In Reply to: I remember years ago in Japan, all the girls wanted to know posted by ToC on July 13, 2006 at 15:55:28:
Ha! Sounds like you're proud of the fact. And you gotta admit, there's a difference between your experience and what Chinese American was saying. And here's the difference: in Latin, Catholic countries many people have the mistaken idea that Jesus and/or angels have blonde hair and blue eyes, so actually look up to and admire Americanos who do. Remember when Deborah's kids sang in Peru and some of the undereducated locals thought the kids were actually angels?
Yeah, it can be unwanted attention, but it's not hurtful. It's admiration, however undeserved. But you gotta realize that by comparison, in this country and others, there is a history of racism against Chinese in particular, and a lot of very negative, demeaning stereotypes developed that are literally summed up in mocking the way some of them spoke: "No tickee, no laundree" kind of thing.
The racial attention you and your kids got was from a mistaken, longstanding history of admiration. The racial attention Chinese American is talking about stems from a long history of discrimination and name-calling. See what I mean?