This page was last updated on [12/10/99].

Interracial Issues

Dandy's Essay

[b. 12/05/99]

Dandy Wong, Skyline College

In America, we like to boast all about the good things and accomplishments we have attained through the 200 plus years. We have been hearing things like Independence Day, where "we united as one" and fought against tyranny, oppression, and persecution, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I admit I find myself caught up in all the hoopla myself from time to time. However, for most, the image of being an American is a person totally unlike myself, a person of white complexion. Yes, dare I say it; I bring up that ever so touchy subject of racism. You see, I say this not because I'm not one of those revolutionist-radical college students that were so popular at Berkeley during the sixties. I say this because I've faced it everyday of my life. That's pretty sad to say, considering I live in one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world: San Francisco, California. I am an American too. But unlike the picturesque American, I am also Chinese and that combination can lead to a difficult existence in America.

I'm an ABC: American-somewhat Burmese-Born-Chinese. That little abbreviation has a dramatic effect on how my life has been. First, since I am Chinese and have different skin complexion, white people assume I know Bruce Lee Kung Fu, or ever worse, that I cannot comprehend what they're saying to me. So I would sometimes get this sense of, "Oh, you're Chinese, let me put it in a way you could understand." Anybody Chinese, or any color person for the matter, should know what I'm talking about. The feeling you get from the "normal American" making you feel inferior to them. Just the other day I went to an open-group meeting with a college representative about transfer information to the University of California, and I experienced the "Chinese syndrome". You like to believe this is the farthest thing that could happen with the quality education this person is representing. I was wrong.

At the beginning of the meeting, I had the chance to ask some questions one-on-one because no one else was there. I asked him about my major, Political Science, as to what actions and course prerequisites I should take to get accepted, and about the average GPA's the people expected the previous year, etc. He explained to me that Political Science was an impacted major, as if it were a pipe dream for me to get accepted. Later into the meeting another student asked if the major was impacted. To my disgust, the representative said to this person asking if it wasn't impacted in a way suggesting that person would surely get in. Excuse me, did I forget to mention that they were both white? Well, of course some may have their perceptions of this as simply a memory lapse. For those that have a clue, it's clearly something that doesn't need to be slapped across your face to be recognized. Not only do I, along with my fellow ABC comrades get this type of treatment from white people, we also get it from our own people.

I'm an ABC, which means to most persons of Chinese decent born in another country other than the Untied States, I am white washed, or how others may put it as a "banana". Most native-Chinese speaking may look down upon ABCs because of a few things: [1] ABCs cannot speak Chinese; [2] ABCs don't know the traditions of the culture; [3] ABCs are white washed. What's sad about these three assumptions, though, is that in most cases all of it is true. I will admit, I myself don't know many of the Chinese traditions, but I do go to my grandmother's house to eat some good food more than three times a year, and I'm pretty sure one of those times is for worshipping the dead. Fortunately for me, I do speak Cantonese because my father forced me to learn when I was young--although it was with an ABC accent. Most importantly, I am definitely not white washed. The worst of it comes from Chinese restaurants when the workers are native-Chinese speakers who know you are an ABC. They look at you with that "lay u mut yea ah" ["you stupid ABC"] look. Put simply, it's tough being an ABC.

ABCs are guilty of committing sins against their culture by trying to alienate themselves of any ties to their ancestors in China. They do this because it's not cool to be the one at school whose parents burn incense for worship or bring home live chickens to be cooked for dinner. Regardless of the finger pointing, shouldn't we be able to overcome these differences? It was tough for those Chinese immigrants that came to America because they had to endure all that oppression and persecution that white people threw at them without recognition of "inalienable" rights we value today. ABCs are probably here today thanks to those first Chinese immigrants who fought through it and flourished despite countless efforts of oppression. Sorry to say, it doesn't seem like ABCs have fulfilled our end of the bargain by keeping that sense of culture alive.

Living in America is glorified by stores of success and a higher standard of living. It seems human nature, especially for the "dominant groups" to be able to repress these challenges. With that in mind, shouldn't we be able to conquer these disparities of racism? Have we really distanced ourselves from our ways of the past? Maybe that college representative told me something different because he actually did forget. Or what seems more likely the case: we haven't come as far as we think we all have!

Permission granted by Dandy Wong to published his essay on the World Wide Web.