News12 reporter Karen Hua overcame her hesitation to speak up after she says she experienced a racist incident while shooting a standup yesterday.
“While I was shooting a standup in broad daylight, a man shouted at me to go back to my country,” Hua shared on Twitter. “This is nowhere near new, but this is not normal. Words matter, noise matters, and saying something matters.”
In her tweet, the Westchester, N.Y., reporter called herself a “literal Karen” who holds people accountable for a living, but one who is uncomfortable saying anything when it comes to racism, especially attacks against her own race.
While Hua said she has never shouted back, “I’m from Boston,” she underlined her point that what we say is important.
“Real humans are continuously getting hurt or killed, largely due to rhetoric that’s blamed the virus on an entire race–so noise does matter,” said Hua. “Words matter. Micro aggressions matter. Correcting people for calling it the ‘China Flu’ matters. Calling out friends and coworkers for racist language matters.”
Today, while I was shooting a standup in broad daylight, a man shouted at me to go back to my country.
This is nowhere near new, but this is not normal.
Words matter, noise matters, and saying something matters. pic.twitter.com/wmwZbH8SxP— Karen Hua (@k_hua) February 24, 2021
Hua came to New York from Bakersfield, Calif., NBC affiliate KGET in December.
“If there’s any takeaway, take a moment to share an Asian-American story today on social media,” Hua later Tweeted. “Support Asian businesses in your community. Eat at a local Asian restaurant for dinner. If words matter, actions mean even more.”