Sunisa Lee, a Hmong-American, Olympic gold medalist gymnast, and Auburn University freshman, is in a relationship, and a lot of people have taken it upon themselves to have opinions about this. For any woman of color, and certainly for Asian women, it’s not hard to guess why: Lee is in an interracial relationship with Jaylin Smith, who is Black and a fellow student athlete at USC.
At the end of December, Lee posted photos of the couple on her Instagram, which was met with a deluge of hateful comments. Lee turned off comments on the post, and when a fan posted a TikTok video in support of Lee, writing, “I know that Sunisa will be judged by certain eyes in the Hmong Community because her man is Black. LOVE is LOVE, no matter what race or gender you are,” Lee responded with the comment, “This makes me so happy. I’ve received so much hate [crying emoji] They support me when it’s beneficial for them never when it comes to my happiness. Thank you!”
As Lee’s reply implies, much of the “hate” she’s received comes from her own community. Many Asian women are accused, often by Asian men, of “hating themselves” or being “race traitors” if they’re partnered with non-Asian men. Some of the leading perpetrators of this racist, sexist harassment are the increasingly vocal “MRAsians,” or “men’s rights Asians,” who primarily convene in Asian identity Reddit threads. They purport to fight back against the very real issue of anti-Asian racism, but more often than not, that entails bullying Asian women for allegedly choosing white men or non-Asian men over them. Many users on the astoundingly toxic r/AsianMasculinity Reddit are already lashing out at Lee for her reply to the TikTok video, parroting familiar MRAsian talking points about Asian women’s supposed failure to support Asian men.