I hadn't had to deal with something like this since I was in grade school, but by handling it with a calm but firm voice and by education, I made the best of the situation and I think everyone came out for the better.
I went to the batting cages on Friday to take some swings. There were two kids there, probably 8-10 years old, and African American. Apparently they had biked there on their own. One of them kept yelling "swing batter batter" as I was trying to hit. After one series of pitches I stepped out, found him, and asked him to not do that (in a game, maybe it was OK, but in a batting cage it didn't seem appropriate). He said OK and stopped.
As I left, he and his friend came back in the door. I stepped out of the way to let them through, and I was walking out I heard them snickering behind my back as kids do. Then I heard one of them say "konichiwa" (the Japanese word for "hello"). I wasn't about to let that go. I went back and confronted both of them. At one point I thought about asking the facility to throw them out, but I figured they were a couple of ignorant kids and this might be a good learning experience.
It turns out it was the second kid who made the comment (the first kid that I had talked to before didn't want anything to do with it). The first thing I told him was "konichiwa" is Japanese for hello, and I'm Chinese (thinking back, I should've taught him how to say it in Chinese). I told him that I don't make fun of him, and he shouldn't make fun of me, and we're here to have a good time. The first kid kept trying to help me out ("yes, you shouldn't talk to him like that").
I know that they were kids and didn't mean much by the comment. But I did want to make sure they understood that Asian people were more than just "konichiwa." He had the typical "I'm intimidated but I'm trying to look cool" look on his face, but hopefully he will be better off after this experience.
I invite anyone else who has an experience like this to calmly but firmly confront it, and take an educational approach to the situation.
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Not all Asian Americans live on the coasts... This is a blog of two Asian males in the midwest, discussing the unique quirks of Asian American life. If you're Asian, know that there's people like you. If you're not, here's a glimpse into the life of your Asian friend.
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4 comments:
You didn't threaten the kids with your Kung Fu skills? I usually do that and they go running pretty fast.
Thank for sharing that story. I'm trying to educate myself on how to teach our son to deal with racism he'll encounter when he's older. I like your approach, I just feel terrible it's needed at all.
Hey Robin, I would say this thing was more ignorance on the kids part (and therefore the parents) than racism. I think the 99% of the US isn't racist... thinking back some more, I think a better thing to do was to commend them on knowing a Japanese word.
I think your son is growing up in a great time, and it's only getting better (case in point: check out who our new president is!)
Very true. It's all new for me - I've never had to think about the world from this angle before. (Which says something sad about me, perhaps, but there it is.) And I have to say, all politics aside, I was THRILLED to see a non-Caucasian elected president.
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