Memories of high school - part two

In light of what's going on in the AAPI community, I am seeing a lot of support and shares on people's stories through social media. While it is good to see that people care about this issue, I can't help but be a little skeptical, especially towards some of my high school baseball teammates who were reposting.

Like I said, there was a lot of ups and downs, good moments and bad moments.

The high school that I went to was predominately Asian/Asian Americans. Many of them participated in sports, such as water polo, swimming and boys and girls basketball.

There weren't many Asians on the baseball team (one decided to play for JV, one quit, so there was only three left).

Seeing some of the social media posts about the unpleasant experiences the AAPI community was going through reminded me of my own. Like many, I was joked at, ridiculed and sometimes insulted. One of my biggest peeves is being mistaken for Chinese, and each time I have to correct them and tell them, "No, I'm Vietnamese, there's a difference."

Their response? "All you Asians look alike." I've seen and heard it all. Being called a chink, a gook, seeing my teammates slant their eyes to mock me. Hearing them say stuff like "Ching Chong, Ling Ling." It was all a joke to them, but to me, it's not.

Yes we would trade insults back-and-forth, but not once would I bring up one's race, because that's not the kind of person I am.

To me, using my race as a cheap shot or as a way to make others laugh shows how ignorant and insensitive people can be.

When I saw some of those people repost on social media "Stop AAPI Hate", my first thoughts were how hypocritical they were, and I felt that they were simply doing it to jump on the bandwagon.

Why does it take several incidents, attacks, and even deaths for them to show their support?

Again, I couldn't help but be skeptical however at the same time, I try my best to see the positive and good in people.

And I forgive all my teammates and anyone who has ever targeted my race. Even though I am a forgiving person, I do not forget. While these are unpleasant memories, I can only hope that my teammates have learned and grew since high school and they're more mindful and aware of these issues.