Last night my friends and I were at Gina's, our usual stomping grounds on Thursday nights for pizza and half price pitchers. We were sitting outside on the patio. Behind us were 2 tables. Sitting at one were 2 white men, and sitting at the other were 2 Asian men. My friends and I were paying no attention until we suddenly heard a loud noise. I looked behind me to see one of the white men walking away from the table with the Asian men. There was beer splashed on the ground, and the man muttered something about smoking. Until this point, my friends and I were oblivious to any of these activities. It turned out that the Asian men were smoking, and the white men were telling them to stop. There was a language barrier, and clearly the Asian men did not understand. Now, I was sitting very close to these tables, we had been at Gina's for a good half hour or so, and none of us could smell cigarette smoke. So, there was this ridiculous altercation about this alleged smoking. The staff had to come out a few times to referee. The Asian men were trying to explain that it was a misunderstanding and that they didn't realize that they weren't allowed to smoke on the patio. The response? The white men told them to "go smoke in Seoul."
Deep inside, I felt this intense anger. Now, I would like to think that I could have been brave enough to stand up for this injustice and expose this blatant racism. Would this have been the right thing to do? Did my silence imply consent? I didn't do anything. I can only imagine what could have happened had I intervened. I could have said something, but should I have said something? What would I have said? In the end, the Gina's staff came out once again, gave gift certificates to all 4 men and sent them on their way.
Last night I was reminded of our racial differences, tensions, and some people's ignorance. I had memories of how my citizenship and my right to belong in the United States have been questioned. How it was assumed that I didn't speak English and that I did speak an Asian language. How people wondered how I could possibly be an American, because aren't Americans supposed to be white? How people wondered where I was really from. How the former president of the UC Regents insisted that I learn to speak Korean. How my competence and intelligence comes into question because of my race.
We try to convince ourselves that we are color blind, but we are not. If the alleged smokers were white instead of Asian, would the 2 white men have bullied them too? If I could do it over again, I would have jumped in the conversation and helped these white men think of all the places in the world that these Asian men could go to smoke. Like France. Or England. I would have used the opportunity to gently and inadvertently point out their hostile racism. This is the easy part: thinking about what I would have said and how it would have played out. Anyway, it turns out that the white men were police officers. I alerted the Gina's staff and informed them of the racial slur. They got their badge numbers and planned to report them. We'll see what happens.
Deep inside, I felt this intense anger. Now, I would like to think that I could have been brave enough to stand up for this injustice and expose this blatant racism. Would this have been the right thing to do? Did my silence imply consent? I didn't do anything. I can only imagine what could have happened had I intervened. I could have said something, but should I have said something? What would I have said? In the end, the Gina's staff came out once again, gave gift certificates to all 4 men and sent them on their way.
Last night I was reminded of our racial differences, tensions, and some people's ignorance. I had memories of how my citizenship and my right to belong in the United States have been questioned. How it was assumed that I didn't speak English and that I did speak an Asian language. How people wondered how I could possibly be an American, because aren't Americans supposed to be white? How people wondered where I was really from. How the former president of the UC Regents insisted that I learn to speak Korean. How my competence and intelligence comes into question because of my race.
We try to convince ourselves that we are color blind, but we are not. If the alleged smokers were white instead of Asian, would the 2 white men have bullied them too? If I could do it over again, I would have jumped in the conversation and helped these white men think of all the places in the world that these Asian men could go to smoke. Like France. Or England. I would have used the opportunity to gently and inadvertently point out their hostile racism. This is the easy part: thinking about what I would have said and how it would have played out. Anyway, it turns out that the white men were police officers. I alerted the Gina's staff and informed them of the racial slur. They got their badge numbers and planned to report them. We'll see what happens.
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