“woah, that’s so cool!” or knowing that many people want to learn
Japanese has definitely boosted my confidence regardingmy
nationality. I’ve been very lucky to have grown upin a generally
accepting area of the U.S. (Massachusetts), and thefew times I’ve
experienced micro aggressions, my feelings have almostnever been
shame.
The few times I’ve experienced shame/embarrassmenthave been when
the whole class turned to look at me when the teachermentioned the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, for example. There is alsoa lot of tension
between other East Asian countries and Japan, andsometimes that can
result in some unpleasant interactions with others.
Differ from Asian stereotype(s).
In all honesty, I don’t think I differ much from theAsian stereotype. I
guess I’m not a prodigy in violin or computer science,but I still play
violin and am pursuing a career in STEM. I think stereotypesbuild on
some amount of truth, unfortunately. There are indeedmany Asians
who decide to pursue a career in STEM instead of liberalarts (which
they might have a stronger interest in), and thereare many Asians who
are good at math and play a musical instrument. Ithink the shared
culture that our parents grew up in impacted theirparenting, which
ends up impacting my generation and the many commontraits we
share.
A theoretical space without racism.
My first thought on this imaginary world was “impossible”...
theoretically, however, I’m not sure if I would doanything differently.
My experience with racist micro-aggressions have notoccurred due to
something I was doing, but rather due to circumstancesoutside of my
control. For example, I cannot avoid speaking to myparents in
Japanese in public because that is their only fluentlanguage. I also
cannot change the fact that I look Asian in general-once, a man came
up to my parents and I while we were on a walk, andbegan “guessing
what kind of Asian” we were. He said hi to us in brokenChinese, etc., as
if it were a game to see our reaction.
Although I don’t think a world without racism wouldchange how I act,
I definitely think it would change how others acttowards me. Perhaps
people like me would have a higher chance of beingaccepted into a
competitive university that usually prioritizes diversityover academics;
perhaps I would not be asked what “kind of Asian”I am. My academic
efforts and accomplishments might not be as downplayedor dismissed,
“just because you’re Asian”.
Tell.
I really wish that I could have more people to sharemy culture with in
daily life. There are really not many Japanese peopleat my school, and
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mchaos
(mchaos)
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