Ten years ago I traveled to San Francisco to visit a friend. Three days on Greyhound made me realize the coiner of the phrase "tenderfoot" knew little of human anatomy. I arrived somewhat sore and sleepy about one thirty in the morning. Mentally doing handflips at the prospect of a nonmoving sleep I fell onto a couch and tumbled into sleep.
The next morning I was awakened by my hosts three year old daughter, who sat on the edge of the couch and asked "Do you read and write Chinese, Uncle Steven?"
Instantly notice the difference between an American and Asian child. An American child would have asked "who are you, m***er?" and perhaps whipped out a Glock. This child had never seen me before in her life. I could have been a murderer, a rapist or even a Republican. But she was polite enough to use the honorific Uncle, bestowed on an older person. When I told her I didn't, she told me she spoke and wrote both and was teaching her one year old brother.
While the Chinese maintain a polite distance between Occidentals and themselves they do anything but among themselves. The second day I was there my friend and I went to Embarcadero Center to see a movie. When I told her brother it was Joan Chen's "The Sent Down Girl" he angrily made a comment about Chen being an ABC. Puzzled, I asked what that meant. My friend told me it meant "American Born Chinese." Upon expressing further puzzlement my friend told me that I work near Columbia, I see them every day. Her brother added that they were "Americans with slanted eyes". His sister commented that they dress and act like Americans, not Chinese.
And as of today, anybody walking that epicenter of the hippie era, St. Marks between 2nd and 3rd Aves., are excused for thinking they're in the middle of Shanghai or the Asian Invasion. I believe only two of these stores aren't owned by Asians.
No, I'm not prejudiced. Just observant.
No comments:
Post a Comment