It was the middle of March in 2020, and Marie, Travis, Hannah, and Anna were anxiously awaiting an announcement that would tell them they had a two week vacation from school any minute now. Mrs. Parker was excited to have a break herself. 

Of course, no one knew just how much of an impact this break would have. COVID-19 had been talked about for weeks now, but no one took it seriously. 

Over the next few weeks, places started shutting down, curfews were placed, and masks had to be worn to try and stop the spread of COVID-19.

Over the next few weeks, government officials held many press conferences to talk about the virus and update the public. People were angry about the new rules, and officials called the virus the "China Virus", which made people mad at Asians. 

A lady at the store told me to go back to China today, even though I was born here, and it really hurt.

The students had to start doing online classes from home. It was hard to keep up, and many things happening in the country were bothering some of the students. The pandemic, police brutality, and politics were getting out of hand and causing stress. 

Breaking News

People stopped going to Asian restaurants and harassing Asian people in public. Some people even verbally or physically attacked innocent people just for looking "Chinese" because they mistakenly thought that it was China's fault for spreading COVID-19.

Be careful, we don't want to get the Kung Flu from Anna!

Anna was starting to fall behind at school. At work, her coworkers and customers made jokes about her appearance and made racist comments about her. She was anxious and depressed and Mrs. Parker noticed. 

Anna told Mrs. Parker what was going on and how it was making her feel. Mrs. Parker had seen things in the news that matched what Anna was saying as well. Mrs. Parker had also faced racism lately, from those who did not understand the Black Lives Matter Movement and belittled her feelings.