Racist Story #1
So I was working at the Careers Fair for the university here in Edinburgh. It was a really sweet deal because it was classified as a 'one-off' job where you can work once for a couple of hours and they pay you, sometimes on the spot, sometimes only with a bank account.
It was the second day I was working for the Fair, setting up the exhibitions for corporate businesses. You know, the whole shabang: flyers, table mats, instruction sheets, cleaning up left over coffee spills, napkins, etc. Gross things.
I wasn't working alone, thankfully, which made the work go quicker. I ended up staying later, though, being the nice person that I am (cue = laugh. haha). I was diligently and efficiently replacing instruction booklets, leaflets, etc. I then started smashing boxes that were left over, since the corporate exhibitionists brought their own shit for advertisement of course. I begin doing that, and the 3 other people I was working with were helping me out.
One of them asked where I was from. "Oh, I'm from California". She said, "Oh, no, well I mean, where are your parents from? I mean, because I thought you were a banana. You look Chinese, you know, so I thought you were an American who couldn't speak Chinese [white on the inside, yellow on the outside]." ... ...
I was speechless. I explained that my mother was from Guatemala. But I said it in Spanish accent and she couldn't understand, and I gave up clarifying that it was a country in Central America. She of course is from China, I asked a couple minutes later.
And I thought in my head: gee, if you asked me to guess where you were from, Xi Yung Hui (not her real name, but something I barely caught, since I didn't know Chinese), I would have guessed you were from the Phillippines or Indonesia (her skin was copper, bronze, a dark tone not normally associated with a stereotypical Chinese person). So the prejudgement goes both ways.
I mean, I only bring that up, because I was flabberghasted. Never in my life did I think I would come across this experience, much less in Scotland! I mean, I knew that issues of immigration are still occuring (just though watching www.iht.com or other news outlets): kids who are born here with Pakistani or Indian parents are ostracised by white, British kids. I mean, it really calls into question, how can you be so thick [headed]? If you're born within the same country boundaries, it makes you the same nationality. Duh. One of the things that frustrated me the most is Xi Yung Lao's (I know, I'm being mean, but bear with me) sheer ignorance. I didn't know whether to curb my anger by comforting myself with the sad fact that she just didn't know better. I mean, China kills their own people for organ harvesting!!! Is there not a problem here? I mean c'mon! I know the U.S. has problems with immigration, but the only reason why Chinese have immigrated to America, obviously, is because your country is oppressing them and MURDERING PEOPLE!!! HELLO!!! Don't you think if your country was wonderful, there wouldn't be immigrants? That's only logical. And in America, there are more minorities living in the country than any other country on the planet. It's the most diverse, which attests to its positive ideas, despite its current international policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.
I was just stunned. I expected it from a white person... but never in my life from a person from another country. I mean, she probably said that because she is obviously from a higher class if she could afford to come here. 1,000 increments of her currency equals one British one, I'm sure. Indeed, she could be like, me, taking out loans and working, but nonetheless, if my conversion rate was that bad, I wouldn't have come.
That's besides the point... AGGHH!!! It is just frustrating that so many people automatically assume. We should all tolerate the idea that people flee their countries. I mean, so many Americans left to Paris because it disagreed with its cultural practices, among other things. It happens all the time! We shouldn't build walls (eh hem... Mr Bush and Schwartz-a-nothing - building walls proves futile; it suceeds at nothing) but rather, we should be building bridges to other countries. Helping each other. It strikes me with so much grief that while we're here fighting each other on the planet, other races in the universe (because, of course, we're all the same race: the human race) are laughing at us. We should be progressing foward in intellect, technology and it's sad that we have to devote resources to human rights campaigns. This should have stopped more than a century ago. It should have stopped when the dawn of man occurred. Why should we preoccupied with differing ourselves from other people? Shouldn't we be concerned with the advancement of our species by preserving history and preserving the planet we live on for future generations?
To use Accenture's phrase: 'It makes you think'.
It was the second day I was working for the Fair, setting up the exhibitions for corporate businesses. You know, the whole shabang: flyers, table mats, instruction sheets, cleaning up left over coffee spills, napkins, etc. Gross things.
I wasn't working alone, thankfully, which made the work go quicker. I ended up staying later, though, being the nice person that I am (cue = laugh. haha). I was diligently and efficiently replacing instruction booklets, leaflets, etc. I then started smashing boxes that were left over, since the corporate exhibitionists brought their own shit for advertisement of course. I begin doing that, and the 3 other people I was working with were helping me out.
One of them asked where I was from. "Oh, I'm from California". She said, "Oh, no, well I mean, where are your parents from? I mean, because I thought you were a banana. You look Chinese, you know, so I thought you were an American who couldn't speak Chinese [white on the inside, yellow on the outside]." ... ...
I was speechless. I explained that my mother was from Guatemala. But I said it in Spanish accent and she couldn't understand, and I gave up clarifying that it was a country in Central America. She of course is from China, I asked a couple minutes later.
And I thought in my head: gee, if you asked me to guess where you were from, Xi Yung Hui (not her real name, but something I barely caught, since I didn't know Chinese), I would have guessed you were from the Phillippines or Indonesia (her skin was copper, bronze, a dark tone not normally associated with a stereotypical Chinese person). So the prejudgement goes both ways.
I mean, I only bring that up, because I was flabberghasted. Never in my life did I think I would come across this experience, much less in Scotland! I mean, I knew that issues of immigration are still occuring (just though watching www.iht.com or other news outlets): kids who are born here with Pakistani or Indian parents are ostracised by white, British kids. I mean, it really calls into question, how can you be so thick [headed]? If you're born within the same country boundaries, it makes you the same nationality. Duh. One of the things that frustrated me the most is Xi Yung Lao's (I know, I'm being mean, but bear with me) sheer ignorance. I didn't know whether to curb my anger by comforting myself with the sad fact that she just didn't know better. I mean, China kills their own people for organ harvesting!!! Is there not a problem here? I mean c'mon! I know the U.S. has problems with immigration, but the only reason why Chinese have immigrated to America, obviously, is because your country is oppressing them and MURDERING PEOPLE!!! HELLO!!! Don't you think if your country was wonderful, there wouldn't be immigrants? That's only logical. And in America, there are more minorities living in the country than any other country on the planet. It's the most diverse, which attests to its positive ideas, despite its current international policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.
I was just stunned. I expected it from a white person... but never in my life from a person from another country. I mean, she probably said that because she is obviously from a higher class if she could afford to come here. 1,000 increments of her currency equals one British one, I'm sure. Indeed, she could be like, me, taking out loans and working, but nonetheless, if my conversion rate was that bad, I wouldn't have come.
That's besides the point... AGGHH!!! It is just frustrating that so many people automatically assume. We should all tolerate the idea that people flee their countries. I mean, so many Americans left to Paris because it disagreed with its cultural practices, among other things. It happens all the time! We shouldn't build walls (eh hem... Mr Bush and Schwartz-a-nothing - building walls proves futile; it suceeds at nothing) but rather, we should be building bridges to other countries. Helping each other. It strikes me with so much grief that while we're here fighting each other on the planet, other races in the universe (because, of course, we're all the same race: the human race) are laughing at us. We should be progressing foward in intellect, technology and it's sad that we have to devote resources to human rights campaigns. This should have stopped more than a century ago. It should have stopped when the dawn of man occurred. Why should we preoccupied with differing ourselves from other people? Shouldn't we be concerned with the advancement of our species by preserving history and preserving the planet we live on for future generations?
To use Accenture's phrase: 'It makes you think'.