Being Chinese in a brown school — No one cares anymore

I had noticed a disturbing trend at my school. The teachers and the curriculum don’t care enough to focus on any East Asia countries. I’m lucky to be Chinese. It gets the most attention of the East Asia countries. But, if you’re from a country like Vietnam, good luck getting any representation.

The lack of people talking about Asians and how they’re a minority as well is astonishing. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of content on Asian racism. But, the problem is, nobody cares about them.

Our school loves putting up “Eid Mubarak” for Muslims. It also puts up “Happy Holi” for those who celebrate Holi. This is amazing, and the school should continue. Yet, during the Lunar New Year, there was nothing. Not a single person was saying “Happy Lunar New Year”.

During Asian Heritage Month (May), which I’m certain many of you were unaware of, only one teacher cared enough to display posters of various significant Asian individuals (not a lesson or discussion though).

Now I know I sound like just a ton of complaining. This is true. I complain a lot about this. The problem is, despite the fact that I’m in a Brown school, this happens everywhere across the western world. Asians are a minority, but they’re not the important minority.

With diversity hires, we rarely see companies or universities picking Asians. Harvard has quadrupled the ability for African Americans to get into Harvard. I think that’s great. They’ve only made it harder for Asian Americans.

If you’re Asian, you know and have felt this way before (most likely). I’m politically liberal and think that the BLM movement and others are great. The problem is that society doesn’t care enough about every race. It only cares about the races that will make them look good if they protect.

In my grade at this brown school, there are the same number of East Asia people and Black Asians. Black Asians are a tiny minority. East Asians make up a large part of Ontario’s population.

Racism towards Asians is especially prevalent in my school. People make racist jokes all the time. They call out stereotypes, whether or not they’re true, with no self-control.

Humour like “when will my SHEIN package arrive” may seem funny, but it touches on a serious issue. It’s not okay to make jokes like this, but at my school, they’re a common occurrence.

The Covid-19 pandemic increased racism against Asians. It was especially hard on the Chinese, who faced social racism and physical harm for those still in China. It’s disappointing and sad.

I laugh off these jokes. I cite how they’re funny and how I’m “not offended”. I even make these jokes with other Chinese friends. But society as a whole has this problem and they’re not trying to fix it.

In the end, Asians don’t matter anymore. We’re not the minority that’s important.

The world still cares about Asians, though. We still exist to the world.

Many Asians fear standing up for themselves. Stereotypes are usually positive. We don’t want to tell them that we don’t want to be stereotyped.

People from Vietnam, the Philippines or a smaller country can have an especially hard time. I used the phrase “Lunar New Year” with purpose earlier. In reality, most teachers would say “Chinese New Year” instead of the more inclusive “Lunar New Year”.

The world can change, though.

Schools should teach more about Asian heritage and culture. East Asia countries, particularly smaller ones, face inadequate respect amidst the racism we recieve. Eyes turn to the black or Latino community, while Asians receive as much racism as they do.

I believe in equal rights for everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or Asian, gay or straight, Christian or Muslim. Everyone should treat others the same regardless of their culture, race, or religion.

Bring awareness out into the world. You’ve made it this far, you’ve helped as well. As far as I know, we can all do something together to make the world a better place.

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