TL;DR:

• Let’s #stopthehate so we can live in a better society for our kids and for their kids. 
• If you see a student getting harassed, educate, intervene, and discuss. Do not ignore it!

#stopthehate

So May is Asian Pacific Heritage Month.  In this blog, I would like to go over the struggles and triumphs my family and I have had during our time in the states.  I feel it is important to discuss this and to share my experiences with you so you all can feel our struggles.  

A few weeks back, an NFL player tweeted out a message for the people of Miami.  The message was nothing important, but it had an offensive, racist remark for the Asian community.  Here is the tweet:

Later on, the player deleted his tweet and posted an apology on Twitter, stating that he did not know this word was a racist remark.  He has always used the term to mean a person who is lame.  Lame?  I think his apology and excuse were lame (or pathetic).  Even worse, there were people supporting this player and believing his reasoning.  One person even said, “He apologized, let’s move on, get over it.”      

Stop.  Breathe.  Let the blood pressure go down.  

#stopthehate: For all of you who think this was not that big of a deal, you have never experienced being harassed just for the color of your skin.

I myself have been bullied and harassed by other students all throughout my scholastic career.  Before me, my brother was repeatedly harassed by students and people in other neighborhoods (he would frequent the Taco Bell in a neighboring suburb because that was the only one for miles). 

He would order his food, but people would yell racial slurs at him and tell him to get out.  He even got into an altercation with one of his teammates on the football team because he called him a racial slur (the one used in the Twitter pic).  

If our superpower is to teach, then let’s teach students to be better. Let’s stop hate, so we can live in a better society for our kids and for their kids. Click To Tweet

For me, I was never as an imposing person as my brother in school. (To make it clear, I was the shortest student in school and did have a little weight problem.  Can you blame me though?  My parents owned a restaurant!)  For years, I would ignore the people who were putting me down with racial slurs.  Unlike my brother, I couldn’t really defend myself, so I ignored the remarks and went about my day. 

Over the years, I have also crafted my technique of the ever-so-handy comeback one-liner.  So I defended myself with my words and I got by with that.  Later in life though, I felt that the more I saw these injustices, the angrier I got (I still have not forgotten about how Rosie O’Donnell mimicked Asian people on The View). 

#stopthehate: These latest incidences over the past couple of months have not only angered me but have also frightened me a bit.

I am not frightened about what will happen to me, but more so for my family.  I cannot imagine my wife (who is not Asian) and my kids going through such turmoil in our society.  I also think about my parents and what could happen to them if they were in a confrontation. 

I mean, someone attacked a grandma, so what is going to stop my parents from getting beaten up by a mob?  The thought definitely crosses my mind that it can definitely happen to my parents.   

Every time I see or hear an incident like this, it really gets under my skin.

It affects me emotionally, mentally, and physically (blood pressure).  The worst is society seems to support this racism.  “No it wasn’t racism,” “the message had a different meaning,” or “he didn’t mean to shoot all these Asians, he was having a bad day.”

Even worse, when we get an apology, it seems half-hearted or is just a complete lie (i.e. Rosie O’Donnell’s apology).  Many apologies come off as if they did not know that they were being insincere or flat-out racist.  

[scroll down to keep reading]

So as an educator, what can we do to mitigate this problem and #stopthehate?

We can educate our students to be better people in society and educate them on what is right and wrong.  If we see one of our students engaging in behavior that is prejudiced or racist, we need to stand up and educate them.

If you see a student getting harassed please do the following:

• Educate.  Some students might not know they are being offensive, nor do they think they are.
• Intervene.  Even if the students are joking around, it can be a teachable moment. 
• Discuss.  Talk to students about your own personal experience with prejudice and racism and how it affects you.
• DO NOT IGNORE IT!  It might be something so trivial and small, but do not ignore the hate.  That comment can manifest itself into something bigger if we do not contain it ASAP.  

If our superpower is to teach, then let’s teach students to be better.  Let’s stop hate, so we can live in a better society for our kids and for their kids.  I know it would have been a lot easier for me if I had someone in my corner, but for now, I am going to continue to educate my students.  Hopefully my words will inspire others to be better.

---

About Jason Lim

Jason Lim is a middle school Spanish teacher at Kaneland Harter Middle School. This is Jason’s 13th year teaching Spanish. He graduated from NIU with a Spanish lit degree in 2003 and received his Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University in 2013. In his spare time, you can see Jason rooting for the Chicago Bears, Cubs, and Bulls. Besides Chicago teams, Jason is passionate about education and the framework of education. His goal is to be the best person he can be and inspire his students to do the same, whether in the classroom or in the outside world.