Two Asian Americans

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about the racism in our mind while we have very little awareness of it among ourselves.

The first story is about Mrs. B, a Vietnamese American. Mr. B, her husband, a white man, was one of our foreign teachers when I was in college in Nanjing. Both of them speak very good American English. Mrs. B was teaching kindergarten kids while Mr. B taught us. But one day the kindergarten decided not to renew her contract and the headmaster was quite frank about the reason.

- We want the kids to be taught by someone with white skin.

The second story is about J, a Chinese American, who was a teaching assistant in my college. The university policy was that foreign students were allowed to take school buses for free (while other Chinese students had to pay). Because the ride was in high demand, the policy also gave priority to them over other Chinese students. Because all foreign students lived on the campus in the downtown, J had to take the bus to meet us on another campus in the suburb. The security personnel was in charge of boarding. Because J had a Chinese face, he had to bring his student ID every time to show that he is actually American.