Why were the Chinese couple racially offended? Aren’t they strong?
Bruce arrived at the basketball pitch, suddenly, about 20 teenagers surrounded him. “How’s your friend?” They referred to Bruce’s girlfriend. Although they had concealed their faces, he could recognise they were that group of teenagers threatening to return in a dispute a month ago.
Bruce was beaten and had his injuries checked, one of his teeth was loose, and his lips were broken, with blood on his eyeballs and injuries around his eyes and body.
Last month, a teenager shouted “Yo, bing chilling (ice-cream in Chinese)” at Bruce and his girlfriend Jessie on the street. Bruce came to him and asked what were his words. “Fucking Chinese”, the teenager shouted again, and his friend pushed Bruce.
Passers-by stopped them. Bruce said they said some racist shit. The teenagers said they would grab more people. Since then, Bruce has become their target.
Those teenagers assaulted Bruce and then fled. Promptly, he reported the incident to the authorities. However, the police response seemed inadequate, with no identification from the surveillance footage. They requested a written statement for further investigation, indicating their challenges in tracking down the suspects.
Bruce felt the authorities weren’t prioritizing the case enough. Moreover, the incident occurred in a relatively secluded area, lacking public surveillance coverage. Private ownership of surveillance in places like Tesco and nearby houses complicated the investigation process.
Bruce was surprised that he became a target of an attack. He likes working out and being fit. He said someone tried to stop the attackers, but they still hurt him. It made him feel surprised and confused.
At that time, several people encountered almost the same situation as theirs. Some of them reported it to the police, but after reporting, there was no follow-up. After being insulted by the teenager, Bruce and Jessie confronted the teenager’s parents. “Actually, the parents show severe racial discrimination,” Jessie said.
Bruce went to the hospital, the police, and Cardiff University, but he didn’t feel the authorities cared much.
The police and Cardiff University provided Bruce and Jessie with things like support lines or approaches for funds. However, the couple’s primary concern is safety. The police only told them to wait for further updates on the incident. After reporting to the school, within five days, the help ends.
The incidents changed Bruce’s view of Cardiff, worrying about Jessie’s safety. He thinks the police can’t do much as they were targeted by teenagers.
Bruce said some teenagers in Cardiff have harassed those minority groups like Chinese, Indian, or other people, even physically bullied them.
He feels that the outside response to this situation is quite negative. However, he’s grateful for the entire Chinese community, especially in the support shown when his girlfriend posted about it. There was a lot of sharing, support, proposed solutions, and even assistance.
Bruce said, “Chinese people stick together in this, but help from outside is very little, almost none.”
The person who accompanied Bruce and Jessie for the injury examination was someone who already worked in Cardiff. He used to be a postgraduate student at Cardiff University. He recounted that one night in 2022, he was assaulted by an adult male, resulting in a knocked-out tooth. The suspect was apprehended 10 days later.
If evidence needs to be accessed, it must go through the police. This includes the records from hospital visits for injury assessments. Even though it has been classified as a hate crime, the level of attention given doesn’t seem very high.
“If the police were more concerned, they’d send officers to check private cameras. Only the police have permission to view those cameras owned by private individuals or businesses,” said Bruce.
Bruce has always held onto the desire to bring them to justice. They waited for the police to reply. The first response said the police knew where some cameras might be, but they were private and might take time. Later, they met a patrolling officer nearby. The officer said they would went on that afternoon. Potentially due to a scheduling issue, they waited several days before hearing back, only to be told that no surveillance had been found.
They couldn’t get any photos or surveillance footage from that time. No news was published.
Bruce thinks if those teenagers could challenge him, they might do the same to most Chinese people. They have this attitude of challenging those they see as weaker. Another thing is their limited knowledge about China and its culture. He mentions his girlfriend Jessie often hears offensive comments about Chinese food and culture. Sometimes people on the streets even whistle at girls.
Jessie has been whistled at two or three times too. She felt really disgusting. “Of course I was offended. When I first arrived, back then, I used to talk back,” said Jessie. She used to go out in the evenings for pictures or just to have fun. One day, while coming back, two teenagers on bikes bothered her by circling around and trying to talk. She spoke harshly to them, and they left.
Afterwards, Jessie realized that speaking or staying silent didn’t make a difference. Once she felt gross, she just left.
Jessie said she was just angry and didn’t think much about it. She doesn’t consider things from the perspective of a vulnerable group. She just thinks they shouldn’t say those things, so she confronted them.
Bruce said, “I think their stereotype of Chinese people is that they are weak and passive. Whenever we face a problem, they believe we will avoid it. So, they treat me with a confrontational attitude.”