Michelle Li has two decades as a journalist under her belt, but when the NBC St. Louis anchor listened to a voice mail on New Year’s Day, she expressed the heartbreaking feeling from the hateful remarks made by a viewer.
A caller left Li a message, criticizing the anchor for “being very Asian,” and added that she should “keep her Korean to herself” following a segment about traditional New Year’s Day dinners.
“I kind of take offense to that because what if one of your White anchors said, ‘Well, White people eat this on New Year’s Day.’ I don’t think it was very appropriate that she said that, and she was being very Asian,” the viewer said.
“She can keep her Korean to herself. All right, sorry. It was annoying.”
During the segment, Li stated that her family enjoys eating “dumpling soup. That’s what a lot of Korean people do,” leading the viewer to call in and leave a minute-long voice message, which the anchor shared on social media.
“People began sharing their own New Year’s Day traditions, from eating noodles to eating little smokies. People really came out in a big, anti-racist, loving way. It just made me proud to be both Asian and American,” Li told the Washington Post.
KSDK, the St. Louis NBC affiliate, did release a statement condemning the remarks made by the view towards Li, saying, “we embrace diversity in the people we hire, the stories we tell, and our local community. We will continue supporting Michelle and celebrating diversity and inclusion.”
Despite the incident, Li stated that she can take a racist call from an anonymous viewer, but that Black and Brown Americans get the worse of the racism in this country.
“I think what happened to me was ugly,” Li stated. “But more importantly, we have to remember Black and Brown Americans get assaulted or worse just for existing.
“I can take the heat of an anonymous phone call if it exposes racism and hate. But I now see that call as a gift because I’ve seen the good in people in a way that I’ve never seen before. It inspires me to be better and to learn more as well.”
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Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
