Interestingly enough my older girl had been teased about being Chinese over time in her elementary. (I had not understood the extent of it, though she had shared it with me. And I wasn't as quick on the draw as I might be today in understanding the visceral level of the teasing -- pulling at their eyes and saying nonsense 'Chinese' like ching chong.) One day it reached a head and she cried. I think this might have been 2nd grade. The boys were talked to by the teacher, the principal, and had to write letters of apology, and their parents were talked to.
Two days ago, my younger Chinese girl came home (3rd g) and handed me a sheaf of letters, of you guessed it, the same thing. The boys involved had to write her letters of apology. They had teased her, another Chinese girl (who lives with her bio parents) and a Japanese-American girl (also living with her bio parents.) They had all cried (I'm not sure about my daughter.) (BTW, she never mentioned once that she was being teased. From what she says this morning they may not have. It's hard to tell.) (I imagine the boys had to write individual letters of apology to all the girls they teased.)
So being teased for being non-white is not as uncommon as you might think. And our children are not the new-white, even if we might have thought that prior to parenting an Asian child. We as Caucasians cannot appreciate the amount of racism that exists, even as teasing, unless we open our hearts and minds to the possibility.
It's one thing to be teased for the many things I was teased for as a child, but it is different to be teased for the essence of who you are that cannot be changed. It is not the same.
Have you been teased as a child for not being white? or has/have your child/ren?
Karin
Originally posted 2007-03-17 07:44:21.
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