"the white man's burden" photo taken at the philippine history month exhibition at asian art museum in san francisco
this is an email that alvin, a very good (and critical) friend, bcc'ed me on today. more power to him for having the courage to speak truth to his feelings and for standing up for OUR community. ma-ki-ba-ka! h'wag ma-ta-kot!
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Dear family and friends,
Today, as I woke up late to catch up to study for my 2 midterms this afternoon, I find myself compelled to deal with frustration as I sit in MCC. Walking down Bancroft Avenue, it's a nice day, people are strolling on the sidewalk. A young white male, probably in his midteens, stands outside Jamba Juice, wearing an Asian farmer hat, you know, the one like Raiden wears, or that is traditionally associated with day farm laborers in SE Asia, brought his hands to his heart and instead of bowing forward leaned back and smiled at myself, a passerby, and his circled group of friends.
Today, as I woke up late to catch up to study for my 2 midterms this afternoon, I find myself compelled to deal with frustration as I sit in MCC. Walking down Bancroft Avenue, it's a nice day, people are strolling on the sidewalk. A young white male, probably in his midteens, stands outside Jamba Juice, wearing an Asian farmer hat, you know, the one like Raiden wears, or that is traditionally associated with day farm laborers in SE Asia, brought his hands to his heart and instead of bowing forward leaned back and smiled at myself, a passerby, and his circled group of friends.
I immediately am offended a world and tides over, and walk a few steps, then decide to turn around and tell his ass off. I politely ask whether he recognized that his actions were racially offensive, whether he realized his choice in attire participated in sensitive stereotypes that also hedge on larger discourses of war, diaspora, and ignorance. I tell him I am personally offended, turn around, and walk away. At first he tries to play cool and say no, but I think the sincerity of my voice was strong enough to help this racist young man that I am quite seriously offended, and I would hope that he has learned some lesson, even if its to second guess his future racially-offensive act.
So here I am, irritable and disgruntled, that somewhere like UC Berkeley campus someone would have the audacity to act in such a way, and that of all the people around that corner of Bancroft and Telegraph that no one else had told him off.
Please remain vigilant about the world around you, there are still some ill-informed individuals who whether they realize or not, are performing violences against our community. That being said, I encourage everyone to attend the Blurring Borders event at the MCC tonight, at 6pm. It's about AB540 students, so hopefully we can all learn a little about the many sensitivities within our own and others' communities.
Isang bagsak,
Alvin
So here I am, irritable and disgruntled, that somewhere like UC Berkeley campus someone would have the audacity to act in such a way, and that of all the people around that corner of Bancroft and Telegraph that no one else had told him off.
Please remain vigilant about the world around you, there are still some ill-informed individuals who whether they realize or not, are performing violences against our community. That being said, I encourage everyone to attend the Blurring Borders event at the MCC tonight, at 6pm. It's about AB540 students, so hopefully we can all learn a little about the many sensitivities within our own and others' communities.
Isang bagsak,
Alvin
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