In the years I lived in New York City, I encountered incidents where I experienced undesirable behavior because of my race (no different than the other places in the US I’ve lived in and other periods of my life). Hell, I’m used to it – I was born and raised in a country where I was a second-class citizen by law and reality.

In any case, some of the behaviors experienced were the products of intentional racism (their fault) and some of it was due to perceived and actual weakness of Asians (usually in Chinatown region, and some of it our fault as a people group).  Individuals involved were of all ethnicities and ages.

On several occasions my daughter was with me.  Some people express sadness when they find this out, but I am ok with this, as she has developed a sense of awareness and even hardening by experiencing this at a young age.

In general, I confronted this behavior. Probably not a surprise there and few regrets, if any. You must make the stand and call it out. Stand and speak up even though you’re scared or crying. What I was trained to do. As my DA mentor said – don’t let them know your ass is on fire. Better to die on your feet and all that as well, but hopefully not your mini-me.

Once, these three guys in a pickup truck told me to go back to my country. I replied – go fuck yourselves. I had my daughter with me at that time- she was around 6. They got out of the truck.

And I just stared them down and said – What are you gonna do?! They got back in the truck and drove off.

Probably a bit stupid in hindsight but hey what are you gonna do?

Earlier this year, I was waiting for a Lyft at DC’s Union Station when someone tried to grab my phone which I had placed in my hoodie’s front pouch. I instinctively held on to it with a what the fuck are you doing? The perp goes – Sorry! I then chased after him for a short distance just to scare him a bit. As I’ve said previously, do not mess with a Malaysian, especially one with my background and history. I’ll teach you what it feels like to carry pain.

After this incident, I told a few friends, including former DA and police colleagues. Unlike the others who thought I was a tad insane, these said I made a good choice and this would prevent future behavior, make him think twice before pulling this kind of stunt again. My son’s godfather who was in the military said I was never more dangerous than this period where I had the presence of mind and guts to chase down a street criminal.

I then went to my dear friend’s place and we had IHOP the next day for breakfast. I did not ask Jesus for forgiveness for either of these incidents. I don’t think he minded all that much.

Maybe even gave his Dad and the Holy Ghost a high five.