By Randall Yip, Executive Editor

A video allegedly posted by a middle schooler shows a 5-year-old Chinese American boy being taunted with racial slurs by a White middle schooler as the little boy ran to the safety of his home in Loudoun County, VA.

The parents of the preschooler say they became aware of the incident after being notified by another parent. That parent’s child saw the video on a messaging app and shared it with his parents who promptly notified the victim’s family.

The middle schooler can be heard saying “this little, short ching chong bing bong over here.”

“No, don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me” the preschooler yells as he crouches down in fear and covers his face with a blanket.

The harasser approaches his victim as he runs to the end of his family’s porch.

“Are you dingdonging and chingchonging?” the older boy asks.

“Go eat your dumplings.”

We are posting the video at the request of the 5 year old’s parents.

The incident points to a larger problem-the prevalence of bullying among youth.

The American Psychological Association along with the Asian American Psychological Association reported in 2012 that 17% of Asian American students reported being bullied. That’s fewer than other ethnic groups. However, more Asian Americans say they suffered bullying because of their race (11.1%) than Whites (2.8%), Blacks (7.1%) and Latino victims (6.2%).

A more recent survey in 2021 from Act to Change, a non-profit dedicated to ending bullying of Asian American and Pacific Islanders found a dramatic increase in such incidents. 80% of Asian American respondents experienced bullying, according to the group’s report.

“I just so scared to see the video, but I have to see it. My heart is broken,” said the little boy’s mother, Ashley Long, to AsAmNews.

She says both she and the other parent who showed her the video broke down in tears as they embraced.

“I would never expect such thing to happen like that,” said Sean Yang, the preschooler’s father. “That kid was non-stopping using racial slurs. He knows so well how to insult a minority from every aspect.”

The incident has been reported to Loudoun County Public School District and the County Sheriff’s Department.

“We’re familiar with the situation,” Dan Adams of the Loudoun County Public School District said to AsAmNews. “We do not condone the behavior and are disappointed.”

Adams say the school district has offered counseling for the 5 year old as well as mediation between the two families. He declined to discuss any discipline the perpetrator might face.

He said because the incident happened off school property and on a weekend, the District is limited in what it can do.

The little boy’s family initially said it would decline that offer, but later said they would consider it.

Officers have visited the bully’s family but have not said what if anything might happen next. A sheriff spokesperson said because the incident involved minors, it could not comment.

Long says her son hasn’t been the same since the incident.

“He’s still a little scared of older people. When older kids come closer to him, he was like very frightened. He’s thinking is he bad, or is he good? What will he to do to me?” she said.

Yang says he’s disappointed none of the other boys who witnessed what happen to his son stood up for him.

As for the next steps, he’s not quite sure what you will do but is considering legal action.

“We’re still doing our research. What can we do? What can we do to make such thing won’t happen again right to anybody not just Chinese, right? Just don’t let any bad thing happen among the kids. Any kind of a hatred should not happen between children. That’s my goal.”

Act to Change has a number of anti-bullying resources which you can find here.

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