Community Cash

It’s Covid Summer 2020.

so this post isn’t just on Xenophobia but it’s related so stick with me.

I guess we are all learning that big companies ain’t shit.

For every purchase from Amazon going out today,there’s a worker in a factory somewhere hoping they don’t get sick after a 10 hour shift.

Not to mention the plastic we just dropped into the ocean for not taking a walk down the block and buying that dog leash from the pet store that needed it most,but instead for saving $7 to have it shipped conveniently to our door.

That Amazon Prime/free shipping is manipulative as fuck.

It’s July.

Globally,the world is in disarray. Fear is proliferating in the media. Cases are rising in even the least dense cities.

President Trump continues his bafoonery with racial slurs and propaganda of GOYA on Instagram even after an entire community that once honored it’s products is in rankor after the CEO declares his undying affinity for the administration.

The children at the U.S. border are still in cages despite sexual assault allegations towards minors.

Pizza Gate is triggering all of our inner unresolved traumas and exposing every celebrity on Jeffrey Epstein’s flight log to “Orgy Island.”

Breonna Taylor’s murder is still a rage and the cops who are responsible are not behind bars.

Black Lives still freakin matter and everyone is trying to make sure to post at least once a day on their social media to keep the movement alive,even with the constant distractions.

$600 less of unemployment money will be present in people’s bank accounts after July 31st and many will have to figure out if they brace the fear to go back to work or budget enough to pay rent & pull back on online spending.

For dinner, it’s Anxiety with a side of PTSD.

Close everything. Keep the kids out of school.

But please keep the weed dispensaries open.

Please.

And on a local level, the parking attendants,who at this moment will be called “assholes” have started giving parking citations of $45 plus to drivers despite a huge administrative delay of city services meriting permits.

It’s. A lot.

With all of this overwhelming amount of happenings,lately,it seems that the simple things of walking and remembering to breathe sometimes are the highlight of the day.

Finding joy in fresh plums off residential trees or finally slowing down enough to know the name of your neighbor who croons to Amy Winehouse every other night.

Not that the world affairs are minuscule,but with a plethora of stressors,one can’t help but to break down life into more manageable doings. Literal step by 10,000 steps in your global hood since gyms are closed anyway.

Yesterday I took out cash from my ATM. I never do that. I got my body off the couch,walked and took cash out from the bank,so I could pay my Mr. Yu for a mop and some lucky plants,since he only takes cash.

I call that empathy in action.

Being on unemployment,for the first time in my life,has perhaps been the silver lining to most of this earthly mess. Since I can’t make it to Pluto and my uninsured 2016 Jeep Renegade has been happily resting It’s engine and covered in dust in the “free for all” public parking lot at our back complex,I’ve taken the time to really get to know my community.

I’ve noticed the wooden shutters with spray painted BLM slowly come down to reveal glass windows and prudent store owners opening their doors to the public again. This time,with a new requirement besides,clothing. Masks.

I recall watching the news a few years back and even witnessing in person along Chinatown in NYC,the amount of Asian store owners wearing masks way before Covid19 appeared. I often wondered why,or if they were extremely generally cautious of creating a safe haven for their immunity. After some research,I learned that China was dense with pollution. Perhaps one of the most polluted of countries and this was a normal way of life for many migrants and immigrants who reside here.

We are now adapting to what is now a new culture,that we seemingly created in unison with this rampant pandemic.

Pollution is a problem. Air quality is a problem.

It’s all been a problem before,and it’s now amplified by our awareness of current events.

Most,if not all, of us are wearing a mask today. Regardless of your race,color,gender or creed.

Yet,there will always be room

for nihilism and bigotry in this world.

According to HumanRightsWatch.org

Xenophobia and Racism towards Asians has created it’s own Pandemic worldwide.

See Below for reasons on why more than ever,our Asian community deserves our love and business:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/12/covid-19-fueling-anti-asian-racism-and-xenophobia-worldwide#

As disturbing as it is,I am not surprised to see this,especially under the Trump fascist regime.

While many of us will try to be Instagram and post how wrong this is,but few will try to be part of a solution in solidarity.

I want to urge the importance of turning this into an opportunity to support your locally owned Asian business.

Take a walk,and extend your commerce to perhaps the one’s not only in most need during this delay in economy,but as a healthy dose of self esteem building for our Asian brothers and sisters.

The truth is,Activism can be exhausting and requires creativity. Sometimes you’ll have enough energy to hold up signs at a protest. Other times it will have to be self care,with a simple informational post creating awareness online.

But most of all, I want my Brown face to smile with my eyes,at an Asian owned market cashier, to let them know that we support them just as much as we did when we were listening to Lao Tzu teachings during our self care walks 4 months ago.

Our activism,shouldn’t be selective. But how we move in our everyday lives.

I want to give my mochi money to Xiang instead of Walmart.

My boba tea money to Quickly, instead of buying it in bulk on Amazon for a stupid low price.

I want to get my chocolate Pocky sticks from Broadway & 13th instead of Target across the street.

please don’t be the asshole who blames COVID 19 on Asians while passing by your laughing Buddha.

It doesn’t mesh.

As for me, I stopped no world wars today.

i could not stop the people of Syria from famine.

i could not give Palestine it’s rightful place.

All I can do,is love my community more.

I would rather walk to the farmers market every Sunday under the freeway to get my BokChoy & green onions from the Vietnamese lady standing next to the ice filled styrofoam cooler holding the fresh eye bulging fish.

Perhaps because I know where this money is going directly & I want her to be able to buy a new pair of New Balance or at least,feel like her immigrant dreams weren’t a farce.

I want to see the Law of Attraction manifest in real

time,by my actions,as I have been priveleged to experience.

Either way,$3 for a bunch of Kale adds up if we all agree it’s far more fresher to get it local and far more morally superior to place our government dollars on giving it back to the people in our communities.

I’ve never been to China or Vietnam but I love where I live because it thrives with Asian families. I discover almost daily, a new/old establishment that makes me appreciate the humility of this city. Gentrification hasn’t touched my hood yet,and it’s nice to see the culture of it’s people alive.

As I walked through the market today,it felt good to see the walls thriving and highly priced. Imports of glass bowls and fine china,priced accordingly. No more $2 utensils. It’s not 1994 anymore. For every white person who walked in looking for a deal from 2006,guess again.

The people know their worth.

$11 Sake bottle imports from

Japan. I smiled in amusement when the cashier didn’t speak English and I had to adjust. I was the foreigner. I was the immigrant today.

With respect,I perused the aisles of homemade Boba kits and Filipino Ube snacks and realized how much of a privilege it was to have culture and variety in this country,but most of all, 4 blocks from my house.

That I could walk without passport to a world of different languages and spices and truly be swept off into another country without leaving the comfort of my self made curfew.

The alacrity of seeing Sour Sop and black dried fungus in a city I thought didn’t hold a candle to my hometown. Surprised and grateful for the diversity I always crave.

Not for amusement but because this is what makes America,actually great.

Not that other stuff,that expels the opposite.

So before you think how you can save the world.

Take a walk outside,a few blocks. Look around. Notice. Show love. Take out your wallet. Spend every dollar with love,and respectfully,to the one’s who not only deserve it most in our communities but provide American cities with the diversity we all love to see and most of all,enjoy.

Because if it weren’t for my Asian folx - the world would be a super duper boring & tasteless establishment.