All this Linsanity (and the subsequent firing of the ESPN writer who wrote the “Chink in the Armor” headline) got me to thinking about whether or not Charlie and Olive will face racism in our world today. Growing up in a mixed lower-middle/middle-class neighborhood in Los Angeles, I endured a lot of racist slurs. The Black and Hispanic kids would make “ching-chong-chang!” noises and slant their eyes with their fingers.  The Hispanic kids would chant “china” (pronounced chee-na) or “chinita” over and over again, which is Spanish for Chinese.  The minority groups, who were probably the biggest victims of racism, often uttered the most racist slurs of all.

All the Asian boys got the”ching-chong-chang” noises too, but they also invariably got called Bruce Lee.  A couple years ago, I had a 19 year old Korean intern who grew up in New York, and I asked him if he got called Bruce Lee when he was growing up.  He replied, “No.  I got called Jackie Chan or Jet Li.” Perhaps nowadays Asian boys are called Harold and Kumar? Or Jeremy Lin? Being compared to a Harvard grad who’s lighting up the NBA isn’t the worst thing to be called in the world. But then again everyone thought Bruce Lee was a badass, but it still felt like a racial slur.

As an adult I still get china doll, nee hao ma (hello in Chinese) or konichiwa (hello in Japanese) shouted at me regularly.  Sometimes I know they’re making fun of me based on the mocking tone of their voice.  Other times I think they think they’re hitting on me.

ADVERTISEMENT

I’ve also been told to “go back to your country,” and asked “do you speak English” on many occasions. And of course there will always be the “Where are you from?  No where are you from originally?” “Oh you speak English so well!” “I have a Korean friend,” “I love Korean food,” type comments, but I usually don’t find them offensive anymore. Most of the time people are genuinely interested, or just trying to make conversation.

By now I’ve been exposed to so many racist slurs, I’m desensitized. I usually find most Asian jokes funny, and it takes something pretty awful to offend me. Even when Mr. Bee got a comment on one of his posts last year calling Charlie a  “chink, gook, pancakeface,” I wasn’t offended because the commenter was obviously ignorant.

I wonder if it will be any different for Charlie and Olive when they start school. I actually met someone recently who thought that “Asia” was a country, and that we were all the same race and spoke the same language, or rather understood each other’s languages. When I was growing up, it was very important to be identified as Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, etc. But now that there are so many mixed children (Charlie and Olive are 1/2 Korean, 1/4 Japanese, 1/4 German-Irish), will they just identify with being “Asian,” and will that have any impact on how their race affects them?

We live in a very ethnically diverse and politically liberal neighborhood, and I’m hopeful that things have changed for the better. But for now, I’m still doubtful because my 6 year old niece was recently teased for having an Asian face. We can’t change the way other kids treat Charlie and Olive, but we can instill the pride that Mr. Bee and I have for our cultures into them.

Have you faced a lot of racism in your life? Do you worry about your children facing racism?