Week 8 - Eric Gip

Eric Gip

ASA 2

11/12/17

In the article What are Asian Americans Bringing to Campus Movements for Racial Justice, I sympathized with the feeling of isolation that the members of the Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC) at Northwestern University felt. Growing up in a mainly Chinese community, I never understood what it meant to be a minority until I started volunteering at the South Sacramento Kaiser Permanente. I was the only Asian volunteer of the 5-9 pm shift and for some reason even though South Sacramento has a high Asian population, mostly only Caucasian people patients came in. I was an “ambassador” meaning I would just do whatever was needed in the hospital, this included working service desks and assisting those who needed a wheelchair.

In the late hours of working the service desk, I would often get older Caucasian ladies trying to make conversation with me while waiting for the pharmacy nearby. Among the sea of ignorant and subtle racist comments, the one that would most often appear was the stereotypical “No, where are you REALLY from.” I would try to respond respectfully and that it didn’t matter because I was more western and “not one of those Asian guys” but I shouldn’t have let it slide and corrected them.

The worst case I had was when a elderly Caucasian lady was over 250 lbs and therefore I was unable to assist her in a wheelchair due to lawsuits. Her daughter, who was in normal shape, had to push her and I lead them to their room. During this walk I was hearing comments from the older lady such as “Wow, aren’t those oriental kids supposed to be respectful to their elders?” and even had the audacity to stand up, bow to me, and say “thank you” in Mandarin when I speak Cantonese. 

Question: Does being "from a different time" really make it socially acceptable to say ignorant and disrespectful things?