Nguyen

OPINION COLUMN Racism: it’s not a big deal to me ... so why is it for you?

Peter Nguyen NGU02002@BYUI.EDU Angry Asian

I’m not trying to be flippant, and I’m not trying to be dumb and insensitive. However, I am who I am, so it’s not like I have to try too hard to do something that comes natural.

One of the things that comes naturally to me is being Asian. I don’t have to work too hard, and it’s something I’m good at.

In fact, I used to attend this one Vietnamese Sunday School (I’ve since changed religions but I’ve found switching races is much harder), where I actually won awards for being good at being Asian. No joke.

During this career as an Asian (I love my career, but it takes up my entire day) I’ve actually been the target of racial discrimination. In Portland, I’ve had condescending racial stereotypes shouted out towards me (this may sound weird, but I really do hate Asian drivers).

I’ve even had someone I love very much directly tell me that I was inferior to whites. Yeah, you read it right. It’s the year 2005, I was living in Portland, which is a liberal city, and someone I loved said that I was less than them.

The point of my article is in my reaction to that event.

What did I do about this blatant racial prejudice? I did absolutely nothing. I didn’t let it bother me. I didn’t become a victim. They were wrong and I moved on. I’m living my life.

I know it seems pretty straightforward and mundane but that’s how it was and that’s how it should be. I’m tired of all this talk about inequality.

Trial and difficulty is the plight of life. God declared in the Bible that by the sweat of our faces shall we eat our bread. No one lives this life without some sorrow; it’s part of the plan.

There was a time when generally only the white man got a fair shot at anything here in America.

Well, by and large that has changed. Actually, it’s gone the other direction; the pendulum has swung the other way.

Nowadays it’s the “man” who seems to be blamed for every bad thing that happens. It’s gone so far the other way that you’ve got ignorant white folk protesting in the behalf of people of color who’ve asked for help. Now that’s insulting!

Look, there was a time when blacks here in America had no hope, no rights and no voice. Where are we now?

If there was even a flicker of racism, within a day you’d have the Congressional Black Caucus, Jesse Jackson and the entire West and East coasts up in arms.

Even here at BYU-Idaho I feel like I’ve been put into a different subset in need of someone’s special protection and love.

It’s time that we leave racial topics and move on to better and more important things like more government funding for college, because I don’t think I should have to earn the money I use to pay for school but let’s leave that for another day.