A Family, a Dream, and a Season of Fear

Than Than Htwe is one of the 1.2 million Asians who call New York City “home”. But home to her has taken on a very different meaning in a foreign land. Although ethnically Chinese, Ms. Htwe and her husband, Myint Shein, were born and raised in Rangoon, Myanmar. For over a decade, she and her husband pooled resources to send their son, Law Zaw Hein, to an American University. Like many stories of migration, Ms. Htwe and her family were rendered vulnerable by foreign language and culture, believing their struggles would beget a brighter future. However, their journey has been made more tenuous within an increasingly xenophobic American society. In addition to the daily struggles to meet their needs, fund their son’s education, and carve out a sense of belonging, Ms. Htwe’s family has had to navigate a global pandemic, whose origins in China have had widespread ramifications for the Asian population in America.  

To them America was land of opportunity to carve out a better future for their son. What they found was a state of constant change and violence. While traveling on the subway with her son, Ms. Htwe was attacked and killed. A man, Mr. Hein describes as having angry eyes, jumped out of the crowd yanking both him and his mother backward. His mother hit her head on the ground, never to stand again. After 10 days without regaining consciousness, her family made the decision to cut off life support, her killer still free

Her death, Mr. Hein says, has gone in vain. The police are investigating the killing as a robbery turned homicide rather than as an anti-Asian attack. Many similar hate crimes are classified as random. Such violence leaves deep scars. What began as a family in America has become a household of one. Ms. Htwe’s death brought father and son closer. However, Mr. Shein has made up his mind to return to Myanmar as a monk. For Mr. Hein, America still holds the promise that captivated him as a child. It is a broken idea of success, but he cannot shake the vision of American life they all once dreamed together.