A Little Perspective

As we were watching the film 'Crash' last week I felt myself getting very upset at what was happening to the characters, but at the same time I also felt a sense of familiarity. It was my first time seeing it, so I didn't know what to expect. I am a mix of Vietnamese (dad) and Chinese (mom), and I have always had my race associated with me for everything I do. When I was little I was always made fun of for being "Chinese". I dressed differently, I didn't know English, and I believed in Buddha. When I entered high school, that was when "it" hit me. Like a big block of fluffy tofu, if you will. After all the years of being teased for being different I came to this conclusion: People WILL say and do things without thinking, and there is really nothing you can do about it. I have experienced many racist encounters, and I think that I have a stronger awareness of the world because of this. So when I saw the film, I knew first hand what racism was, maybe not in that particular context, but I could relate and so I felt more drawn in.

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This summer I worked at Macy's in downtown, Houston. If you've been to that area then you know it is where the main concentration of the homeless are. I could have worked near home, but I choose this particular area because I knew it would be a learning experience. The class system out there was SO obvious. It was like night and day. You had the business people and then you had the homeless people. Reading the text on Classism, this was epitome of. There was the upper-class and then there was the lower class. I found it really interesting that the only time these two groups met was when they were either waiting on the bus or riding on the bus. There was a sense of knowing certain boundaries. Everyone knew to stay out of each other's way. Whenever I would go on lunch, my managers would always tell me to "be careful". At first I thought they were talking about the cars and traffic, but then I realized that they were talking about the homeless.

The point I'm trying to make is that because the division was so visible, many people were becoming self-fulfilling prophecies. 'The homeless' kept to themselves and thought so and so of the business people and 'the business people' vice versa.

As an outsider coming into the 'downtown culture' it was a very humbling experience to be able to observe the world in which we will become a part of. At one point or another we all need help, some more than others. I think that these stigmas continue to exist because we have so many reinforcements from our own culture that its hard to break the stereotypes. This type of division is present in ANY social environment. It would be up to anyone to change this, but it plays out almost as an unconscious thing.