Teen rockers fire back at anti-Asian comments with a viral punk anthem: ‘Racist, Sexist Boy’

Maybe it was their adolescent energy and earnestness. Maybe it was their sludgy guitars and pummeling rhythm section. Maybe it was the searing anti-hate message in their lyrics.

Or maybe the Linda Lindas just rock.

Whatever the case, the Los Angeles-based punk band of Asian and Latina teens had the internet fist-pumping and headbanging to one of their songs this week after a clip of their recent performance at the Los Angeles Public Library went viral.

The track, “Racist, Sexist Boy,” is a blistering attack on anti-Asian racism that draws on the gritty riot grrrl sounds of the early ’90s. Drummer-singer Mila, 10, said this month that she was inspired to write it with bandmate Eloise, 13, after one of her classmates harassed her during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

“A little while before we went into lockdown, a boy in my class came up to me and said that his dad told him to stay away from Chinese people,” Mila said during the library show May 4. “After I told him that I was Chinese, he backed away from me. Eloise and I wrote this song based on that experience.”

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