Culture and identity is something that everyone takes pride in. Haleyanne Mawhosay is a Filipino that lives in Kansas City and has been through many encounters where her race has made people put a certain label on her. These seem to happen all through school where she is in public and there is a very diverse group of people all in one place. She described how the two most common cliches that people would use as devices to be racist towards her were “all Asians are smart” and “all Asians look the same.”
Haleyanne has gotten many racist comments from both students and teachers. She talks about an experience in elementary school when they had group assignments the teacher would put all the Asians in one group. “They were all really subtle things like really subtle, like for example putting all the Asians in one group in elementary school in a reading book, like did she mean to do that, I don’t know” (9:00). This made her always suspect why teachers would do this and she felt like she was being separated and singled out for her race in that situation. Later in high school when she was in social studies, her class was discussing the Vietnam War. She always felt uncomfortable during this time when the teacher would say something about the Vietnam War and the whole class would look at her, expecting her to know information about the topic more than anyone else just because she was Asian, not even Vietnamese. Hearing about this at first I was in complete shock, but after thinking about this, that type of racism happens around us all the time. Some cases can be milder and other cases will be much more direct and offensive. In this case, she said that she actually thought that they thought she was Vietnamese and that she could actually give insight into the situation. However, this was incredibly offensive to her because she felt like no one, not even the teacher put in the time to know her actual culture and identity.
I don’t know how bad it must feel to be falsely identified and falsely labeled, however, I’ve experienced it happening to other people of many different cultures, to where their race is either falsely identified and compared to another race or they are straight up just being made fun of for their race. What I notice is that when a racist comment gets made; the victim won’t show that they are being affected or hurt in any way because they don’t want to draw more attention to themselves and they just want to fit in. This makes the one that makes the comment feel like it’s okay to say these things because they think it’s just a joke but in no situation ever it’s okay and it definitely should never be seen as a joke. The best way I can try to see how it makes them feel is by trying to put myself in her shoes. It would make me feel like less of a person and it would dehumanize me just a little bit to think that people see me as just a person in a cluster of races without them actually knowing my real identity and culture. I think it is super important to learn about everyone’s individual culture cause then you get to know the person fully for who they are and you can understand their practices and where they came from in a much more personal way.
Haleyanne states that she thinks white people have very similar features as well and she will often see white people that look very similar. However, because she knows that diversity is a big thing in this world she doesn’t think of it as any different than her race because, in the end, we are all human beings. Another thing that I think is interesting is that she says is that everyone thinks that she is either Vietnamese or Chinese. “I’m not Vietnamese, like that’s one thing, everyone thinks I’m Vietnamese or Chinese, cause yeah like growing up no one knew what the Philippines was like is that a color, like no one knew what it was” (9:10). I think this is interesting because it’s not only racist to her race but also to Vietnamese and Chinese people because she says that each one of those races has very different practices and ideologies.
Haleyanne brings up how she thinks Asians are all classified into one area because often their dress and style will be similar. She mentions how it is actually very true that Asian children have very few hairstyles that they choose from and that the clothing style can be similar. However, she also states that these are just trends and that it is the very same thing with other races. Like how White people will wear jeans and tennis shoes often, it is the very same thing and if we were to see it from their lens that we would notice that we all dress very similar as well because of what may be in style at the time. I think this is hypocritical to think of because it does kind of bleed into another topic of how people are trying to fit in and look like everyone else, yet people make fun of other races for looking too much like each other.
Haleyanne says that the more offensive comments actually come at a young age because children will be immature and say whatever they think is funny, however, there is another part of it that she says people started finding her race and diversity to be very cool and unique once she got to high school. She says she doesn’t know why this is, but I think that this might be the case because when we are younger we are all trying to fit in and we are very self-conscious about ourselves at this time, but when we get older we are trying to find our own identity and discover what separates us from the rest and so we think that it is cool that people like her already have a distinguishing factor that separates us from the rest. Sadly this can’t be said for everyone and segregation and racism still happens in school.
I think this is a running issue that happens all around the country and Kansas City is no different. Kansas City is very racially diverse and this makes it difficult for racism to not happen but then it also makes the city more accepting of it because we are surrounded by different races every day. In schools, I believe that teachers and students need to be more aware of each individual’s racial identity in order to avoid segregation and this will, in turn, see everyone for who they are and not put false labels on specific groups of people.
Stereotypical jokes that poke fun of people, specifically those directed at minorities like Asians and Filipinos, are still a problem in today’s educated and progressive society where racism is understood as wrong and unjust. This is quite baffling considering that the content of this class focuses on how the Nazis used stereotypes to further their goal of eradicating Jews. This is a problem that author Andrew Dressman, a freshman Jazz Performance Major at UMKC, discussed with Haleyanne Mawhosay. Haleyanne Mawosay is a Filipino who lives in Kansas City who has unfortunately experienced people’s thoughtless stereotypical jokes. She has stated that the most common jokes or stereotypes she hears are “all Asians are smart” and “all Asians look the same”. This is wrong for two reasons. The first being that she is Filipino, not Asian and this disregards her heritage as well as her identity as a human being. The second being that Asia is a large continent that is diverse and full of unique individuals, which inherently means all Asians do not look the same or are of equal intellect. This parallels that propaganda the Nazis produced that stated all Jews looked Hasidic. Mawosay also stated “Asians are all classified into one area because often their dress and style will be similar”. This exemplifies how little people think about stereotypes and how they perpetuate racism. Just because different cultures in Asia share similar cultural practices, does not mean they are all the same. It would be comparable to saying that people living in France and Italy are the same because both countries are located in Europe. Mawosay has said that these subtle actions and stereotypical comments have culminated into more overt cases of racism such as “when my history class was discussing the Vietnam War the whole class would look back at me expecting me to know more about the subject just because I was considered Asian” (Dressman 1). This proves that subtle, long term stereotypical comments and jokes can, and do, lead to more overt cases of racism. And for further proof look no further Nazi occupied Germany. Hopefully this Oral History Project will provide readers the ability to reflect on their own biases and thought patterns that contribute towards racial stereotypes and put an end to them and the racial prejudices that are still present in America.