Army Veteran Reveals Scars to Fight Anti-Asian Hate

‘I’ll show you what patriotism looks like.’

Lee Wong, an elected member of the West Chester (Ohio) Board of Trustees, revealed his scars at a dramatic town hall meeting on Tuesday night in an effort to fight anti-Asian discrimination (watch above).

https://twitter.com/JimLaPorta/status/1375557530399739906

“People question my patriotism, that I don’t look American enough, They can’t get over this face. I want to show you something,” the Army veteran with 20 years of military service said as he removed his shirt. “Here is my proof. This is sustained from my service in the U.S. Army, is this patriot enough?

The 69 year-old Wong, a Republican, immigrated to the United States when he was eighteen. On Tuesday, he said he’d been a frequent target of anti-Asian harassment. He said his “first experience” in the country was getting beat up in Chicago for being Asian. “That put me [in] the hospital,” he explained. He added that he was recently harassed in a grocery store and that a friend’s Chinese restaurant has been repeatedly vandalized.

“For too long, we have, I have, put up with a lot of s*** in silence, excuse the language, too afraid to speak out, fearing more abuse and discrimination.”

Wong told the Cincinnati Enquirer that his decision to show the scars across his chest was spontaneous. “In that moment, I don’t know what came over me. I just knew I had to say something,” Wong said.

Wong also told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he “deliberately went to the army to learn about Americanism and democracy.”

There’s been a horrifying spike in crimes against Asian-Americans since the start of the pandemic.

As Wong left the dais on Tuesday night he remarked, “I’m not afraid to walk around anymore. We are all the same. We are all equal.”