{"id":288,"date":"2021-05-24T09:50:58","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T09:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aapistorybooks.org\/?post_type=vanessaunmuted&p=288"},"modified":"2021-10-29T00:30:30","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T00:30:30","slug":"grades-4-5","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aapistorybooks.org\/vanessaunmuted\/grades-4-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Grades 4-5 Vanessa Unmuted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Vanessa Chin was a little grumpy and sleepy.  She had just finished eating lunch with her parents and younger brother, Jordan.  She didn\u2019t want to log back onto Zoom for the final session of her school day.  It was the second day back in her 5th<\/sup> grade class after a boring winter break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had begged her parents to let her visit her best friend Gilda Flores.  \u201cPlease, please, please,\u201d Vanessa pleaded. \u201cWe\u2019ll wear masks the whole time.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But her mother told her, \u201cSorry, sweetie.  \tCOVID<\/a>\r\n is spreading like wildfire.  You can\u2019t visit Gilda yet.  But you can play in the backyard or living room with Jordan.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa didn\u2019t want to play with her brother.  He was two years younger than her.  He\u2019d rather play Roblox on his computer.  She wanted to scroll through Instagram or build something on Minecraft with Gilda.  Unlike some of her other classmates, Vanessa had her own computer and good Internet connection, so she spent a lot of time playing Minecraft with Gilda.  That made the days during the three-week school break bearable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa was disappointed that her G-Ma and Papa \u2013 her mother\u2019s parents – didn\u2019t throw their big New Year’s Day party as they did every year.  She missed filling her plate with her grandmother\u2019s creamy macaroni and cheese, crispy catfish, fluffy cornbread, and smoky black-eyed peas.  She especially liked her G-Ma\u2019s sweet potato pie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa missed her Papa\u2019s bear hugs.  She missed walking around her grandparents’ Leimert Park neighborhood with her Uncle Dwayne.  He would tell her stories about when he and Vanessa\u2019s mother were growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remembering her grandparents\u2019 New Year\u2019s Day celebrations made Vanessa smile.  Her smile widened when she remembered something else.  In a few weeks, her grandparents on her father\u2019s side would celebrate the Lunar New Year.  Before COVID, they celebrated by going with her family to a busy restaurant in Rosemead where they met up with Vanessa\u2019s grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins for a huge dinner.  They sat at big round tables.  Waiters wearing white shirts and black vests set gigantic platters of food in the center of each table. Large steamed fish, thick chewy noodles, salty chicken, and her favorite, dumplings filled with shrimp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grandpa and Grandma Chin always seemed to be laughing during those dinners.  Their eyes crinkled in big grins.  In the middle of dinner, Grandpa Chin tapped a fork on his glass to get his family\u2019s attention.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a very lucky man.  I have a wonderful family.  Thank you for celebrating the new year with me,\u201d he said, looking at his children and grandchildren seated around four tables. He lifted his glass and made a toast.  \u201cMay the new year be healthy and prosperous for us all.  Happy New Year.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa would clink her glass filled with lemon-lime soda against her parents\u2019 and brother\u2019s glasses.  \u201cHappy New Year!\u201d they shouted to each other.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They would have to skip the fancy dinner this year because of COVID.  But last night on a Zoom call, her grandparents told Vanessa and Jordan to look for red envelopes in the mail.  That excited Vanessa.  She knew those envelopes would be filled with money.  What would she do with her New Year’s money this time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa was starting to think about what she would buy with her New Year’s money when she heard her teacher, Mrs. Garabedian, say, \u201cVanessa, please turn on your video.\u201d  Mrs. Garabedian was checking who was in the Zoom classroom after lunch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mrs. Garabedian shared her computer screen and showed the class an electronic book.  It was called Horton Hears a Who! <\/em>On the cover was an illustration of an elephant looking surprised.  Mrs. Garabedian explained that she would read the book aloud this afternoon.  She would finish reading the book the next day, when the class would split into groups to talk about it.  She shared her screen and started reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after Mrs. Garabedian started reading, Vanessa received a text from her classmate Oscar Martin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar wrote: \u201cLook at this Instagram post.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa clicked on the link.  An image popped up on her phone.  It was a photo someone had taken of her smiling on the school playground a year earlier.  But over her picture, someone had drawn buck teeth and slanted lines for eyes.  The caption read: \u201cCOVID Chin.  I hope she gets the Kung Flu.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below the photo she saw that several of her classmates had commented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYuck! Is she infected?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEww. Gross.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe needs to go back to where she came from.  Take the \tChinese virus<\/a>\r\n with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a good one, Oscar,\u201d one of her classmates had written.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa was confused.  She had known Oscar since the first grade when they were in the same class.  They said \u201chi\u201d to each other on the playground, and sometimes he joined in Minecraft games with her.  But this school year, they hadn\u2019t seen each other in person because of COVID.  The Instagram account was called \u201ccovidchin.\u201d  Could Oscar have put it up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa texted back, \u201cWhat is this?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar replied, \u201cYour last name\u2019s Chin. That\u2019s a Chinese name.  It\u2019s because of Chinese like you that people are getting sick and dying with COVID.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa felt her stomach tighten and her face get hot.  She wrote back: \u201cI don\u2019t have COVID and no one in my family does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar responded quickly: \u201cYou\u2019re Chinese. Chinese brought the virus here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa didn\u2019t know what to say or do.  She had heard that COVID started in China.  But she had never been to China.  Her father and grandparents had never been to China.  Vanessa\u2019s father had once explained that her great-great grandparents had come to the United States from China. That was a long, long time ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa couldn\u2019t concentrate on what Mrs. Garabedian was reading.  She was glad when the school day ended.  Just before leaving the Zoom school room, Vanessa\u2019s phone pinged.  Her heart raced.  It might be another text from Oscar.  She was relieved when she saw a message from her best friend Gilda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilda wrote: \u201cWant to play Minecraft or Roblox in a few minutes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa usually played video games with Gilda after school, but she didn\u2019t feel like playing this afternoon.  She wrote back to Gilda, \u201cNo, I have to help my mom do something.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa lay down on her bed, stared at the ceiling, and twirled her wavy black hair.  She wondered, \u201cDid Oscar create the Instagram account against me?  Why would he do that?  Why would my classmates blame me for COVID?  Aren\u2019t they my friends?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vanessa got sadder and angrier the more she thought about the Instagram post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa wasn\u2019t hungry at dinner.  She pushed the spaghetti around her plate more than she ate it.  Vanessa helped her parents clear the table while Jordan finished his dessert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t eat much, honey.  Are you OK?\u201d Vanessa\u2019s mother asked her as she loaded the dishwasher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa told her parents about the Instagram post.  Her mother and father looked at her sadly.  Vanessa\u2019s dad rubbed the back of her head and steered her to the living room.  \u201cLet\u2019s talk,\u201d he said.  \u201cYou come, too,\u201d her father said to Jordan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa sat between her parents on the couch.  \u201cWe\u2019re glad that you told us about the post and what Oscar wrote and how it made you feel.  It was very, very wrong for someone to put up that post and for Oscar to blame you,\u201d her father said.  \u201cIt\u2019s not Chinese people\u2019s fault that the virus started there.  It\u2019s no one\u2019s fault.  But some people want to place blame, even if it\u2019s not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vanessa\u2019s father continued.  \u201cWhen I was a little kid, I overheard my parents talk with an uncle and aunt about a man named Vincent Chin.  My ears perked up because I heard our last name, Chin.  I thought he might be a relative.  My uncle said that Vincent Chin had been beaten to death.  I remember feeling scared and confused because I didn\u2019t understand why Vincent Chin died.  It wasn\u2019t until I was in college that I learned that Vincent Chin was killed in Detroit by two auto workers who thought he was Japanese.  They blamed Japan for losing their jobs because Japanese car companies were successful.  That\u2019s why they attacked Vincent Chin.  I realized then that even though my family had been in America for five generations, people still saw Asian Americans like me as foreign.  There have been other times when people have \tblamed Asian Americans<\/a>\r\n for things they didn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa thought about \tVincent Chin<\/a>\r\n and how the auto workers blamed him for something he had nothing to do with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubbing Vanessa\u2019s back, her mother said, \u201cI know it\u2019s hard, honey, when people judge you because of your skin color.  When I was in middle school, police here in L.A. severely beat up a Black man named \tRodney King.<\/a>\r\n Even though the beating was videotaped, the police officers weren\u2019t punished.  At that time, your Uncle Dwayne was about your age.  My parents sat us down and told us we had to be extra careful whenever we saw police officers because they would assume we were up to no good.  Dwayne and I knew \tthat wasn't fair,<\/a>\r\n but we took their advice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa remembered walking to the store with her gentle and kind Uncle Dwayne and noticing women approaching them clutch their purses to their sides and look suspiciously at him.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs what happened to \tGeorge Floyd<\/a>\r\n like what happened to Rodney King?\u201d Vanessa asked.  Her parents nodded.  \u201cBut after George Floyd died, many people of all races and ages protested his killing.  That\u2019s different from the reaction to what happened to Rodney King,\u201d Vanessa\u2019s mother explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince you\u2019re Black and Asian, you\u2019ll meet people like Oscar who can\u2019t see beyond your skin color,\u201d Vanessa\u2019s father added.  He looked at both Vanessa and her brother.  Then he looked at Vanessa and asked, \u201cWould you like us to talk with Mrs. Garabedian about the Instagram post and what\u2019s happening with Oscar?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa thought about it and shook her head.  \u201cNot yet,\u201d she said.  I\u2019ll let you know if I do.\u201d  Vanessa\u2019s mom and dad hugged her.  \u201cWe\u2019re here if you want to talk,\u201d said Vanessa\u2019s dad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa felt nervous but also excited about what her parents told her.  She wanted to talk with Gilda.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After telling Gilda about the Instagram post and what Oscar wrote, Gilda said, \u201cWait a minute.  I\u2019m going to look for that post.\u201c  Vanessa waited.  After a while Gilda said, \u201cI wrote a comment that the post was messed up, that you\u2019re my best friend, and that you don\u2019t have COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThanks,\u201d Vanessa said, relieved that someone was defending her.  \u201cDo you think Oscar put up that post?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe,\u201d answered Gilda.  \u201cWhen I transferred to our school two years ago, he called me ‘Dora the Explorer.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy would he do that?\u201d Vanessa asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho knows?\u201d Gilda said.  \u201cI guess it\u2019s because Dora the Explorer is Latina like me, even though I look nothing like Dora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo what did you do?\u201d Vanessa asked<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told Oscar that my name is Gilda, not Dora, and to call me by my name.  He never called me Dora again,\u201d Gilda explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was brave,\u201d said Vanessa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was just mad.  My parents always tell my brothers and me to \tstand up for ourselves.<\/a>\r\n  My mother told me that when she was in high school, she protested against \ta law<\/a>\r\n that would have made her teachers report that she was undocumented. And my dad told me that when he was in college, he marched with thousands of other people in downtown L.A. for immigrants, even though his family had lived in California for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next afternoon, Mrs. Garabedian finished reading Horton Hears a Who!<\/em>  She then said, \u201cOK.  Now I\u2019m going to put you all in breakout rooms.  I want each of you to talk about what Horton means when he says that \u2018A person is a person no matter how small’.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa was happy to see Gilda\u2019s face pop up on her screen.  Her classmate Sam joined the group.  Then her heart sank when she saw Oscar\u2019s face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cOh no.  Why do I have to be in the same group as Vanessa?  I don\u2019t want to get COVID,\u201d Oscar groaned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy do you think you\u2019ll get COVID from her?\u201d Gilda asked<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause she\u2019s Chinese.  COVID is from China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s messed up, Oscar,\u201d Gilda said.  Vanessa\u2019s not from China.  She\u2019s American like all of us.  She doesn\u2019t have COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy grandmother got COVID and had to go to the hospital,\u201d Oscar shared.  My dad said she got it because Chinese people shop at the store where my grandma worked.  He said COVID is from China and that Chinese need to go back to where they came from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVanessa is from L.A., like you and me Oscar.  How is your grandma?  Is she out of the hospital?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe died,\u201d Oscar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is so sad, Oscar,\u201d said Gilda.  \u201cBut it\u2019s not Vanessa\u2019s fault.  It\u2019s not her family\u2019s fault.  It\u2019s not Chinese people\u2019s fault.  It\u2019s not anyone\u2019s fault.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar turned off his video and didn\u2019t say anything for the rest of the small group session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After school, Vanessa texted Gilda: \u201c\tThanks for sticking up for me.<\/a>\r\n\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey, we\u2019re best friends, right?  That\u2019s what best friends do,\u201d Gilda texted back with a happy face emoji. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While eating breakfast the next morning, Vanessa\u2019s dad said, \u201cGuess what?  Tomorrow, we\u2019re all going to Koreatown for a \tmarch against anti-Asian hate.<\/a>\r\n\u201d  Vanessa was excited.  She had never been to a demonstration before.  She had only seen pictures and videos of protests on television and online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan I invite Gilda?\u201d Vanessa excitedly asked her parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d her mother responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After breakfast, Vanessa texted Gilda: \u201cTomorrow me and my family are going to Koreatown for a protest against anti-Asian hate. Want to come?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilda immediately texted back: \u201cYes!  Can I ask my family to go, too?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa texted back: \u201cYes!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, Vanessa and her family met Gilda and her family on a street corner in Koreatown.  Vanessa and Gilda hadn\u2019t seen each other in person for months.  They hugged each other tightly.  Vanessa\u2019s father fist-bumped Gilda\u2019s father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The night before, Vanessa and her family made signs to carry at the march. Vanessa\u2019s said \u201cWe Belong Here. #StopAsianHate.\u201d  Gilda and her family brought signs, too.  Gilda\u2019s read \u201cLove, Unity, Solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWait a minute, girls,\u201d Vanessa\u2019s mother said.  She took her phone from her backpack and asked Vanessa and Gilda to pose with their signs.  Vanessa asked her mom to text her the photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa and Gilda walked with hundreds of other protestors carrying signs and chanting through their masks, \u201cEnough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before dinner that night, Vanessa heard her phone ping.  It was a text from Gilda: \u201cLook at your Instagram account.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa tapped the icon and saw the picture she had posted from the rally.  Underneath she saw several of her classmates had liked it, including Oscar.  He commented, \u201cCool you did this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While she was on Instagram, she checked for the account she thought Oscar had created, the one that blamed her for COVID.  It was gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The following school day, Mrs. Garabedian told Vanessa\u2019s class to continue talking about Horton Hears a Who!  <\/em>She put students into the same Zoom breakout rooms that they had been in a few days earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa saw the faces of Gilda, Sam, and Oscar pop up on her computer screen.  \u201cThanks for liking my Instagram post, Oscar,\u201d Vanessa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSure,\u201d Oscar replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat post are you talking about?\u201d Sam asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn Saturday morning, Gilda and I marched in a demonstration against anti-Asian hate,\u201d Vanessa explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was AWESOME!\u201d Gilda added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa felt butterflies in her stomach because she was a little nervous about what she was about to ask Oscar.  But she went ahead and asked.  \u201cOscar, last week you blamed me for COVID. But you liked my Instagram post.  Why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar thought for a moment, and then he said, \u201cOn Saturday, I met my grandpa at the cemetery where my grandma is buried.  My parents went to get water for the flowers we brought. I told my grandpa that my dad said my grandma got COVID from Chinese people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa had been to a cemetery only once.  It was like a park but without a playground.  Metal and polished stone markers were in the grass with the names of people who were buried underneath.  She pictured Oscar standing with his grandfather in front of a marker for Oscar\u2019s grandmother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar continued, \u201cMy grandpa said that my grandma would be sad and disappointed about what my dad said because she loved all kinds of people. When more Chinese people started shopping at the grocery store she worked at in Montebello, she learned how to say \u2018hello,\u2019 \u2018goodbye,\u2019 and \u2018thank you\u2019 in Chinese.  She could say those words in four different languages.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa felt sad for Oscar.  She thought about how much she loved all of her grandparents and how upset she would be if any of them died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen my grandpa told me the same thing that you did, Gilda,\u201d Oscar explained. \u201cHe said that it was no one\u2019s fault that my grandma died.  He said that if we\u2019re going to get through COVID, we have to \thelp each other,<\/a>\r\n not be mad at each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so sad about your grandma dying,\u201d Vansessa told Oscar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry for blaming you,\u201d Oscar said to Vanessa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanessa lifted both of her hands with the \u201cthumbs up\u201d signal.  She saw the \u201cthumbs up\u201d emoji pop up on Gilda\u2019s Zoom image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right then, Vanessa knew what she would do with the money in the red envelope that had been sitting on her dresser.  She would buy Gilda some Minecoins to thank her for sticking up for her.  And she would invite Oscar to join her and Gilda in their Minecraft server.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They could then all build something together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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