G-block – Auditorium: Asian American Experience

In the G-block assembly “Asian-Americans at BHS,” student panelists shared their personal experiences. The panel was moderated by senior Radha Patel and included seniors Julia Finnerty, Manjot Singh, Kazuto Nishimori, Izzy Meyers, Alex Xu and Ivy Yu, and junior Elena Stotts-Lee.

The first speaker was Finnerty, who is half Korean and half White and identifies as mixed-race. She started off by listing all the stereotypes she is used to dealing with, although she doesn’t speak Korean or celebrate Korean holidays. Finnerty also talked about the time she first felt offended by stereotypes about Asians. She was in middle school and boys in her grade would sing the song “Ima Korean” by Rucka Rucka Ali. These boys would joke that parts of the song, which make fun of Koreans, describe her. Finnerty ended by addressing the lack of mention about major Asian movements in social studies textbooks that are a part of the high school curriculum.

Singh, who is of both Indian and Asian descent, spoke next. Singh said that she felt that Indians are neglected in racial conversations and is torn between her Indian heritage and her Asian heritage.

Next, Xu, Yu and Stotts-Lee presented their film, entitled “The Asian-American Experience at BHS,” which was made for their Social Justice action project. It touched on people’s opinions on the lack of Asians in racial conversations and struggles with stereotypes. They said they made the documentary to educate people on the experiences of Asian-Americans at the high school. The film had several sections: ‘Instances of Racism towards Asian Americans at BHS’, ‘the “Positive Stereotype”‘, ‘Racial Consciousness’, ‘Talking about Race’ and ‘Our Story’. “When you don’t live up to (positive) stereotypes, you can disappoint yourself,” Dean Brian Poon said in the section called Positive Stereotypes. The video ended with a powerful message that said “WE ARE SPEAKING UP.”

The next speaker was Nishimori, who was born in Tokyo, Japan and has spent nine years living in Japan and nine years in the United States. Nishimori explained how he hates saying his name because “it brings so much cultural baggage.” He said that he was in the English Language Learners program at Michael Driscoll School and was pulled out of normal classes for half of the school day. This made the immersion experience even harder for him socially.

The last speaker was Meyers, who spoke about her struggles being an Asian-American adopted into a White family. Meyers said she knew she was adopted early on from the adoption books in her house and the way people stared at her when she was with her parents. She said that when her mother came into to her school to talk about adoption, the kids were very curious about how the process and what it was like. Questions asked by her peers ranged from “Do you know your real family?” to “Were you not wanted?”