I'm not white. I'm Asian. Filipino to be exact. (Phew, finally came out of the closet on that! I can finally be my 'true' self living an 'authentic' life!) My parents immigrated from the Philippines in the mid 1970s. My mother is from Quezon City; my father from Iloilo. In a way they're FOBs (Fresh Off the Boat), though I would never call them that, but just for the context of this post I'll use it, and instead they're FOAs (Fresh Off the Airplane).
Here's a map -
The conversation went like this (we're all of Asian descent):
Person A: America is rather racist.
Person B: I agree. It's a white man's club with those benefiting from white-privilege.
Me: I don't necessarily agree. I honestly think you're race baiting. I mainly attended formal schooling till university in an area that was mostly blue-collar. If you weren't a Polish, Irish or Mexican immigrant then you were, what I'd call, an "All-American" family. These were white folks. Such families weren't what you'd all hicks, but they weren't what you'd label "enlightened" or cultured. These people worked jobs as carpenters, nurse assistants, elementary teachers/assistants, electricians, cops, plumbers, construction workers, cashiers, hair dressers etc. Rarely did you find a parent with a white collared job or in fields such as medicine, entertainment or engineering. I also went to university in a small Midwest city - no more than 20, 000 people - three hours away from the closest cosmopolitan city. The city right next to it was approximately held about 18, 000 people, about a ten minute drive away. The job makeup was similar to the blue collar neighborhood that I attend elementary and high school. In my entire time around such groups I rarely experienced any direct, legit racism. Same with my siblings and parents. Same with the other few Asians kids that resided in the neighborhood. In elementary school when my mom gave me egg rolls for lunch they were gone within minutes, not because they were stolen, but because my white classmates were intrigued and wanted to try - so I let them try. When I brought in food that didn't resemble the typical *American PB and J sandwich, or a cheese & baloney on white, they'd surround my desk with curiosity and asked what I was eating. When I did extracurricular activities all the coaches/leaders were of blue-collar backgrounds and not once did they give us or our parents a hard time simply because we weren't white.
Person B: What, you think what I say is a conspiracy? Everyday people are held back because of their skin color. This country was founded on killing the Native Indians and was built on the labor of blacks - they were beaten, killed and looked at as half humans - second class citizens at best. You have benefited from your club of white friends and are too scared to question your adopted white-privilege. Your experience doesn't discredit what I said before (he talked about America being racist with its early history). Please, I am not moved by your biased story.
Person A:Well you're either (A) not Asian and lying, (B) been studying too much and weren't aware of your surroundings or (C) attended school in a really nice town.
Me: I'm am Asian (told them about my parents) and not lying. I didn't study "too much" that left me unaware of my "oddity" and racism. Heck, I studied sociology in university which leans towards the whole "minorities are oppressed and hated" narrative. As I said before all the surroundings I've attended formal schooling were in blue-collar neighborhoods. In fact, during my university years I mentored a young boy - no older than 10 - that came from a family that was a few thousand dollars above the poverty line. His dad was a truck driver and mom was studying to be an x-ray technician. I never experienced anything racist from them (the boy had two three older siblings, he was the youngest) or anything racially insensitive. They were curious about me. Even in present day, as my job mostly surrounds me with upper-middle class people, mostly white, I haven't felt anything racist towards me or have experience and direct racism.
This perfectly sums up my feelings towards Person A and Person B:
*I rarely brought a PB & J sandwich to school; I never ate a baloney & cheese on white till a few years ago. Any "Americana" school sandwich had to be requested to my mom, and since she wasn't all well-versed in American food (didn't know how to eat mash potatoes with gravy) the chances were slim to get that request. If she did honor it the sandwich would be "Asia-fide" aka Not American.
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