An ad for the movie Pitch Perfect. Is this how Americans think of Asians?

Recently I went to see a movie called “Pitch Perfect” with Emanuele, one of my best American friends.

“How did you feel about that?” she asked me on our way to the parking lot. We pushed the door and walked into freezing wind.

“Well, yes I think that is pretty much it. It’s true,” I said.

I knew exactly what she was asking.

In the movie there are two Asian girls: One speaks in a really quiet voice and has a weird accent; the other only hangs out with people from her own country and hates American food and culture. It feels like they are so different and somehow crazy.

“That is how some Americans think of Asians, right?” I asked.

“Well, to some degree, yes,” my friend Emanuele said. She said some Americans don’t like Asians because they don’t understand them. “Sometimes they don’t even know anybody from Asia,” she said. “They learned it from movies and other pop culture.”

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A multicolored student body (Creative Commons photo by Flickr user airsoenxen)

Being in a multiracial environment changes how you view yourself and the world. Whatever your race is, when you are surrounded by people of another race, you become more aware of your color, your looks, your accent, and the people who you ‘belong to.‘

You start to see that the world is divided by subtle differences, study then learn to acknowledge those differences, and eventually start to appreciate the great diversity that surrounds you.

Growing up, I was only exposed to people of white skin. I had barely even met people of another color. One of my main motivations for studying in the United States was the multiracial environment the country offers, which I knew would be a new kind of challenge. I was looking forward to getting a better understanding of how different races interact, and seeing how I would react in a multiracial environment. And while I knew this could mean seeing negative examples of race relations as well, I didn’t really have an idea beyond what I had seen in media of how racism manifests.

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I never expected to be a victim of hate speech at a progressive institution like Bates College.  I had heard hate speech before – “Bitch!” “Fag!” “Nigger!” “Cracker!” – but it was always something people shrugged off, convincing ourselves it was okay because we did not want to speak up.  It was a traumatizing experience when, for the first time in my short life, someone used a racial slur directly at me.

It was a Saturday night and my roommates and I were chatting when a young lady walked into our room. I had seen her at one of the many orientation programs for incoming students and we sometimes hung out on her floor. Except for those encounters and the occasional hellos we exchanged around campus, I did not know her. She waved hello to us from the doorway and then closed the door to our room to chat to her friends who were outside.

A few seconds later, I laughed at something one of my roommates had said and I guess she thought I was laughing at her because she walked back into the room, looked at me, and asked, “Why are you laughing, nigger?”

It took my mind a few seconds to process what had happened. Then it registered. She had used a racial slur and it was directed to me. Realizing the gravity of the matter, her girlfriends forcefully pulled her out of our room. I was left upset and confused.

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America is a country where you can find incredible diversity, but also racial and cultural prejudices.  In their time as international students, our bloggers have confronted stereotypes about their own country and had their own preconceptions about other countries challenged.

Like we did last year, and earlier this year, a bunch of us hopped on the phone over the weekend to chat about whatever was on our mind about studying in the U.S.  But this time, the conversation turned in particular to racial and ethnic issues, driven by this question that we received on our Facebook page:

What is your view to the relationship between Asian students and black American students?

We ended up having a wide-ranging discussion about stereotypes and prejudices – both the ones we’ve encountered and the ones we hold ourselves.  In particular, Simba and Alex discussed the negative or uninformed perception of Africans in America, and the responsibility of African students to help change the narrative.

Take a listen and then share your own opinion.  What stereotypes have you had to confront about people from your country? Have you ever had your own misconceptions about another culture challenged?

Or listen to the mp3

Many of our bloggers have brought up that one of the things they’ve been most pleased to find in America is diversity – people from all over the world and people with all sorts of beliefs and preferences. But Martin Luther King Day yesterday serves as a reminder that America has a difficult history, and ongoing struggles, when it comes to accepting people from different backgrounds.

This week we’ll be looking at prejudice and tolerance on American campuses – what prejudices you might encounter and which ones you’ve heard about that aren’t true at all. What have you heard about how different races, religions and ethnicities are treated in America? Would you be worried about how U.S. students would accept you?

We’ll look in particular at what it’s like to come to America as a Muslim. I recently received the following message from a student on Facebook:

I really want to study abroad, to America of course… Actually, my boss would probably pick Aussie for us as most of them had studied there, but I need to go further than that

But, the “jilbab” that I wear quite worry me, I hope American people wouldn’t bother it at all for a moeslim girl like me study and live in their neighbourhood

I wanted to write back and say, “Of course it wouldn’t be a problem.” But the reality is probably more complicated.

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The University of Colorado Independent talks to students about their views on France’s decision to ban the burqa and niqab in public.  The CU students interviewed seem to feel that the ban infringes on personal freedoms.

The issue of religious attire on college campuses has been raised all over the world, including recently in Syria, where niqabs were banned at state schools (UPDATE: Turkey is another country where hijabs are banned at universities.  Global Post reports on some Turkish students and universities that are flouting the ban).  The U.S. is no exception. Earlier this year the Massachussets College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences attempted to institute a ban on wearing anything that covered the face, but ended up allowing exemptions for religious attire.

Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
Alexander Pope, Letter to Gay, October 6, 1727
English poet & satirist (1688 – 1744)

Yes, of all the emotions that I have experienced since my arrival in America, disappointment is the greatest. Of course, I had not expected to see money trees lining the highways. Neither had I anticipated to walk on golden streets or to bump into Beyonce Knowles in Dunkin’ Donuts but still whenever I remind myself that I am finally in America, I cannot help but repress a despondent sigh. So this is America? I feel so let down.

Prior to my departure from Zimbabwe, I had braced myself for the worst type of racism one can ever experience. The tales of woe that some returning students shared fueled my fears: One student confessed that no one wanted to share a seat with her on the bus simply because she was black. Another told me about her biology professor, an openly racist man who would laud praise on her white research partner for an experiment that they had done together. The list goes on, with each story more mortifying than the last.

As a result, I arrived at Yale University full of apprehension. I immediately befriended fellow heavily accented freshmen from Africa and stuck by them. After all, we were going to go through the same ordeal together.

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