If You’re Asian, is it Safe to Wear a Mask?
How my wife was treated while shopping and what it might mean for you
We only needed a few items from the local drug store. We expected our usual stop into this place we regularly frequent to be uneventful. We quickly learned nothing is as simple as it seems during this shelter-in-place due to COVID-19 coronavirus.
As an African-American male, I’ll admit, I’m concerned about my safety every time I go out no matter what’s going on in the world. For my Japanese wife, this virus has created a new concern around non-Asians, fearing any Asian person they see could have COVID-19.
To help make others feel safe, and to protect herself, she wore a mask (a basic cloth style not the N95 variety) during our visit to the store. We saw other people wearing them as well. Including the white woman in the checkout line in front of us.
The cashier talked with her, this woman even pulled her mask down so that she could be heard clearly — no problems there.
When we walked up next for her to scan our items, my wife, in her mask, walked off to look at other objects near the register. The cashier, an older white woman, looked at her and shouted to me…
“Is she sick?!”
