Asian American Mom’s TikTok Video Explaining #StopAsianHate to Her Kids Goes Viral

March 25, 2021

A Korean American mother’s TikTok video, which features her discussing racism with her children, has recently gone viral.

Jane Park had a tough talk with her two children, aged 5 and 7, after last week’s Atlanta spa shootings. She decided to share a video of their discussion with her 3 million TikTok followers.

“[My son] saw me reacting to the news, so given the climate and the rise in anti-Asian racism, I did address it and tell him,” Park told TODAY Parents. “I said, ‘You know, the victims were Asian American and they could have been an aunt, a grandmother.’”

In her video, Park gives her children a “sight word test.”

“There’s a message in this one, so I want you to think about it,” she says.

As Park holds up notecards, her children read the words on each one out loud. “Stop Asian hate,” they say. “Hate is a virus.”

Park asks her son Bennett if hate can infect people like viruses do, to which he replies yes. She then asks how the recent Asian American attacks make him feel.

“Sad, because they killed people,” Bennett answers. “They killed Asian people.”

Park reminds her children that they can use their voices to stand up for others: “We can speak out against it. We can talk about it. We can build awareness, right? Because not everyone might know what’s going on.”

Park posted a longer version of her video on Instagram. “In the three short months of 2021,” she wrote in her post’s caption, “I’ve had more difficult conversations with my kids than I ever had with my own parents. It breaks my heart to have them, and I don’t know what the right way is, except to falter and be awkward, and try to process together. My fellow Asian American parents, I’m grieving and standing with you today. Let us better equip our kids for the world they will inherit and shape.

Feature Image via @janeparkang

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