Being Chinese

Listening to: "The Con" - Tegan & Sara

Mood: Excited

Tomorrow marks Australia's 222nd Birthday. A day where the feel of patriotism is heightened and reaches it's zenith. However, with this heightened patriotism of the homeland that is Australia, comes a slight hand of racism. Though this underlying sense of racism has always been present it isn't until a holiday where the booze is running that racism becomes more predominate.

Being an Asian, I have noticed how differently I am treated compared to my friends. I don't really have Asian friends, they're almost all caucasian, and going out with them you can really see the difference. I was born and raised in Sydney, Australia so I've been told I don't have an accent at all, and my mindset is that of an Australian and not Chinese.

So what have I seen? Well I haven't really been attacked as such for being Chinese, maybe a few sly comments here and there, but nothing that really hurt me. But having said that, I never really identified myself as an Asian, so I guess racist comments weren't really taken into account. To be completely honest, I throw racist comments about Asians all the time, which is really rather bad.

The main thing I've noticed, is the slowed and clarified speech. I used to find this irritating and begin to talk REALLY fast and clear in English (those Speech&Drama classes for 10 years really comes in handy hear for clarity of speech), but now I simply find it hilarious. It seems to be automatic in those who do it as sometimes after my fast and clear English, they still continue to talk slowly and articulated.

Despite being a multi-cultured society, this underlying racism is never going to be completely eradicated. We're all Australians, so what makes some people think they're more superior? To be completely truthful, Aboriginals were the first Australians as they were here first. The first fleet brought over convicts from Britain, so they too are technically immigrants in this country. Sure I may be the first generation immigrant in my family, but I consider myself Australian. Despite the cultural clashes and the missing of a complete "all-Australian" childhood, I still identify as an Australian.

Nobody has the right to tell someone else where he or she belongs. Every person has the right to discover where they belong without fear.