Conversations of UW Madison
[vc_row][vc_column][title type="subtitle-h6"]Hana Lee[/title][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="11/12"][vc_column_text]
“Where are you from”
“Taiwan”
“Woah! Your English is so good!”
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At my first football game…
*stretched eyelid*
“Anime!”
*my friend’s beanie snatched off her head*
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Professor during a lecture…
“Stand up and say that loudly”
*student stands up*
“You had the right answer! C’mon speak louder! You speak so softly that you could be an Asian student”
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On a run on a breezy Halloween afternoon
“High five!”
(Maybe I should just cross the road right now and avoid them…..whatever… a high five won’t hurt anyone)
*Reluctant high five*
“HEY! The library is the other way!”
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It’s Mifflin!
I strategically took the backdoor rather than the front door to get to my apartment because I couldn’t stand being harassed by their ignorance.
“Hey! You know there’s a party going on today!”
“Ni Hao!”
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Walking down State Street and speaking in a foreign language…
“This is America! Can you speak English?”
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“Where are you from?”
“I was born in Taiwan and I grew up in Shanghai”
“Well, those are two pretty exotic places”
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“Have you ever had Bratwurst before? Is it too much? Gotta stick to the rice?”
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Growing up, I was exposed to multiple cultures and have lived in three different countries. I constantly struggle with identifying where home is and who I am, but I’ve come to realization that no one should be defined by a label. By stereotypes. By their skin color. By their ethnicity. By their looks. So please have some respect for yourself and those around you. Your drunkenness does not justify your racial comments. Your sexist remarks. Your rudeness. Your offensive actions. Your “peeing on the table tennis table and getting into a fist fight with students of color in the dorm”.
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