“Racism in our country has never been fixed.
Will it ever be?
I genuinely hope so.”
“I’m 13 years old, and I have experienced so much racism in a short time period to the point where it almost broke me.”"
In second grade, I wanted to fit in with all the other kids. They would bring sandwiches and fruit roll-ups to lunch, while I had eggs and rice. At the time, I hated it! They also joked that I ate dog. And, of course, I wanted to fit in so I joked that I did. It definitely wasn’t one of my best moments, and now I realize that I was basically being racist to myself...and my culture.
“Fast forward to fourth grade, and..WOW! These boys in my class had a lot of stuff to say about my eyes! They’d compare it to the thinnest things around the classroom. Not only were they laughing and mocking me in my face, my “friends” were too. I didn’t cry because I didn’t want to be deemed as weak, so I just smiled. But on the inside, I was screaming!”
“On to 5th grade. It was near the end of lunch, and I was laughing with true friends that I finally found. I then heard my name a few feet away, and the words that came after were, “Asian freakshow”.
“I started going off on the WRONG GUY, and he cried...like a lot.”
“There was so much commotion that teachers came over and asked what’s wrong. At this point, I just broke down. Is this what my fellow peers think of me?
Am I an Asian freakshow??”
“After that, I
spent a whole day with my cousins.”
“They reminded me of my worth, and how I need to defend myself ...”
“…….by educating others on why they are wrong.”
“ Then came the summer after seventh grade. 2020 has not been the best year. We had RBG’s death, we have a deadly pandemic going on, and sadly, we are still fighting for black people’s equality. During the protests, I showed my support by posting on social media. I posted ways you could help, and ways you could spread the message. I received TONS of backlash, and was even called racist. UHHHH, Phillip, weren’t you the one who told me to go back to my country? Even though I was born here?”
I kept receiving backlash, and was even tagged in a TikTok comment section that was filled with racist phrases. Such as : “I can slide a credit card between your eyes”. That was the breaking point for me. I bawled my eyes out, and I was just so exhausted.
“Do they not get it?
I’m done! “
“It took a few days for me to get back to my normal self, but I couldn’t have done that without my cousins.
“They support me everyday, and remind me how great of a person I am for standing my ground.”
“Lao culture is more than food and traditional clothing.”
“It’s also about making a connection with your family, and keeping it alive by bonding.”
