‘I want everybody to know about it’

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This article was published 19/03/2021 (1806 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE owner of an Asian restaurant fears she has been targeted by racism after her vehicle was vandalized.

Claire Venevongsa, the owner of Pad Thai Restaurant on Portage Avenue in St. James, said she had just closed the restaurant Wednesday night when she noticed somebody had scratched the words “eat s—” on the hood.

“I saw it when I came out after work,” said Venevongsa. “It was parked behind the building. They would have known it was my car. They targeted me and scratched it.”

While the words themselves aren’t overtly racist, Venevongsa said she believes the incident was racist because it is not the first time she has been targeted.

“A few months ago, there was paint put on the building itself,” she said. “People drew graffiti all over the side of the building, behind, and on a garage back there.

“If it was the first time this happened, I might not say anything. But in less than 12 months, I’ve been targeted twice.

“We need to talk about this in the community. I want everybody to know about it.”

Venevongsa pointed out the incident occurred shortly after the slayings of six Asian women who worked at spas in Atlanta.

“I’m female, a woman, and Asian — that’s the scary part,” she said.

Art Miki, former president of the National Association of Japanese Canadians, said he has heard about some incidents against people of Asian descent since the pandemic began, especially after former United States president Donald Trump began calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” and “kung flu.”

“Not in Manitoba so much, B.C. and Toronto have been worse,” said Miki.

“There, people have been knocked down… Here it has been very subtle and indirect. One fellow said he was in a supermarket and a woman said to him ‘Get away from me, get away from me.’ He didn’t know what to do, so he just walked away. That’s why I say it was fairly subtle.”

Miki said he knows there have been more incidents, but people in the Asian community don’t usually complain. He said even since the Asian Heritage Society created a reporting area on its website, only one person has filed a complaint.

“That’s part of the problem, when people don’t report it. Many fear if they report it they will be attacked again, that if you say anything you’ll draw more attention to yourself.

“They just want to forget what happened.”

Jennifer Chen, a Winnipeg School Division trustee and organizer of last year’s Act to End Racism campaign, commends Venevongsa for speaking out.

“Asian women don’t want to speak out. They usually try to keep it quiet,” said Chen. “But in Canada, 60 per cent of incidents of racism against the Asian community are against Asian women. We know there are a lot of incidents against Asian women, but we don’t always hear about it.”

Chen hopes the community can come together to speak out against racism.

“We know racism exists and has been amplified by COVID. We’ve passed the one-year anniversary of COVID, but I’m afraid if we don’t do something when the pandemic is gone the racism will still exist — and it will be even worse.”

Meanwhile, Venevongsa said she has contacted Winnipeg police and Manitoba Public Insurance. She said the incident hasn’t affected her feelings about the city.

“I love Winnipeg. We’ve had this business for 20 years and had no problems. I love Winnipeg, but I want to talk about this.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca