Asian-American says he was racially harassed by White NY couple for scolding his children
FIRE ISLAND, NEW YORK: A divorced father-of-two has shared his unpleasant experience while being on holiday with his children. Michael Kim said he was walking to his Fire Island, NY vacation rental home when he stopped on the side of the road to scold his kids — aged 9 and 5 — for misbehaving.
The incident took place on August 18. While Kim was with his kids, an unidentified White couple — a woman and a man — on bicycles stopped near them and asked him to talk to them a number of times on “an unknown subject”. However, Kim said he did not pay any heed, but what followed was beyond explanation. The woman then went on to “flag down a white vehicle with ‘Public Safety’ marked on the side, then lied to the officer inside.” She allegedly told the officer that Kim was abusing his children, and requested them to call 911. “The public safety officer drove away without taking any action - because there was no reason to,” Kim told MEAWW.
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Kim, who was born in New York City and owns a business there, said the woman did not stop there as she “continued to try to stop other people passing by to join her harassment of me and my children,” but to no avail. The Korean-American man also shared that the woman’s partner said to him, “This isn’t China” and “then began to approach me in an intimidating fashion.”
Describing the awful experience, the dad stated, “Due to the racist comment, as well as the man’s large physical size and body language, I felt threatened, pulled out my phone, and began recording the both of them. At that point the man and woman’s aggressive demeanor immediately changed, and stopped approaching me, but continued to harass me and my children.”
He continued, “In the video I recorded, I asked the couple calmly but firmly to ‘Please leave me alone you are harassing me’ no less than thirteen (13) times. My oldest son also asked them to ‘stop’. The man continued his harassment by repeatedly questioning me about my employment, then the woman told yet another older couple passing by that she ‘thought (they) were trying to help.’”
Kim said that the pair did not stop there, the woman asked him questions, like “Why are you here?” and told him to “go to another town”. “I have zero doubt that had me and my kids looked like them they would have continued on their way without incident,” the upset father added.
Kim also said that it was the first time his kids had to face such a thing, but noted that “being an Asian American male, I have to face all the typical stereotypes of being comical, asexual/weak, and generally a punching bag for those looking to boost their weak self-esteem. I have been called a ch**k/g**ok/slope/Bruce lee unprovoked in previous jobs, school, and even walking down the street minding my own business.”