Up until 2020, Anna Wong had gone her entire adulthood in Los Angeles without ever facing blatantly racist abuse for being Asian. After COVID-19 hit, she was accosted twice in six months.

The first time, she was browsing an aisle in Bed Bath & Beyond when a white, 30-something woman suddenly yelled: 'Six feet away from me, you Chinese witch!' A shaken Wong left the store, the woman still yelling after her. The second time, Wong was walking her dog when a passenger in a car — a young Hispanic man — screamed at her 'Thanks for ruining the world,' followed by an ethnic slur.