FINAL

July 31, 2008
Senator Barrack Obama,
I grew up learning the eminent cliché, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” and I can say that on behalf of all the people I know. There is a reason why we have been told that over and over again in our lives because one may never know an individual’s background just by looking at them at a glance. We live in a “post-racial” society where people of color are insulted every minute due to their racial differences. I myself, in fact, have faced racial slurs and stereotypes all throughout my life.

Since most people I encounter lack knowledge about the different people that come from different places around the world, they tend to categorize people into four general groups: Asians, Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites. I was born in India however my background is Tibetan. I find many people having a hard time believing that I was born in India because I don’t look like their stereotype of Indians. Anyhow, I permanently resided in New York when I graduated from the fifth grade. I immediately began to realize that Indian students were being racially harassed on a daily basis. I was not one of them because I obviously did not look the same way as the others; however I did witness many nasty remarks that the Indian or Bengali students faced. After seeing some of the students being discriminated against, I was afraid to tell people that I was born in India, especially when I actually lived there for ten years. I was really self-conscious about where I came from and I was confused about my identity. I didn’t know whether I was Indian anymore even though a huge part of me is connected to India. People did not bother to ask me where I was from because it was a rhetorical question due to my distinguishable Asian features.

I always faced various forms of ridiculous remarks that random strangers have commented on the streets, subways, and just public areas in general. People would always look at me or my family and start speaking in a language that is supposedly Chinese. Some people even ended up saying “Konichiwa,” after calling me a “chink.” It is a bit funny sometimes because I know I am not Chinese and that’s not the language I speak and they are the ones who are making a fool of themselves especially when they were intending to say “Ni Hao”. Once I wondered to myself whether I was just considered Chinese because of the way I appeared to be. Since many people don’t know about the different varieties of Asians, they end up saying, “They all look the same anyway.” People don’t seem to consider other numerous Asian groups and sometimes it is really frustrating to hear when people consider everyone “the same.” Although we do share similar facial features, we all are not clones because each group has its own culture and lifestyle.

Since I came to America I always received one of the top grades in my class. Before that, I was an average student and I never really cared about school until the sixth grade. That’s when I began to realize the importance of education and I understood how lucky I was to have an opportunity in a country where I received a solid education for free compared to India where you had to pay for school annually. I began to work hard and I suppose it paid off in the end. My parents do pressure me to do well in school and people assume that’s the reason behind my success. My parents do push me and sometimes to the point where I get really frustrated; however that’s not the reason why I work hard in school. I don’t strive to do well because of my “Asian” parents. I mean, my parents would still be the same if I were black, white, orange, blue, or green. My family’s value of education will never change no matter how different our ethnicity could've been. I really don’t appreciate when people tell me, “Oh, you’re Asian, so you’re smart” because I want people to acknowledge my hard work and not the connotations of my appearance. Once, I finally got the courage to tell one person in my school that I was from India and he responded by asking me, “Why don’t you have that dot on your forehead?” Once again, someone didn’t fail to make a racial assumption about me.

My experiences are not even in the same category as African Americans, who experienced heart-breaking hardships; however, ultimately both groups came across several different racial insults. In “Uncle Tom’s Children,” Pease called Richard “You black son-of-a-bitch,” after he forgot to call Pease, Mr. Pease. Pease used the term “black” in a distasteful way. I find myself in the same shoes as Richard sometimes because people always tend to call me a “chink” in any given conflict, usually with a stranger. One day, for example, I was walking from school to the subway with my friends and we passed a bunch of boys who were just fooling around on the sidewalk. The next thing we knew was that my friend and I were pushed by one of the group members. I was taken aback and one of the other members responded to my surprise by saying, “I’m sorry, my fault, my fault, it was a dare. Don’t be mad.” I did get mad. He not only was acting like a jerk but he thought the situation was funny. I asked him if there was any problem and he got angry because I replied back. He then told me, “Shut up, stupid Chinese girl. Go back to China!” and that triggered me to say something unpleasant in return. I was really offended yet apathetic at the same time because he knew nothing about me. I wasn’t even from China and I thought it was really amusing because he doesn’t have the slightest clue that I am from India, not China.

Let me just lay it out there, Mr. Future President: the situation is critical. Racial stereotyping is a part of everyone to any extent and people don’t even realize it. As much as we would hate to admit it, racial assumption is like instinct to us humans. Whoever said America is a “post-racial” society is living in a life of denial. If I have faced numerous accounts of racial slurs, then so have others. Racial misconceptions are crawling inside peoples’ minds like a silent virus, damaging the relationships we have with other races. I believe we should take strong action into preventing future racial impressions. How, you may ask, should we take charge with this situation? Well, I’m not suggesting for you to pass out a law where a racial insult towards an individual leads to a fine because that is not realistic. My approach to this situation is if we can’t stop them today, let us do whatever it is in our power to prevent it from happening tomorrow. What I mean is for us to rewind and find the main causes of these racial misconceptions.

One of the major causes is the media which disseminates racial stereotypes and racist language. Television is a part of every family’s homes and “The average child spends 900 hours in school and nearly 1023 hours in front of a TV” (Kids Health). There is no telling what the child is learning from the television and he or she is obviously learning more from the screen than the teachers in school. Kids, knowing their tendency to be easily influenced, are keeping the images they viewed in their minds and are carrying it with them until they learn how to utilize it. Children are picking up on racial stereotypes at the age of three, a time where they are just beginning to learn how to walk and talk. It’s amazing how the television affects our lives because our ideas, thoughts, and actions are all connected to what we see in the media. I strongly advise that racial slurs and stereotypes be censored in the media because racial slurs and stereotyping are present in TV shows, videos, songs, movies, etc. As soon as we see them, our brain processes the information while interpreting it. Kids, who are endlessly watching television, are bound to encounter elements of racism.

So, I believe you, Mr. Future President, should take strong action into changing the paths our future generation’s decisions. Children will not grow as a person if they carry this trait with themselves. People don’t realize the impact racial stereotypes have on society’s mindset. You must advise the media into ending stereotypical roles that actors portray because people tend to direct their minds through typecasts. There is no single rule or assertion that declared those stereotypes to be true. What our children are watching on television solely impacts the way they perceive other human beings, and we don’t want them to view any individual in that manner. An educated human being knows the fallaciousness of racial stereotypes and we want our children to be headed towards that direction. There is a way for change and the future will be in your hands. So I challenge you, Mr. President, to take initiative to make the children of today better intellectual individuals of tomorrow.

Sincerely,
Tenzing Chonzom