More than once before my 7-year-old son has come home from school asking if he is Chinese, or does he look Chinese? Lately, he has been wondering if as he gets older, will his looks somehow change? These are innocent questions, but in the heart of the matter, I realize how crucial these questions are.
When I first came here as a child of ten, no one handed me a handbook on cultural diversity. Well, I knew this was America and the people are lighter-skinned. But there was a word I did not realize existed: Racism. I spoke English. I understood it very well. Back in the Philippines, they taught in English at the schools. What was the difference? Naturally, as a child it never occurred to me people can feel different about you because of the color of your skin.
Racism is like a dark cloud that hangs overhead. For most Filipinos because they are professionals, there may not be direct evidence of it. However, there is always that looming feeling. The majority of Filipino parents are probably stuck on the cultural and generation gap issue, few would have given much thought on equipping their children with the appropriate psyche for head-on racist encounters.
Personally, I have struggled with it my whole life. Initially, I had known something was different. I had to define it before l could deal with it. This process took all of two decades and is ongoing. Now, I can only hope and pray that I would have enough wisdom to pass on to my sons so that they will know how to handle it.
I have come to understand that racism is rooted in ignorance. It has always been a fact. Knowing is one thing but understanding it is another thing. People tend to fear the different and unknown, instead of embracing the opportunity to learn further about the dynamics of humanity. Human nature? Perhaps. But there is always a choice. You can either let this eat you up inside, or you can confront it. You can either befriend the offender and enlighten that individual, or you can just walk away. One must also be careful of reverse discrimination. Just because the other person is fair-skinned does not mean they are automatically racist.
The America my sons are growing up in has actually come a long way from the America I knew. If there is any place in the world that might be the Utopia for mutual respect among diverse cultures, America has the best chances of achieving it. The public school systems are developing lesson plans that incorporate "diversity awareness" that would teach the children respect of each other despite of differences in heritage. That is a huge start, but the road ahead is still long.
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