NYC-Feature Story-World Trade Center

NYC-1992-06-04
With all the focus on Black/White relations, Sumi feels that racism experienced by Asian-Americans is overlooked.

Asians: The People In Between

By Sumi Wong

During the riots following the acquittal of the police officers in the Rodney King case, I was surprised to read in the Daily News that stores owned by Koreans were being targeted by Blacks for looting, burning, and destruction.

I was surprised because it had been a pretty long time since I had read or heard about a single article, editorial, public service announcement, speech, or anything else pertaining to prejudice against my race (Asian). I was proud of the media for actually paying some attention to the harassment of Asians, especially during a period of unrest that at first seemed to involve only Whites and Blacks.

But most of the coverage treated the turmoil in L.A. as a Black and White issue. On the same day, another Daily News article quoted someone as saying, "Our nation is moving towards two societies, one black, one white." Excuse me, but wait just a minute here-"one black, one white?" What about the people in between? What about the tensions that exist between Asians and other races? I saw them during the Los Angeles riots and my friends and I have experienced them firsthand right here in New York.

He Made Fun of Me

I had my first experience with prejudice back in the fourth grade. I had just changed schools and most of my new classmates were Caucasian. Everyone was pretty close to each other but I made friends quickly. There was one Caucasian boy, though, who always laughed and said, "Hi, Ch-nk!" when he saw me. I had never heard that word before. I wondered what it meant and why he seemed to think it was so funny.

This same kid would pull up the outer corners of his eyes and babble a string of sounds that seemed like Chinese, but wasn't. He would keep on doing this, waiting for me to react. His voice seemed to take on a mean and sneering tone so I guessed that he was making fun of me and my nationality.

I turned red whenever he pretended to speak Chinese. He always made my language sound really stupid and harsh and ugly. He made Oriental people seem ugly too when he made his eyes all weird. His insulting actions made it seem as though something was wrong with me. It made me wonder, "Did Chinese people really look or sound as stupid as he made them look and sound?" I felt like crying and leaving the school and never coming back. I felt completely humiliated. I couldn't look at anyone. I told him to shut up, though what I really wanted to do was hit him.

Unfortunately, this kind of "teasing" did not stop in the fourth grade. I still hear these slurs and insults and so do my Asian friends. The only difference is the perpetrators aren't little kids who don't know any better. They're teenagers and adults.

Pretending To Speak Chinese

Let me tell you about the afternoon my friend Julie was going home on the train and noticed a group of African-American girls sitting a few seats away from her. There were about eight of them, all around 16 or 17. Julie was a little nervous. "I didn't get a good impression of them because they were talking really loudly, not giving a sh-t about what anyone thought of them," Julie told me. Almost immediately, two of the girls came over to her and pretended to talk in Chinese.

Julie ignored them and tried to keep her eyes fixed on the ads. But it wasn't easy because they towered over her. One girl kept asking Julie, "How come you can't speak Chinese?" They kept laughing and pretending to speak Chinese.

Then, one of the girls reached down and pulled Julie's pin off her shirt. Julie became really angry and grabbed it back. The girls seemed happy to get a response from Julie and continued taunting her. Julie tried hard not to show her anger. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing that they'd upset her. When Julie got off at her stop, she tried to calm herself down but she couldn't forget the incident.

Something similar happened to some other friends of mine. Three of them were on the train, going home from school.

'You're So Ugly'

A middle-aged African-American man who was sitting opposite them started yelling, "You Chinese are so ugly!" My friends were very embarrassed because everyone else in the car started looking at them. They laughed a little, trying to make the guy's comments seem like a joke to ease their embarrassment. The man continued: "Man, you are all so ugly!" And: "I always knew Chinese people were ugly, but man, you three are the ugliest of them all!" My friends were really angry but they just continued to ignore him. They were glad when they reached their stop.

Yes, both incidents ended when my friends got off the train. No, nobody got beaten up or robbed or anything like that. I mean, no way were these incidents as serious as some of the things we've seen on the news this past year. You know, the racially motivated spray paintings, the violent racial assaults, the racial murders, the Rodney King beating. The kind of racism my friends and I have experienced-the obnoxious impersonations, the degrading remarks-seem to pale in comparison to the more violent ones. But that isn't to say that they weren't important or that they didn't affect us deeply.

It's All Racist

I think that these "little" incidents are much more common than the big dramatic ones on the news. You don't have to be Chinese to understand. I'm sure that these little incidents have happened to Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, and Indians alike.

Racism is not just the Rodney King case. It is not just a White versus Black issue. And it doesn't have to involve physical violence. The attacks on the Korean grocers were racist. The racial slurs and taunts my Asian friends and I hear on the train are racist too.

If these milder forms of racism can be stopped, then maybe they won't get a chance to explode into the violence that seems to be so common today. If not, the unrest between all the races will probably continue.

"Think About It":
Prompts for discussion and/or writing:

—Sumi, an Asian-American, is deeply affected by her experiences with racism. Describe a personal experience with racism and how it affected you.

—Sumi feels that Asian-Americans are ignored in discussions about racism, as the media focuses on Black/White relations. Do you feel your experiences with racism are ignored? Why/why not?

—How do the media (movies, television, music) contribute to stereotypes and racism?

—Sumi describes tension between Asian-Americans and African-Americans. What do you think is the cause of this tension, and what can be done to lessen it?

—Sumi describes African-American youth acting in a racist way toward herself and other Asian-Americans. Yet African-Americans have suffered greatly from racism themselves. Do you feel there is a connection between suffering racism and acting in a racist way? Why or why not?