"I think living here for 12 years, my natural disposition has always been that Asian stereotype friend throughout both boarding school and university. I've come across a lot of people, with a lot of things said, under the 'banter umbrella’. I’ve heard things like 'Do you use floss as an eye mask to go to sleep?’"
ILISHA AMEERA: FALMOUTH, ENGLAND
“Whilst walking to my bus stop after my bar shift, a man at the end of the bridge I was walking towards started mockingly shouting out the word “CHINA” at me. After the 5th time of shouting it out, I stopped and shouted back that I wasn’t from China. He then continued to shout it at an increasingly loud volume until I finally got near him at the end of the bridge. Upon seeing him I saw two women I didn’t hear or see before, standing beside him, not saying or doing anything. The man proceeded to continuously shout the word CHINA in my face whilst giggling. I thought about saying something but after the 10th time he said it, I carried on to my bus stop thinking there was no bloody point."
EMILY PEARCE: LONDON, ENGLAND
“This guy was basically telling me how great colonialism was and that, ‘We gave you justice, railroads, your country wouldn't be progressive if it wasn't for US’, and then told me "I wouldn't have gotten into uni if it wasn't for colonialism”.
IZYAN HAY: LONDON, ENGLAND
"In my first year, while discussing why so many Asians are intimidated by White people to the extent of locking themselves in their room to avoid conversation, I reminded by English housemate that through colonisation, many of us are still aware of the power that the UK hold over it’s previous colonies. To this my housemate responded, “Well, I’m sure you guys enjoyed the slavery.” My housemate, a Politics student, thought it was appropriate to joke about slavery to a table of Asian and Jamaicans. He did not apologise, and assured that it was a joke"
TASNEM ALJOFFERY: LONDON, ENGLAND
“Most days I walk home from university but sometimes if it’s a long day, I catch the bus. My first experience with xenophobia was on one of these occasions. On the bus, I answered a phone call from a friend and began speaking in Malay, my mother tongue. The man who was sitting opposite me glanced in my direction but I didn’t pay it too much attention; maybe I had been speaking too loudly. When I finished my phone call the man turned to me and said, “If you come to our country, you should speak English.” “I’m sorry?” “Oh so you can speak English! Bloody foreigners!”.
DYANNA SANDHU: LONDON, ENGLAND
"I was walking home from work with a colleague at around 7pm, up Guildford High Street. A white male, visibly drunk, in his late 20s to early 30s maybe, approached us and asked my colleague for directions to a bar, to which my colleague gave a half-assed response just to brush him off. As we walked away from the man, he shouted back at us “Is she your import - uh, girlfriend?”.
ASHLEE LIM: GUILDFORD, ENGLAND
“I was on my way into town on the bus on student night. I was having a conversation with this girl when she proceeded to say “Can you speak Asian?”.
MITCH HERMENS, NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND
"An encounter was in a cab from town in the afternoon. The driver asked me where I was from. His response was, “Malaysia? That’s where all the women wrap themselves up in headscarves, isn’t it? Well it’s so stupid in that hot climate, they must be so sweaty and dirty underneath.”
LAURA ONG: ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND
“I've been called chinese multiple times and when telling them I was actually Malaysian I received the commentary "yes but its all the same really when youre asian”.
LONI LEE: SWANSEA, WALES
"I've dealt with it a good few times in terms of pure ignorant comments like the standard 'Ching Chong Ching', 'go back to China', 'konichiwa' being shouted across the street and once directed specifically to Malaysians -the bouncer looked at my ID and said 'shit airline, shit country'"
ARYSSA CHAI: DUBLIN, IRELAND
"My ex told me he "wouldn't go for a full Asian girl because Asians are different”.
SARAH ONIONS: BATH, ENGLAND
“An English guy came up to us to ask for a filter. He ended up sitting and speaking to us. We were have a conversation but he seemed a bit pretentious. We then told him that a few of us were from Malaysia: Shaz, Shaun and I. He then proceeded to say, “How come your English is so good though?”.
JASON VINCENT: BRISTOL, ENGLAND
"I met this guy in a pub. We spoke all night and got on together really well. When he asked where I was from, I naturally said Malaysia as that is my country of origin. We spent the whole night together with no issue. But the next morning when he asked why I could speak English so well since I was Malaysian, I answered that I was half English. To which he replied. "That's cheating, I thought I was sleeping with a full Asian chick." And proceeded to get dressed and leave."
EVELYN BEE: WADEBRIDGE, ENGLAND
“I was outside a nightclub called Space in Leeds during 1st year, in the queue waiting to get in. The bouncer wasn't saying racial slurs or anything to me, but he was giving me a really hard time for no reason when it was like another casual night. I found out from people that the bouncers there are known for giving asian people a hard time."
CONNOR JACKSON: LEEDS, ENGLAND