r/asianamerican • u/JordanGatsby Korean American • Nov 18 '16

Thank You

As an Asian American male who grew up in the rural miidwest I've always felt like an outsider. The census from the town I grew up in had one Asian American listed, me. It was only during the chaos of the election that I found this sub and I want to say thank you to the community. I love having this place that is always posting about and keeping up with trends that concern our people. Even though there can be dissenting opinions everything I have seen has been pretty civil compared to the bile and hatred being spewed elsewhere. So thank you for all of that.

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u/Cheeserole Nov 18 '16

I'd like to say that I felt very much like you. I grew up in the rural Deep South and know exactly how you feel. I've since left and am doing grad school in the UK but I feel othered doubly so with being both Asian and American. It's like people's minds are being blown by the idea that people can have more than one cultural identity. Crazy!!

Being here has helped a lot with my feelings of isolation. I hope it helps you, too.

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u/JordanGatsby Korean American Nov 18 '16

Do you mind me asking about your experience in the south? My home state is Illinois which is like the one blue state in the Bible Belt and I didn't really face a lot of overt racism as much as being ignored or the "small" racist stuff like ching chong bing bong

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u/Cheeserole Nov 18 '16

Small racist stuff unite! Yeah! Kids often bullied me with named like ching chong etc. Oh, and being greeted with squinted eyes, bared front teeth, and "konnichiwa!!!"

For the first several years of moving there the town council only ever referred to my dad as "The Chinaman" even in front of his face. But the townspeople were also keen to call themselves not racist, and it changed once the local paper did an article about his reason for immigration (war, supporting a family, starting from the ground up, the good American dream, etc).

It did not stop parents from telling their children horrible things about us. Did not stop fights from happening in the schoolyard that generally started with, "Well, my daddy told me that you people eat dogs and cats"; "Well, my momma told me you people don't go to church" etc. Didn't help that my parents did the only thing that Asian people are allowed to do, which is to start a restaurant, and we had a lot of loving pets and a colony of cats to eat our leftover food. Didn't help that the pastor at the church I went to told me that my mom and dad were going to Hell for not seeing the light of Jesus.

When the restaurant failed we tried different businesses to keep afloat. We then had to deal with theft and vandalism - a nearby competitor even stormed into our store, knocked over a large number of stock, and screamed at all the customers to stop buying from the Chinks, they're just stealing your money (by trading it with valid goods and services???).

Eventually, my dad realised just how harmful this was for his children, and moved over to Houston, which was blessedly multicultural. But the damage was done.

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u/JordanGatsby Korean American Nov 18 '16

I really enjoyed reading about your experience. I've always thought about how cool it would be to live somewhere with such a crazy cultural mix like Houston, I have visited there a couple times and really enjoyed it. And it's really odd how the racism towards Asians is stupid shit like "you eat cats" or "haha slant eyes." Even Chinaman is such a lazy slur.. I mean it fits into the narrative of the submissive assimilating Asian that our racial slights arent considered "serious"

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u/Cheeserole Nov 18 '16

If you ever find your hometown too much, then I will not fault you for just packing it up and spending some time in a city like Houston. Even if it's just a few months or years. I still visit my hometown once a year, still have some fondness for the down-to-earth culture there. But I'm glad that I got to experience being 'normal' in Houston before moving onto other places where I'm not. My sisters, finally happy to be accepted as they are, have never left, and aren't likely to now with this political atmosphere.

I agree that it's just lazy. Since we're considered a model minority, I suppose they just can't find other things to say about us like crime or some such.