Terry Tang
This image released by Lifetime shows Tzi Ma, right, in a scene from "A Sugar & Spice Holiday." The TV film, featuring a mostly Asian cast, premieres Sunday, Dec. 13 at 8pm ET/PT. (Kailey Schwerman/Lifetime via AP)
December 11, 2020 - 7:32 PM
In one scene from the Lifetime TV movie, âA Sugar & Spice Holiday,â a co-worker says to Suzy, an Asian American architect in Los Angeles: âI didn't know if Christmas was a big deal where you're from.â
Retorts Suzy: âI'm from Maine."
A lot of viewers of a cozy Christmas film might just shrug off the insinuation that Suzy is somehow not American. But for an Asian audience, that brief exchange is a knowing reminder that microaggressions don't take a holiday. They especially haven't in the wake of the pandemic, which has triggered anti-Asian racism and terms like âChinese virusâ and âkung flu.â