Mercer Island series continues: Impact of racial stereotypes in everyday life

Published 12:00 pm Thursday, May 19, 2016

Growing up as an American-born Chinese, I’ve always felt strongly that people of color deserve to be treated with the same respect as our white counterparts.

I grew up with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks as my role models. However, many of my fellow Asian Americans and nearly all of white America too often fall into comfortable silence in the race discussion. I hear that racism doesn’t exist anymore because we elected a black president or because blacks are not being enslaved for white America’s profit. The reality is that people of color, particularly blacks, are incarcerate at a higher rate than anyone else and blacks do not receive the same opportunities to succeed financially or educationally.

An issue that affects me more than most minorities is lack of representation in media — Asians receive next to none. The first time I could identify with a character on TV was Eddie Huang’s character in “Fresh off the Boat.” Identifying with an on-screen character for the first time at the age of 15 should not be an issue in 2016.

Fortunately, the Mercer Island Library has organized events to start the discussion. At the “Why We Need to Talk about Racism” event on May 7 — the second part of the “Conversations for Strong Communities” series — speaker Peggi Erickson discussed the concept of institutionalized racism and how relates to prejudice, discrimination and power.

Most applicable to the Island community were our discussions about the socialization of racism. To paraphrase Ms. Erickson, racism has a long history that is not the fault of white people today, but white people have a responsibility to learn about it and break the silence.

This takes effort because white people are socialized to ignore racism: people must educate themselves, recognize racist actions, unlearn them and work to help others learn. Silence is just as unproductive as hate speech. It isn’t enough to “like” on Facebook an article about racial justice or call it good after you’ve tweeted “#blacklivesmatter.” Join the conversation and take part in educating yourself and your peers. Maybe my generation can be the generation to finally appreciate our differences, so that we can understand each other better and treat each other with compassion.

The final events in the series are on May 21. Join a diverse panel of Mercer Island teens and adults for a discussion about the impact of racial stereotypes in everyday life. Maya Soetoro-Ng will welcome participants, followed by the panel, a chance for Q&A and small group discussion. Lunch will be provided. The panel and discussion will be moderated by Naomi Moore and Jackie De La Cruz.

Doors open at 10:30 a.m. The day continues at the church with the Stanley Ann Dunham Scholarship awards at 2 p.m. Both events are free, open to the public and sponsored by the Friends of the Mercer Island Library and the Stanley Ann Dunham Fund.

For more, contact Carrie Bowman at the Mercer Island Library, 206.236.3537 or clbowman@kcls.org.

Estey Chen is a Mercer Island High School sophomore.