Thip Athakhanh is a chef who owns the Lao restaurant Snackboxe Bistro.
This resteraunt is located in Doraville, Georgia.
Thip faced racial discrimination, such as name calling. Though this may seem not important or less inferior
from George Floyd, it's definitely not okay. Thip used to shrug off such things and remain silent. She didn't want to
attract unecessary attention towards herself that could affect her business or her. That used to be her way of thinking, until
she heard of shootings in Atlanta. In the shooting, 8 people were killed and 6 of the people were Asian women. This news came off
as astonishing and agonizing to her. She was very upset and started thinking of how those people could've been her mother, sister,
or friend. After that incident, she developed many new protocols for the safety of herself and her employees. She started bringing
a gun with her into the resteraunt for personal defense, and brought mace (pepper spray) for her female employees. She also provided
refreshments for people who marched at Saturday's solidarity rally and is planning to start a fundraiser with other Asian women-owned
businesses with all of the proceeds going to victims' families.
She's not the only one.
Asian hate was always there; we are now just publicizing it. People mock Asians for their facial features, their accent, and a lot more.
It's a very sensitive topic, but one we need to talk about.
Covid-19 originating in China has also fueled the fire. Covid-19 has been called the "china virus" by certain people. Racism against
particularly east Asian people has increased greatly. Why does what country you're from matter? Why are certain people treated differently
because they don't look like everyone else?