aapi

Unfortunately as an Asian American, discrimination and racism are not unusual contrivances in life. My experiences have been both indirect and direct, however both still convey and promote these derogatory stereotypes about AAPI people. For instance, in my district, one of the middle schools had an incident where an Asian 6th grader was verbally abused by a few of his fellow Caucasian classmates.

Ever since I could remember, as a child I have gotten numerous comments mainly directed against my ethnicity. The kids in my class would say such things as “dog eater” “go back to where you came from” or even pull their eyes back. I never thought any of this since I was in Elementary but now that I am older, I have realized that this was racism. I could continue to talk about the numerous experiences I have faced or even other AAPI people I know, however I want to bring up something that I have recently discovered especially on a social media platform called TikTok.

When I was younger I guess I didn’t notice or realize any racial comments made towards me. But recently, in the past couple of years, I have noticed more and more everyday. Where it was towards me or toward someone else around me.

My dad was born to two Chinese immigrants, but he was born in Minnesota and grew up in Missouri, so he is 100% percent American. My mom, on the other hand, grew up in Belgium, and immigrated to the United States when she was in her 20s, so she has a noticeable Flemish accent. From their first interactions, any person would know that my mother is not of this country. Yet, in their professional lives, my dad, on multiple occasions, has been told to “go back to his country”, while my mom has only ever been kindly asked as to where she is from.