"It's the RACISTS!!!"
So recently there were three weirdo incidences at our place.
1) a racoon left some excrement on the lower back porch
2) one morning there was a neat pile of leaves left on our front porch
3) there was graffiti in chalk on our garage door.
So my dad's immediate reaction was "it's racists who hate us for moving into this neighbourhood!!! i know it! it's the racists who do this!"
After PP and I had a secret and private laugh about it (Can raccoons detect that we are Chinese? Racist racoons!!) we admitted that based on my dad's previous experience, that legitimately can be his impression of Canadian upper middle-class neighbourhoods. For example, our neighbour from our childhood home came over one day and told my mother to her face that she hated us because of our name. Growing up my dad was occasionally told that he was not welcome in the neighbourhood. As time passed, people either died, moved away, or got used to us (as more of "us" moved in).
That being said, PP and I were lucky enough to be mostly unaffected in our childhood. There were incidences but quite distant in our memory. And in my personal life, I would say that it has almost become a non-issue. Almost...
This is Mei-Mei, age 7. Her family recently moved to Canada from China. Mei-mei's family and mine are quite close. Her parents are a brave young couple who decided to give up luxury to struggle for their children's future.
Since Mei-Mei's arrival, the kids in her class have systematically thrown her lunch around, squished her lunch to bits and have torn up her permission slips so that she had none to take home for her mother to sign. Why? Because she is new and different. Her English is basic and the kids know. The kids in her class decided to pick on her because she isn't the same as they are. It brings tears to my eyes because I had hoped that the 21 years between her age and mine would have brought about change. It frustrates and angers me because she is a sweet child who did nothing to deserve the taunting and torture.
My prayer for her is that this trying time will make her stronger and that she can draw her self-confidence from her family's love.
So recently there were three weirdo incidences at our place.
1) a racoon left some excrement on the lower back porch
2) one morning there was a neat pile of leaves left on our front porch
3) there was graffiti in chalk on our garage door.
So my dad's immediate reaction was "it's racists who hate us for moving into this neighbourhood!!! i know it! it's the racists who do this!"
After PP and I had a secret and private laugh about it (Can raccoons detect that we are Chinese? Racist racoons!!) we admitted that based on my dad's previous experience, that legitimately can be his impression of Canadian upper middle-class neighbourhoods. For example, our neighbour from our childhood home came over one day and told my mother to her face that she hated us because of our name. Growing up my dad was occasionally told that he was not welcome in the neighbourhood. As time passed, people either died, moved away, or got used to us (as more of "us" moved in).
That being said, PP and I were lucky enough to be mostly unaffected in our childhood. There were incidences but quite distant in our memory. And in my personal life, I would say that it has almost become a non-issue. Almost...
This is Mei-Mei, age 7. Her family recently moved to Canada from China. Mei-mei's family and mine are quite close. Her parents are a brave young couple who decided to give up luxury to struggle for their children's future.
Since Mei-Mei's arrival, the kids in her class have systematically thrown her lunch around, squished her lunch to bits and have torn up her permission slips so that she had none to take home for her mother to sign. Why? Because she is new and different. Her English is basic and the kids know. The kids in her class decided to pick on her because she isn't the same as they are. It brings tears to my eyes because I had hoped that the 21 years between her age and mine would have brought about change. It frustrates and angers me because she is a sweet child who did nothing to deserve the taunting and torture.
My prayer for her is that this trying time will make her stronger and that she can draw her self-confidence from her family's love.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home