Grace Lee Boggs’ article discussed the many Asian minority
groups working together to approach their struggles of racism and imperialism
in a sane way. I thought it was very interesting and cool when Boggs stated
that “the very concepts of Asian Americans and the discipline of Asian American
studies were born out of the struggles of the 1960s when the civil rights and
Black Power movements and the struggles of the Vietnamese people made Chinese
Americans, Filipino Americans, and Japanese Americans (the main population
groups in that period) realize that the time had come for them to stop being
model minorities and identify themselves as Asian Americans in order to expand
and deepen the struggle against racism and imperialism” (Boggs, 1). This
article, and this passage in particular, reminded me of the stories of my mom
and dad, who both grew up in Vietnam
during the Vietnam War. When they both fled the war and started living in America , they
both faced racial discrimination and hate because of the war and the ignorance
of people during the time. Even relatively recently I witnessed discrimination
towards my dad, as my dad was walking too slowly because he was somewhat
elderly. A man was walking closely behind my dad because my dad was walking
slowly. The man then passed my dad and walking away said, “Go back to Hong Kong !” I was about to chase after the man, but my
dad stopped me. In the distance, a man from almost every race, from white to
black, grabbed the man and demanded that he apologize to my dad for his racist
comments. This article reminded me of this moment and serves as a testament as
to how far America
and Americans have come from their racially charged past.
- Timothy Huynh
Section A01
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