Listen as this health care worker recalls a situation in which an older white man decided to educate her on Mongolians after identifying her as a “Mongol.” His assumptions about her background and the way he proceeded to steamroll the conversation left her feeling paralyzed and unable to respond.
I feel like when they view you as someone who is ‘lesser’ then them, it is easier for inappropriate or cruel remarks to be said. That it will somehow be okay for them to say that to someone that they don’t feel is as worthy of their respect
After a lot of self-reflection, she felt a lot of regret at her inability to respond to the man and found that she is fairly under-equipped to handle situations like those. As a young Asian woman, she fears she reinforced stereotypes regarding submissiveness. This experience left her with one goal: to speak out more frequently and disrupt prejudice whenever she encountered it. She is practicing sitting with discomfort and pushing through it to make sure she interrupts privilege.
