Thursday, January 29, 2009
I thought it was funny in the first chapter of the Ronald Takaki book when he is riding in the cab and the driver asks him how long he has lived in America and Takaki replies by saying all his life. This has happened to me so many times. I was born in South Korea and adopted when I was about six months old so I have spent just about my entire life here in America. I get so many other sorts of questions from people. Just last Thanksgiving a women I work with looked to me and said, "do you parents ever make your kind of food for thanksgiving?" I looked at her confused for a second because I did not know what she meant. When I realized she what she was asking I just said no. I have never actually eaten Korean food in my entire life. I also have hadpeople ask me if I'm going back home (meaning Korea) for the holidays, people have commented on my excellent english and I have even gotten some questions concerning my parents. Many people think that just because I'm Korean, my parents are. They are actually German. I also get a lot of comments about how I must be good at math or good with computers. I just find it funny to see how people often assume so many things about you just based on your race.
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I am mix of East Indian ancestry and European(50/50%)most look at me and ask if I am Mexican and if I say I am Indian then the next question I get is "Oh what casino do you belong to?" It gets frustrating at times. But I try to tell them that the only reason Native American are called Indain is becuase of Christopher Columbus. Then I've been asked "Do your parents run a convince store?"
ReplyDeleteWhen I was young and my mom would bring me and my sisters out many people asked her "When she adopted us?" or they ask her "Are they yours?"
I love how different I am so, I am okay with helping people understand that assuming isn't the best.
People always assume things about people. Race isn't the only thing people see. People look at me and they think I eat a lot and I'm really slow or something along those lines because I'm not pocket sized. Oh well. You might say that this is different because it is something I can control, but the principle is the same. They make an assumption based on an observation. The assumption that they make springs from some sort of stereotype. Which may or may not be true in general, but can't be applied to every individual. That's just faulty logic for any situation.
ReplyDeleteThis is kind of on the subject. My mom's side of the family is Native American, and my uncle's name is Ricardo. If he was to apply for a job he has to put the name Rick on the application if he even wants a call back because the name Ricardo is of Spanish origins. He's talked about this a lot, that many employers just assume he's Mexican and all the racial stereotypes that go along with it if he puts the name Ricardo on his application.
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