Before the Shelter-in-place was enforced in late March, I would rush home after school, rush to my local coffee shop, and study until dusk. I would also walk my dog, and attend classes or meetings.

This all changed to online meetings very quickly, but the only thing that shouldn’t have differed is my daily walks. All I changed was wearing a mask for my own safety. Unfortunately, my wearing a mask was enough for random strangers to catcall and yell at me as I walked by. 

My family has been yelled at for wearing masks in public despite the strong recommendation of our country simply because we’re the odd man out. Because it is the anomaly to wear masks, we’ve been the target of several snickers and rude remarks. 

“For some people, masks have become the symbol of things that are not normal. Anytime there is a setback people need a scapegoat to blame it on. Often it is a very visual symbol, and in this case, it’s masks. People assume that is masks go away, the problem goes away, whereas in reality, if we all wore masks when we went outside, we would get to normalcy quicker,” said Mr. Kumar. 

Be it a political thing or not, people have made it very clear that wearing a mask is to be anti-local businesses, or anti-American because I am “letting the government tell me what to do with my body.”

Of course, being an Indian-American girl, I have been used to racist and sexist remarks before quarantine, but the reason why I was so confused was why people are mad at mask-wearers, as that it has absolutely nothing to do with anyone else!

In fact, I am wearing a mask for other people’s protection – face masks work more to protect others around me than myself from others, so why would someone get mad at for it?

Even before the pandemic, Asian-Americans have received racist slurs for wearing masks whilst going on walks and I can’t help but think my wearing a mask has something to do with that.

The same community is receiving hate for “bringing the virus to America” like it was the fact that they were Asian that brought the virus and not international travel.

As a matter of fact, South Korea, a country known to have quickly flattened its case curve, can attribute their drop to their citizens responding positively to their government’s request to wear masks.

Be it that mask-wearing was a stereotype already instilled upon them by other nations or the fact that they listened to their government and didn’t show off their free speech as a reason to not social distance, South Koreans quickly flattened their curve and is living an almost-normal version of a life America will struggle to reach anytime soon.

The latest and most isolated incident happened to me less than a week ago.  I was sitting (more than ten feet away) from my friend in an impromptu hang out when someone yelled through the speaker through their car, “THIS IS A MASK FREE ZONE!”.

At first, I was a bit confused. How could a public street be a mask free zone, anyways? I didn’t even consider it as a horrible thing until I had biked back home.

It seemed the same man who yelled this at me had gathered with several others in a public park, honking their car horns like there was no tomorrow, and very clearly showing to others that they don’t care about the shelter-in-place. 

I, still wearing a mask, had switched to the other side of the road, terrified they would yell at me if they had seen me. Their honking seemed to never stop, and it was clear others were just as annoyed as I. After I rushed home, I called the non-emergency police and told them I was scared for my safety.

They had simply told me it was their right to protest and there was nothing I could do about it. Yes, the right to protest still exists and I’m not against it at all. I was just shocked that someone could just yell at me without any consequences and were allowed to do the same for many others.

My dad had posted on Nextdoor, an app for local communities to chat, about what had happened and his inbox was quickly flooded with messages supporting our decision and disgusted that this happened. I would like to thank everyone who stood by our side and is wearing a mask despite the comments. 

On the news, it seems like all over the country several protests have erupted, tying politics into safety. My wish is for the coronavirus to be treated as a pandemic that must be contained as soon as possible, and not a political game for one party to blame the other on who cares about local businesses.

Just wear a mask, please. The more who listen to our county’s recommendations, the less hate we receive for it, and the more safe everybody is. I mean, at the end of the day, that is the goal, isn’t it? Despite our political opinions and beliefs, our goal should be to do everything we can to keep our community safe.

I still wear a mask when I go outside and still get looks for it, but I know that by wearing a mask, I am doing my part to keep my friends, family, and community safe.