This past weekend, a video broke the hearts of many as a young Korean teen living in The Netherlands was a victim of physical assault by racist bullies.
In the video, the teen known as Yani, was hanging out with his friends when a group of racist bullies came and started spewing racist slurs at him, calling him “cancer Chinese with your corona“.
After Yani tried to remain calm, one of the bullies that was standing kicked him directly in the face while he was sitting.
The video was uploaded by Yani’s older brother who asked for awareness on the racism that still exists even within the younger generation today.
Yani also explained the whole story in his own post. He was hanging out with some friends for a day of swimming when a couple of boys came around and started harassing him with racist slurs.
They later came back with more of their “friends” and started threatening him and stealing one of his friend’s phone. He tried to remain as passive and calm as he can despite the assault. That was when the bully kicked him in the head.
Although the bullies threatened to kill him if he went to the police, Yani and his family are standing strong as they plan to take the assaulters to court for justice.
Once the video went viral, netizens noted that Yani’s group of friends surrounding him didn’t react or jump to protect Yani after the assault.
Yani decided to speak up and asked everyone to stop criticizing his friends because he understands how it’s difficult to stand up to bullies when you’re young and frightened.
Most importantly, Yani was thankful to everyone for the support and help in raising awareness of his video. He was worried about making the video public but decided to share in an effort to join the fight against racism.
Yani faced a horrendous crime that no one should have to face in their lifetime. But he decided to stand up against the bullies and expose them for who they are.
As the world continues its fight against racism, teens like Yani deserve support and applause for their bravery.
