A Sea to Sky family is speaking out after finding itself on the receiving end of racist comments while out for a walk through Whistler Village.
Kyoko Hamazaki's sister-in-law, who is Japanese, was walking through the village with her newborn, along with three of Hamazaki's nieces and nephews, aged five, seven and 11—all of whom were all wearing protective masks—when an older Caucasian man rode past the family on his bike and yelled something along the lines of, "Chinese, go back home," Hamazaki said.
The incident took place on Sunday, May 3 at around 3 p.m.
"She just was so, so shocked that she couldn't say anything and then she was just very sad, [was] what she said," explained Hamazaki, whose family has called Whistler home for about 50 years and was the first Japanese family in town. Her nieces and nephews, "are third-generation Whistler kids," she noted.
"I had [to deal with] that when I was little, but I didn't think this generation would ever have to encounter that," she said. "They were so shocked because it's Whistler, you know, we're supposed to be more open—we're all from different countries."
Hamazaki's initial reaction when she first heard about the incident? "I was just so mad," she recalled. "I'm just completely shocked, and I was just angry that we have to do this all over again. Like, we've taken steps back."
Compounding those feelings is another racist incident that took place recently, involving a close friend of Hamazaki's. After this friend, who Hamazaki said is of South Korean heritage, posted a free tricycle to give away on a Whistler kids buy and sell Facebook group, one of the comments left under the post read, "You'd better sanitize it, she's Asian."
Among the countless negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is a rise in racist interactions, like the ones experienced by Hamazaki's family and friend.
Vancouver police have noted a significant increase in reports of anti-Asian hate-motivated incidents over recent months, including a young woman who was punched in the face in an "unprovoked attack," according to police, while waiting for a bus, and a 92-year-old Asian man who was assaulted near a convenience store in March. Last week, Richmond RCMP responded to a disturbance near Garry Point Park, where racist slurs were allegedly directed at a group of individuals during a verbal altercation, police explained in a release.
This rise in racist incidents targeting Asian people during the COVID-19 pandemic even prompted the B.C. government to offer more support for communities to address hate and racism through Resilience BC, the province announced May 5.
"These incidents are completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated," said Anne Kang, minister of Citizens' Services and responsible for Multiculturalism in a release. "We are acting now to address racism at the community level and ensure all British Columbians are free from discrimination and intimidation."
May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada.
Hamazaki said she hopes speaking out can shed light on these unfortunate incidents and ensure racism is put to a stop in our community.
"In our culture, being Japanese, we tend to not speak out, and that's why I wanted to share this. If you don't talk about it, then it gets hidden and it kind of gets OK'd, in a way—it's almost like people allow it if you don't say anything against it. We're angry and, you know, it shouldn't be happening, but they [her family] wouldn't have said anything if I hadn't gotten involved."
Hamazaki continued, "There needs to be a lesson that's learned from this, because we don't want to take the brunt of something so awful for nothing. There needs to be something learned—change has to happen. And we can't let this type of discrimination become part of the new norm."
