Catfish and Mandala II Racism and Racial

Catfish and Mandala II

Racism

Racism and racial relations are something unavoidable for a person coming and living in the United States; whether one is an immigrant or a temporary visitor. In Catfish and Mandala, Andrew X Pham says: "Since the day Chi ran away, I have wondered how utterly alone she felt. I have wanted to run away the way she did. In the years it took me to become an American, I haven't been able to answer the one question that remained framed in my mind from the day she left: How did America treat Chi, one vulnerable yellow in a sea of white faces?" (Pham, Catfish and Mandala, p. 33). In this passage, Pham explains what it is to live in America as an Asian immigrant. Pham suggests here that one of the reasons his sister escaped was the racism of her social environment, in addition to problems she had with her family. Pham is also explains the fundamentals of racial politics in America when it comes to the lives and experiences of Asian-Americans. The relations between Asians Americans and European-Americans are shaped by the notion that the former are "yellow" and that the latter are "white." In the rest of the book, Pham explains how this fundamental color distinction always affects his life in America. His employer calls him an "oriental" who is supposed to work hard, be obedient, and excel (p. 25). While traveling across America, he encounters people who show him their middle-fingers, suggesting that he should "go home." Pham tried hard to become a full-fledged American, but he could not fully succeed because of the question of racism returned again and again. Despite his struggles, he remained in America "a Jap, a Chin, a gook" (p. 244). He could not escape from that.

Racism in America may have waned since the days of Pham's arrival to the United States but racial stereotyping is still pretty much the norm. This is something I have been experiencing during the last two and half years of living in America. My life is not exactly as Pham's. I am not an immigrant and I did not come here with my family. I was not forced out of my country; I came here voluntarily, hoping to get a good quality education. And I have not experienced the crude racism described by Pham in Catfish and Mandala. Nevertheless, I could not escape the racial stereotyping. I am still a kind of "yellow" in America in "a sea of white faces," as Pham explains. Every time I meet a new person, he or she makes it clear by his/her facial gesture or the rolling of his/her eyes that their interlocutor is a foreigner. The conversation immediately turns into my "original background." My physiology makes it clear in America that I am a "foreigner." I am indeed a foreigner, a Korean student whose family lives in South Korea. I am just here to study accounting at a community college and then hopefully move to a four-year college later in my life. But the idea that I can never become an American if I wanted to just because of my physical look really peeves me. I have not been in a situation where my fellow Americans insulted me or suggested that I should "go home." But they also expect me to behave in a certain way, eat certain food, and many of them are surprised to learn that I am Christian, not Buddhist. Another experience from Pham's life that resonates with my own life experience is the way "all Asians" are viewed as one nation. People in America often assume that the Japanese, the Koreans, and the Chinese are "all the same." But fortunately, I have had many good memories here, too, and I do not necessarily want to escape from this society.