“You may shoot me with your words.
You may cut me with your eyes.
You may kill me with your hatefulness.
But still,
I’ll rise.”
My mom wanted us to grow up with a real experience of France. So she made us live away from the Asian neighborhood. Because we didn’t have much (yet still have plenty), we ended up in the “bad neighborhood”. I was the only Asian there, within a mile radius which at the time, seemed like a whole country away.
So I grew up surrounded by colored people.
We came from everywhere.
And I absolutely loved it ! Still do to this day.
There were Africans, North Africans, some Eastern Europeans and of course some French people.
This community was linked by the same financial situation. They were hard worker, nice and genuine people.
It’s only when I grew up and out of there that reality struck me.
This wasn’t the France that I knew and loved.
Of course, compared to USA history, we have nothing to complain about.
Yet, I still realized too much early on how people like us were perceived.
Being and representing the first generation of Vietnamese immigrants, there is this responsibility to not mess up.
If you are here today, and you want to follow my adventures, you probably already realize how much I was not up for this challenge.
But, let’s get back to this.
Growing up, I didn’t do much of a difference between races. My world consisted in this.
On one hand, colored people, from absolutely everywhere. On the other, white people.
I am not saying that all white people are evil here. I am just pointing out the fact that I was fully aware of lots of differences between the ones that looked like me even with darker skin and the ones that didn’t.
So today, for International Social Justice Day, I wish for all countries, especially the ones that boast about being the model of modern society to look a little closer.
And maybe realize that even though you say you accepted immigrants, the reality is just not there yet.
We have to keep working on it.
Travel Life With Vân 