers and like not have things like that happen to me. So I feel like when that happened to me, I was like, “That’s crazy.“ And I just like obviously didn’t respond and again, like it was a kid, so I was not going to scream at him or do anything.
Laguaite: Right.
Priest: And so I just finished my walk and I got home and I was talking my parents about it and I definitely got emotional or more emotional than I thought I would. But I was telling them what happened and they were like, “Well, it could just be something they saw on the internet, like, I’ve seen this. People have kind of been doing this.” Which I definitely think is probably true. I’m guessing that or I would hope that it’s not like he heard that from his parents. But at the same time, I don’t think it would have happened to my family or my brothers or other white people. Like, I don’t think that would have happened.
Laguaite: Yeah.
Priest: And it never did happen again, like that was kind of like a single instance. But I think it kind of just kind of goes to show that it really only takes like one instance. And after that happened, I definitely was like, more cautious about walking around. And I was definitely more self-conscious about walking around in my neighborhood. And again, that was mostly just like a verbal — I don’t even know if I’d call it an attack either like, it was just, it was something and that set me on guard and made me super self-conscious about the way I looked. So that was that was kind of like the bigger instances I remember this last year.
Priest: And, you know, there was one instance too, and this again, this wasn’t racially motivated at all— or no, I’m sorry, this isn’t specifically COVID-related, but I was talking on the phone with someone. I had to get insurance for my car. And so I was talking to this person and we were just chatting as she was kind of filling out paperwork and stuff like that. And I told her my middle name, which is the name that was given to me by the orphanage, so it’s Chinese, and this woman, I told her, I was like, “Oh, I was adopted,” and she was like, “Oh, you sound so American.” And I think like—
Laguaite: You are American.
11:33, Priest: Like, “Yes, I am.”
Laguaite: Wow.
Priest: But again, like, I think, again, just in those instances, not necessarily COVID-related, and not, again, not malicious, and not coming from like, a mean, hateful place, but again, I think it sends out a clear message that to be like “fully American,” you have to be white, you have to have a European- or American-sounding name, you have to not have an accent, like all these things that are—
Laguaite: You have to fit the mold.
Priest: You have to fit the mold and I think that we’ve had this conversation before and there’s such a movement to like be proud of your heritage and be proud of who you are. You shouldn’t have to hide these things, which I 100% agree with, but at the same time, it does make it hard. Like, yeah, you can be proud of these things, but at the same time, you know that you’re going to face some consequences, like, whether they’re people like judging you without meeting you or whether they— you know, like, I think there’s been a lot of studies about even job applications. Like if you have a name that’s not, again, perceived as American, you’re maybe less likely to get certain jobs or job interviews because people just don’t think you can do the job well.
12:40, Laguaite: Wow. I mean, and this is this sort of goes back to what you said about some of these instances, not necessarily being rooted in like, they’re not, they’re not meant to be malicious, maybe. But I think and I think this was pre-COVID, maybe or like pre-lockdown, but I remember you telling me about this instance, where you went to like Disney World or something in Florida and a woman asked if it was your, maybe first time visiting?
13:10, Priest: Yeah. It was actually— So we were driving back and I was with my small group from church and we stopped at this restaurant, and this woman, I was standing in line with her. And this was, honestly, this was right before the country locked down so people knew about COVID. They knew it was coming. And there was a lot of obviously, misinformation out there.
Laguaite: Yeah.
Priest: And I think there’s a lot— I think, too like thinking back on this time, even though people had the right information, there was just so many competing narratives about what our country would do and would people eve get it here? There is so much uncertainty. But this woman was standing next to me in line, and she kept looking at me, and I was like obviously on guard, because at the time too, the news was very... Now, national media has been more conscious about saying things and stuff like that but the thing at the time, too, especially under the leadership of then-President Donald Trump, he was calling it still and he’s still calling it now like “the China virus,” or “Chinese virus,” or “the Wuhan flu,” like, all these things. And so again, I had that in the back of my mind as this woman kept looking at me. And I was like, “Oh.” So eventually, I made eye contact with her and she’s like, “Oh, hi.” I was like, “Oh, hi.” You know, so we just like talking and I was wearing— I don’t know if I was wearing like a Georgia sweatshirt, but she eventually was like, “Oh, do you go to school here?” And I was like, “Yes.” I was like, “I go to the University of Georgia.” And so we are chatting. And she’s like, “Oh, well, how do you like it here?” You know, like, it was my first time and I was like, “Um, great?” You know, I’ve lived here for my whole life. So I guess it’s fine. Maybe not as fine now.
Laguaite: Yeah, yeah.
Priest: So yeah, so like that has just, again, not coming from a necessarily malicious place, but same time, like I mentioned earlier, questions like that can... they carry just so much more weight now.
Laguaite: Yeah.
Priest: Because of the heightened anti-Asian sentiment and racism that’s prevalent right now.
15:00, Laguaite: Yeah. And I think it’s an interesting contrast too, because even when you and I went to Nashville, Tennessee, last year for spring break. So this was like... COVID was happening, but it was pre— it was basically pre-lockdown. So, 2 weeks before. Yeah, so when we were in Nashville, we were at some public place, like a restaurant or a bar or something, and it was interesting, because there was this certain man or like group of men who were trying to make... you know, trying to have a conversation with you, and it seemed like they wanted to talk to you because you were — using his words — “exotic” or, you know, that kind of thing and then post that trip. So after that trip, after lockdown, the sentiment completely reversed, you know? So no longer— Well, I’m, again, making a pretty broad generalization, but now it’s more like these instances that we’re hearing about on the news are rooted in like, malicious racism.
16:02, Priest: Yes. Yeah. That’s such a good point you bring up because yeah, like during that trip, yeah...
16:07, Laguaite: Multiple times, actually, now that I’m thinking back like, this wasn’t a “one and done” type of—
16:11, Priest: Yeah, there was a couple of times, but yeah, I think, one of the stereotypes or one of the ways that, especially Asian women, are viewed in this country are viewed as “exotic” and there’s a lot of fetishization that happens.
Laguaite: Yeah.
Priest: Asian women especially are fetishized and viewed as “exotic” and there’s been a lot of studies about where this is rooted. And I mean, you can, again, you can trace a lot of these things back to a couple instances, and just how they’ve grown and yeah. But yeah, like you said, it’s interesting because at that time, again, my ethnicity was viewed as, I don’t know. Like to want?
16:48, Laguaite: Yeah. You know, something like desirable or like something sexy or erotic.
Priest: Yeah. And not in a good way.
Laguaite: Exactly, the worst way, because again, like, how did that make you feel when that guy was like, “You look exotic. Where are you really from?” That was the thing. He kept asking, “Where are you from? Where are you from?”
17:07, Priest: Yeah. Yeah, we were both— So, it was Madeline and I and we were at this... I think it was a bar, right?
Laguaite: Yeah.
Priest: Yeah, there was this guy. There was this group of three men. It was so gross. They kept like—
17:19, Laguaite: Three white men.
17:19, Priest: Yes, three white men. They’re just like talking to all these women, but eventually one of them came up to me and he was like, “Where are you from? Where are you from?” And I was like, “I’m from here.” And I mean, Madeline was there too. And she also stood up for me and was like, “She’s American.”
17:35, Laguaite: Yeah. “She’s from here.” He kept pressing.
Priest: Yeah.
Laguaite: He kept asking where you were really from.
17:39, Priest: Yeah, and I kept answering. I was like, “I’m American. Like, I’m from the US.” And he was like, “No, no, what’s your nationality? Which nationality?” And finally, Madeline was like, “Do you mean her ethnicity?” And he’s like, “Yeah, yeah.” I was like, “Oh.”
17:51, Priest: And you know, it was interesting too, because at one point, he was like, “I’m German. I’m like English. I’m French.” Again, like, he just didn’t know how to verbalize it in the correct way.
18:03, Laguaite: He also described himself— a self-described WASP. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.
18:11, Priest: Yes. So again, like to your back to your point.
Laguaite: Yeah.
Priest: It’s just interesting to see how they have flipped. And I think something that Madeline and I have discussed is, I would say that Asian people and the stereotypes about Asian people in this country are not necessarily... they’re not as harmful, physically, to like Asian people, until recently, right before COVID. Like, they weren’t necessarily... I think that again, like the Asian stereotype is that like, we’re smart. We are doctors and lawyers. And it’s interesting, too, because—
Laguaite: Like, good at math?
Priest: Yeah. Good at math.
Laguaite: We’ve talked about that before.
Priest: Like, all these things, and that they’re hard workers and all this stuff. And it’s interesting, too, because on the TikTok—
18:51, Laguaite: On the TikTok.
18:53, Priest: It makes me sound so old. On TikTok, there was this video that was circulating actually, that I saw and it was like, this white man, maybe he was in his ’20s or ’30s and he said... let’s see... his line was... let me see. Let me find it. OK: “If America is so racist, why are Asians are the highest earners in America?” which again, just goes to prove that these stereotypes are still being perpetuated and still being believed. And I think I’ve said this before to Madeline and I’ve talked to some other friends about it, but being Asian in this country hasn’t always necessarily meant the same things as being Black or Latino.
Laugaite: Yeah.
Priest: Like, you know, we’re not stereotyped as dangerous necessarily, or as undocumented like all these other like, definitely more harmful, like physically harmful stereotypes before COVID. But not I mean, physically harmful, but still, like harmful themselves. Just because we’re not being like, we’re all dangerous, that doesn’t mean that these stereotypes still impact the community, and impact the way that kids see themselves orso many other things. So it’s crazy.
20:03, Laguaite: Wow. Well, yeah. I know, this is a huge question. But I mean, what’s the answer? How should the U.S. tackle xenophobia?
20:15, Priest: Wow. I think just... that’s a good question.
20:21, Laguaite: Yeah. OK. And we can come back to that, too, but I know like you had said something about how the national-level communication could have— Oh, and actually, that brings me to another point that I wanted to mention the “China virus.”
Priest: Yes.
Laguaite: So let’s, why don’t we actually take a little bit of time if you have it to address that because I mean, I’m still like, just flabbergasted that anyone still uses that phrase. But for example, you know, when you heard former President Trump say, you know, describe COVID-19 as the “China virus,” I mean, what was that like for you?
21:03, Priest: I mean, I think again, it just puts a target on people’s backs, and it just makes people be like, “Well, this is must be their fault.” If not only are people just kind of saying this, but the president again, then-President of the United States is like, calling it the “China virus,” like, I think it gives them license to really target Asian people. So last year too I wrote a story for my capstone class about anti-Asian sentiment.
Laguaite: Yeah.
Priest: And I think the thing too is I interviewed, I guess, as for students I interviewed three students and one of them was Chinese, one of them was Korean, and one of them was Filipino. But they all experienced racism because of the way they look and I think that’s something too that’s dangerous because I would say as a whole white people can’t tell people from Asia, Eastern Asian countries apart and so all these people get really lumped into this a conglomerate of like, “This person, they must be Chinese.” And so, therefore, we must, say something or like, do something, like all these things. And going back to the original question, like again, it just hurt to have him say that, and even after reporters brought up to him a couple times, they’re like... I remember watching the press conference where this reporter, they’re like, “President Trump, there has been a rise in violence against the Asian-American community.” And again, this is back in 2020, last March, April, May. They’re like, “Do you think that calling it the ’China virus,’ ’Chinese virus,’ is dangerous?” and his response was like, “No, it comes from there, why would it be dangerous for them?” which again, just goes to show his ignorance and even recently, he put out a statement, as a private citizen now. And he still called it the “China virus.” He said, COVID-19 and, in parentheses, he said, OK so he sent out this statement on March 10, of this year, and he said, “I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19, (often referred to as the China Virus vaccine)” and then he went on the rest of his statement. Again, that just goes to show that even now, and even with more national media attention surrounding the violence happening against the Asian-American community here, he still is persistent on calling it that and perpetuating that harmful... I don’t even know if stereotype is the right word, but just the harmful rhetoric around COVID-19 and again, just really putting a target on people’s backs. And so yeah, that’s how that made me feel.
Priest: And I think going back to your original question of what can America do? What can this country do to protect Asian Americans? Or what can we do to get rid of xenophobia? But yeah, again, I speak from like my own experience, and I speak as one person of a whole community, and so I think that it starts really at people advocating and again, like, also more national media attention. I think that historically, at least from what I’ve seen, the Asian community in America has been really underreported. I think there’s a lot of issues in media, like I think I think we both can both discuss this and obviously, we both work in the media, which is a very obviously broad statement.
Laguaite: Yeah.
Priest: I mean, I think just like more attention about it and or more attention surrounding it, more coverage of those instances. And also, again, like, not only attention but making sure that people are held accountable for the things they do do is really important and not just brushing it aside as something that is harmless or something that is a joke. I think too, something that I remember hearing earlier, one of the first questions you asked me was what kind of experiences did I have growing up?
Laguaite: Oh, yeah. Right.
Priest: And I think that is something that happened then, I think, still happens today, among adults, is that when something happens... When it happened to me when I was younger and kids were pulling back their eyes and like pretending to speak Chinese, whatever that is, and saying like syllables they thought sounded like Chinese. You know, if I was like, “That’s mean,” they’d be like, “Well, I’m just joking.”
Laguaite: Like, “Can’t you take a joke?”
25:12, Priest: Yeah, “Can’t you take a joke?” And I think that’s so toxic and so dangerous. It not only belittles how they’re feeling about the situation but again, it makes it OK for this person under the guise of being “funny.” And I think that as we’re going forward, making sure that you do call those things out. And you call them out among kids, you call them out among adults, you call them out among things happening in the news, or like just holding people accountable for their actions. And not again, bury it under, like, “They didn’t mean it that way,” or “They’re just making a joke,” or “This is just one person.” Again, I think there’s so much more attention that can be brought and should be brought to make sure that these things don’t happen anymore, because it’s not OK.
26:00, Laguaite: Yeah. And, I mean, OK, so something you mentioned, like you just mentioned it, but how do you think that people like me could be better allies to the Asian-American community during this time? You know, just speaking from, I guess, your point of view and perspective?
26:17, Priest: Yeah, I mean, I think that the first step or the first... the easiest thing someone can do is just, like stand up for their friend or their family member or whoever they’re with, or even if you’re not with someone, and you just see this happening, just again, like, use your privilege to speak up on behalf of other people. And yeah, I think that’s the easiest thing. And I think that’s like something that we have talked about a lot and something that again, like you’ve done incredible, like, going back to the bar situation, like Madeline was there, you know, she’s standing up, and she’s like, “She’s told you this, like, you’re not asking the right question. Like, if you’re going to be racist, you might as well ask the right question.”
26:54, Laguaite: Yeah, I think that’s exactly what I said.
26:56, Priest: You might as well ask the right question.
27:00, Laguaite: Yeah. You might as well use the right phrase.
27:05, Priest: The right phrase, like language, terminology. So I think it’s as easy as that. And obviously, there’s been a lot of media attention surrounding the bad things that have happened towards Asian Americans in this country now. Last spring, there was a family that was stabbed. Recently, there was a woman arrested for coughing and pepper-spraying an Asian Uber driver in San Francisco. There was another woman in New York, who was spit upon with her baby, and called the “Chinese virus.” Again, there’s been so many instances.
Priest: But I think also, too, there’s been a couple of great stories of communities sticking up for their neighbors. I was reading this story of this family, and I believe was in California, and it was an Asian family in this neighborhood, mostly white neighborhood. And they kept getting random... like these teenagers that come in, like knock on their door, and throw things at their house and stuff like that. And this community kind of banded around this family, and they would like, sit outside and watch, like, they just like sit outside in their lawn, to make sure that these people weren’t being harassed. And that’s not happening everywhere and that’s not something that you shouldn’t... like, if that’s not happening in your community, you can’t really do much like that but yeah I mean, if things like that happen, that’s another great way to just, again, stick up and what people need most of all right now is just support and knowing that their friends and family care about them and are concerned about them. And even one of my friends a couple of weeks ago texted me and she’s like, “I’ve been seeing everything happening, like, I just hope you’re OK.”
Laguaite: Oh, that’s sweet.
Priest: Which is really sweet. That just meant a lot to me, knowing that she is someone who is not Asian and is aware of what’s happening and wanting to check in on me and wanting to make sure I’m OK. Because I think that something that I have talked about and I have had experiences with this, especially with, you know, me being Chinese and being adopted by a white family, I think that it’s easy for my family to be colorblind and not in like a bad way. But you know, just see me as like their cousin or their granddaughter, which is fine. You know, like, that’s good. I’m glad they’re not like being like, “You’re different because you’re Chinese.” But at the same time, I think that in a lot of ways it can be harmful too, because then if they see me as not someone that’s facing these issues, and they see it happen to other people, other Asian people, but they’re like, “Oh, like, that’s just other Asian people like that wouldn’t happen to my family member because she’s one of us.”
Laguaite: Yeah, the “one of us” thing.
29:35, Priest: Yeah. And so I think going back to my point, just checking on people and standing up for them, when you see things like that happen. If there’s something happening in your neighborhood, or something happening to people, just like standing up or doing what you can to help them during this time is just super, super important. I think that that is one way that people can help and I think that racism is not going to go away after this pandemic and xenophobia is not going to go away. It hasn’t gone away. It’s been here for hundreds, thousands of years. And again, also not just toward the Asian-American community. Like any really community of color in this country has faced their own sort of hardships because of their race and their ethnicity. It can kind of seem daunting sometimes to be like, “How can I tackle or how can I make this better for this whole community?” And the answer is like you as a single person can’t, but you as a single person can do any of those things I talked about, like sticking up for your friend or sticking up for someone nearby. It doesn’t have to be your friend, like just being vocal and using your voice or your privilege to really speak up and again, just doing what you can on a micro level, and then as legislation attempts to get passed, so you can support them. Something that happens for most grassroots type of movements is like contact your representatives, or contact whoever you need to contact and make sure that different laws get passed, so that these things — hate crimes and xenophobia — you know, again, people are held accountable for what they do. My hope is that once people do, then other people will stop doing it, because they know that there’s consequences because, as everyone knows, but things that happen in communities of color I think for the longest time, people have just been able to get away with it.
Laguaite: Yeah.
Priest: And so there’s not really a consequence. But I think that hopefully, legislation can be passed. And but yeah, until then, just, you know, stick up for your, for your friends or stick up for any Asian person that you see or—
Laguaite: Check in on them.
Priest: Yeah, check in on them.
31:38, Laguaite: Well, awesome. Thank you so much for talking to me, Rach.
Priest: Yeah, no, thanks for letting me on your podcast.
Laguaite, 31:44: So yeah, if you’re comfortable, where can the people find you on social? Like your professional Twitter maybe? Or where can they find your writing? Because I don’t know if I mentioned but, or Rachel mentioned, but she’s a writer and a freelancer.
31:57, Priest: Yes. Yeah. On Twitter, you can find me at @rz_priest, like a Catholic priest. So P-R-I-E-S-T. And I have a website like my online portfolio where you can find writing and some photography, actually, I think at the same thing, but without the underscore so it’s just rzpriest.com.
32:19, Laguaite: Awesome. Well, thank you again, Rach, seriously.
Priest: Thanks so much, Mads. This was so much fun.
32:23, Laguaite: This has been to “To Health and Back.” Thanks again for joining me on this health history journey. Tune in next time. Until then, don’t forget to rate the podcast and subscribe. Feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected]. And I’m also on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as @healthandback. Thanks. See you next time.