Anti-Asian Racism Social Experiment restores our faith in humanity【Video】

A reminder that for all the people who hate, there are many more willing to love and protect.

Racism against Asians has reached frightening levels recently, and with so many hate crimes taking place, the world can seem like a sad and unsafe environment right now for members of the community. 

Here to provide us with hope for the future, however, is Japanese-born Korean YouTuber Mick Kim, who recently conducted an “Asian Racism Social Experiment” in the U.S. for a video on his YouTube channel.

Hoping to discover how people would react when they witnessed an Asian being the target of racism, Mick hired an actor called Isaac to play a racist character for the experiment. Filmed at a college campus, all the students who bear witness to the racist verbal attacks react differently to the situation, but they all have one thing in common: a heartwarming sense of compassion for Mick.

Check out their reactions in the video below:

The students Mick talks to are all helpful and friendly when he approaches them for help in finding the nearest McDonald’s, which is the initial part of the setup that draws them in. Once Isaac enters the scene and starts picking on Mick’s race, the students’ reactions range from absolute silence through to calm negotiation and outright anger.

▼ This man reacts immediately, taking Isaac away from Mick, where he gives him a quick education on why what he’s doing is “not cool”.

▼ This man also acts to keep Mick safe, taking him away from Isaac.

This woman diffused the situation by repeatedly saying “I’m sorry you feel that way” to placate Isaac, and felt so bad about what she witnessed that she asked Mick if she could give him a hug afterwards.

Another heartwarming reaction was this one, where a passerby told Isaac to “get out” and later reassured Mick by saying: “Don’t listen to that guy, he’s full of crap. I’m glad you’re here.”

At the end of the video, Mick lets everyone in on the ruse, telling them they’d just taken part in a social experiment. All the participants appear relieved to find out Isaac wasn’t a real racist, and as Mick lauds them for being “legends”, we can’t help but feel his own relief at knowing people would have his back if that situation were to really arise in real life as well.

Of course, Mick’s social experiment isn’t perfect, given that it took place on the relatively safe grounds of a college campus rather than the tough streets of the city, but it’s heartening to know that so many members of the younger generation are willing to stand up to racism when they see it occurring in front of them. 

As Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing“, and this is a sentiment that’s particularly important right now. While we can support the Asian community with hashtags like #stoptheasianhate and #hateisavirus, we also need to act in the real world by reporting racist behaviour and standing up to it when it occurs in front of us.

Because sadly, no member of a minority group is immune to bigoted attacks, and it doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are either, as even Asian superstars like Gackt have had a hard time dealig with racial discrimination while overseas.

Source, images: YouTube/Mick Kim via Jin
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