Member-only story
I Was Beaten Unconscious in an Anti-Asian Hate Crime
Lessons about racism from being violently attacked
The world was shocked when eight people, including six Asian-American women, were shot dead in an act of wanton brutality.
Sadly, anti-Asian violence is nothing new. Anti-Asian violence didn’t start with Vicha Ratanapakdee, who died after two days in a coma after a young man barreled into the 84-year old, full force, completely unprovoked.
I haven’t spoken much about my own experience with anti-Asian violence. However, the decades-old incident is still fresh in my mind. After all, I’ve only ever been beaten unconscious once in my life.
What Happened on the Night of my Attack
In the winter of 1999, I had just started my final year reading computer science at Cambridge. I was still completing my programming assignments in the computer labs as I had not yet connected my laptop to the internet.
Readers who are unfamiliar with Cambridge’s layout should be aware that university facilities are spread across the city, sometimes a fair distance away from the student accommodations in their colleges.
For convenience, here’s a map depicting the areas involved in my story.
