My first asian racism / discrimination experience in Auckland...

I've heard stories about it. I've read about them on the newspapers and seen it on the television before. But i've never encounter it personally. At least not till last night.

Last night after a quick night out with a bunch of friends at a club, we decided to stop by a hot dog stall for a feed while we were on our way to the car. As I wasn't feeling too good after a long day at work, my head was screaming for me to go to bed. I decided to pass on grabbing a bite and stood next to the stall while waiting for my friends to get their feed. As i was waiting, I took out my iPhone and used the front camera to check if my face was looking any red from drinking and quickly put it back in my pocket before someone starts thinking i'm some vain freako. Just as i put my phone away, i noticed there were two girls sitting in front of me, facing towards me and eating their hot dogs. One of them saw what i was doing, leaned over to her friend and muttered something.

All of a sudden the other girl looked at me and yelled out rudely saying "You better not be taking pictures of me!" which caught me off guard. That was when i realized her friend might have misunderstood my actions. But because she was being rude to me, I replied her in my most "you are not hot at all" tone saying "No, why would i wanna do that?" to which she gave a smirk saying "Yeah, you better not you f-ing asian c*nt". When i first heard the racial slur came out of her mouth, i was offended because i felt it was totally uncalled for. But seeing that she was a girl and possibly drunk, i decided to ignore her remark and waited on my friends to finish their food. A few seconds later, she continued her verbal attacks again only this time more personally, commenting on my jacket and my scarf finishing each sentence with the term "f-ing asian c*nt" and then proceeded with insulting my friends saying we're a whole bunch of asian invasion. All these remarks while she was in the middle of eating her freakin' hotdog.

I was furious. I didn't know how to react because at this point, my head was just pounding but really, what else can i do? The only logical thing i can think of was to walk up to her and smack her half eaten hot dog out of her hand. A girl with a filthy mouth like that certainly does not deserve to be eating a Fritz Wieners hot dog. I wanted to retaliate with an insult but couldn't think of any because it dawned on me that i was experiencing my first case of asian discrimination. My friends however did not take it too well when they heard what she said and started questioning her remarks which led to a start of heated verbal insults thrown back and forth between her and my friends. I just stood there feeling confused because she started threatening us saying "Do you want me to call my boyfriend!?" Halfway through the drama, out of nowhere a friend of the girl walked by and she suddenly stopped everything, gave her a hug and a kiss on her cheek, said hello and proceeded to tell her friend that we were the ones here being racist. At this point, we just walked away and headed home because clearly, we don't see a point here arguing with intoxicated ignorant teens.

What started as an honest misinterpretation of me whipping out my phone to check myself out ended up with a case of racist insults being shouted back and forth. Today i woke up and tried to replay the short drama that happened last night in my head. I'm not going to lie but the derogatory insults from last night is making me feel kinda blah about my day today. I know i shouldn't be bothered about this because it was simply a mixture of alcohol and an ignorant stupid teenage girl. But really, if you're wearing an outfit that can barely cover your body on a cold windy Saturday night and sitting out in a public area, shouldn't you be worried about something else like getting a cold, falling sick and then dying of hypothermia instead of asians taking your picture?

Like it or not, racism is still a big issue not only here but everywhere in the world. Although what i've experienced for the first time last night was not really an "extreme case" of racism, it still was racism. Sure there were no fights or physical confrontations (i cannot imagine what the outcome would be if she did call her boyfriend or IF she even have one to begin with) but it was one of the most distasteful experience i have ever been in hence why i decide to blog about this. This also reminded me of a short but powerful clip i watched a few weeks ago on Morgan Freeman giving his view on racism in America.


And just for the record, her face was definitely a #fail because i cannot remember how she looks like.

Comments

atanyono said…
Just like to clarify that she wasn't a ignorant stupid teenage girl. Well she was ignorant yes, stupid yes, girl (practically) yes, but NO teenage.

If you don't mind I'd like to try to describe her in my own words, but of course this wouldn't even be close to how bad she was in real life.

Old insecure rather large female creatures that is not even close to any definition of an attractive item (or human being),whom also lack of love and attention (most probably from her own family and friends*) have never gone out from her own little bubble to see the world that full with colors and type of people. And, of course she was stupid and ignorant.

* = Highly doubt if she have any real one or not..
Anonymous said…
French treat Americans like this all over Paris. I think they are tired of American tourists. That is not an excuse, but the fact is many Americans refuse to learn French or other languages. Still, no excuse to persecute them. The hatred can happen anywhere, to anyone.
Anonymous said…
This is common occurence in NZ especially night time when they drink and let their true colours show.Christchurch is worse than Auckland.If you are asian,indian or ethnic looking be prepared for verbal abuse.
They don't do it as much to the pacific islanders because they know they will get a punch in the face.

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