Today’s topic: race.
:::
My parents, who came to America from Korea in their 20s, owned a jewelry store. As a kid, I spent much of my time there helping out. One day, two teenage girls were browsing the display cases. They wasted my time asking to look at this and that, and I obliged because that was my job. At one point one of the girls fiddled with her bracelet and accidentally dropped it in the crack between two display cases. I told her to hold on, and asked my Dad if he had something long with which to it fish it out. He walked back over to the girls to take a look, and then asked them something I did not hear as I searched for a rescue tool.
One of them answered, “Ching chong chong chong?” They looked at each other and laughed hysterically.
It felt cathartic writing it (and a bit emotional so excuse the incoherence), but felt a little weird posting it on Parenting as opposed to Kimchi Mamas. I’m feeling a little bit exposed there as opposed to the safe havens that are Kimchi Mamas and this blog.
However, I suspect part of the reason I was hired in the first place was because of my minority status. So… there it is. My token post about race.
8 Comments
Great post, thank you for sharing.
the image of you, standing with your father and facing those young ignorant girls is absolutely haunting… i want to say so much, but i’m absolutely speechless… your painful memories brought mine to the surface (not a bad thing)…
you and your post’ll be on my mind all day.
But Parenting is exactly where this post belongs! I understand why you’d feel more comfortable with it on Kimchi Mamas, but I hope that more and more people will be able to understand how minorities feel when these types of slurs are used instead of telling them to “get over it” or acting like it shouldn’t be a big deal. You’re my hero, halfmama!
Beautiful job. I hope you post the link over at Kimchi Mamas.
I felt the same way posting on BlogRhet–a little intimidated and exposed. But Beloved is write, Parenting is EXACTLY where this needs to be.
I meant *right* in the comment above.
I actually do know how to spell. In English.
Fantastic post, HM. Very much hit home with me. Enjoyed reading it from your perspective.
I agree - cross post it with KM but more parents (and people in general) need to understand this too. Hope you get lots of readers today.
I read you here and at Parenting and I think your posts are amazing. I don’t think you got the job because you are a minority, I think it’s because you area great writer, and you are an inspirational mom.