English 4 Mrs.
SimmonsThroughout my life I have usually been on the receiving end of racistcomments. In eighth grade I had to go to a public school because ofmoving reasons, and that is where the comments started. I could honestlysay that it was the worst experience in my life. Their were only twooriental kids in my class, I was one of them.
The other kid was alsoKorean, but the catch there was that he was a well known football player. I also played football, but I wasn’t the all-pro quarter back. Since hewas so good and so well know no one ever said a word to him. The first day at Richland(the name of the school which I went to) everyonewas nice to me. The first couple days were great ; Everyone was sofriendly and willing to accept me. Going into the second week I met thisgirl Amber, she was beautiful.
I was sitting at the lunch table one dayand she walked by and I commented on how hot she was. One kid, who Ithought was my friend, said, “Since you are new here, I will let that go. “I responded, “What do you mean?”Chad said, “I like Amber also, andwhoever I like no one tries stepping in, do you understand?””Whateverdude. . . “, I said.
Chad said, “Now Page 2listen, I like you and it is better off that way. “So naturally I did whatI wanted to do, I asked Amber for her number. That weekend Amber and Iwent out on a date. I sure did have a good time. That following Monday,Chad heard about the date and flipped out.
Just after second period Iheard someone yell, “HEY CHINK, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!!!!”I sort of had anidea who said it, but I just ignored it and kept walking. A second latersomeone pushes me to the floor. I turned around and Chad was standingthere. Chad said, “I warned you, you slanted eye piece of shit. “Inaturally backed off because it wasn’t worth fighting about.
From thatpoint on everyone considered me the “Wimp who can’t stand up for himself. “For the rest of the year my life was a living hell. The only time anyonetalked to me is when someone would make a racist comment. Half way throughfootball season I quit because I was treated like crap from my fellowfootball members and coach. Later on that year a kid named Matt Flynn madea racial comment. I was in such a bad mood so I punched him in the face.
The fight was broken up right away, and we were both sent to theprincipal’s office. When we got there, I was the one that was punished andMatt was left off with no punishment. I found out later that week that theprincipal was racist against Asian people. I had no idea what to do, so Ijust left it go and . . .
. . Page 3told no one. Both my parents and the school guidance counselor noticedthat I was having some problems.
I refused to tell anyone what was amatter, and I told everyone just to leave me alone. That was the firsttime that I ever contemplated suicide. I felt like I was the mostworthless thing in the world. I didn’t know what to do. I was not onlyhaving problems in school, I was also having family problems.
I heard myparents say things about me that I thought I would never hear in my life. Later that night I sat in my room with my dad’s 357 pistol. The gun wasloaded and I contemplated why should I not kill myself, I had every reasonto. Then I started thinking about who in my life really cared. Memoriesof my father and I going hunting, the good times my cousin Greg and I hadtogether, and the things that my two brothers, Ben and Dave, have done forme. About a month later, I looked at everyone that pick on me.
I noticed thatthe kids, I went to school with at Richland, were totally ignorant aboutracism. The kids at Richland were never taught what discrimination coulddo to someone, mentally and physically. In the world today, their are a variety of stereotypes put on all races. Ignorance is the origin of these stereotypes. Kids today should beeducated on what racial discrimination could do to someone. Page 4In Ronald Takaki’s article A Different Mirror he says “‘.
. . white Americanswill become a minority group'”(p. 334).
“By 2056, most Americans willtrace their descent to ‘Africa, Asia, the Hispanic world, the PacificIslands, Arabia-almost anywhere but white Europe. ‘This dramatic change inour nation’s ethnic composition is altering the way we think aboutourselves”(p. 334). People today are scared of what they don’t know ; theyare scared of what might happen to them and of change. “‘ The deepersignificance of America’s becoming a majority nonwhite society is what itmeans to the national psyche, to individuals’ sense of themselves and theirnation – their idea of what it is to be American'”(p.
334). “Certainly onecrucial way is for our society’s various ethnic groups to develop a greaterunderstanding of each other”(p. 337). Majority of the people today do have some sort of discrimination.
Someare against homosexuals, African Americans, Jews, Asians, and other racesthat are different from oneself. Just because someone looks different thansomeone else, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are different. I am halfKorean myself, and I dated a white American girl who didn’t even know thatI was Korean, until she met my mom. People should be educated so that theyunderstand that other races are actually very much alike.
