Enough is enough, the racial discrimination I have encountered living in America is something that we as a country need to fight against. I believe this will make the world a better place and prevent our future generations from having to encounter this hatefulness. Growing up I had one parent who was Laotian and another who was African American. My mom, who is an African American woman, met my dad, a Laotian man, at a restaurant called Steak and Shake when she was a waitress there. They later had me, their biracial daughter, who they were happy to bring to the world.
Being biracial was something I didn’t acknowledge about myself until I got to middle school. I didn’t really understand what race was in elementary school nor did I know what biracial meant. I was naive about the concept of race and never really paid attention to how some people were different colors than others. I only saw kids as people and the color of their skin never crossed my mind as a child, I was basically colorblind in terms of social aspects. Nevertheless, racial stereotypes never crossed my mind and I never assumed anything based off the color of one’s skin.
When I was in middle school, I started encountering other kids directing racial stereotypes towards me and others. That is when I began to open my eyes to the racial problems of society. Many kids in my school and people outside would ask me what race I was and then bully me after I told them. They would mention racial stereotypes suggesting I can’t see well because I am part Asian or that I should be able to dance because I’m part black. During my time in middle school, I also would hear racist slurs such as the N word, an offensive term for black people and offensive terms for Asian people such as the word Chink. Upon first hearing of these slurs, I didn’t understand what people meant by these things and why they were so funny to them. My parents ended up informing me about them after I asked. Finally, I saw the racist people in the world who have so much hate in their hearts to respect someone solely because they look different.
My childhood was very difficult as I had to adjust to different cultures from different points of view. On my father’s side, my Laotian family follows a Buddhist religion while my African American Family is Christian. I would go to church with my mother while my paternal grandma would take me to the temple. I always felt that I had to choose one of two of the religions which was very hard considering I could upset one of my two family sides. It was hard for me to feel like I fit in with both sides of my family due to the fact I was only half of each.
When my grandma would take me to dance at the temple, I always had a hard time adjusting to the environment since I was the only biracial girl there while everyone else was fully Laotian. It made me feel left out since my hair wasn’t as straight and I was much darker than the others. One of my cousins from my dad’s side would talk about how they were uncomfortable around black people which really upset me being part black however, me only being part meant it wasn’t as bad to my cousin. Some of my family members from my mom’s side would say stereotypical things about Asian people such as they eat cats, a well-known stereotype of Asian people. My parents and grandparents were perfectly happy with the other family, but it was obvious certain family members didn’t agree that my parents married someone of the opposite race. It made me feel embarrassed to be biracial, I felt that if I was just one race everything would be so much easier.
Despite the racial injustices and discrimination, I had to face during my childhood, my parents and most of my family always made sure I felt loved. They reminded me that I was a beautiful person who can succeed in life if I work hard. Anytime someone gave me a hard time because of my race, my family was always there to support me and let me know that those people still have a lot to learn. They reminded me that even though I will encounter bad people in the world, there will always be those with kind hearts. The type of people who don’t care about what someone looks like, but that their character inside is what matters the most.
- The Injustice of Both Sides – by Alexis Mountry - April 6, 2024