Berlin, GE

Interview Excursion

 

Interview notes:

 

Sunday, May 3rd, I decided to venture to Tea Republik on the Ave to hopefully find someone sitting alone that I could interview. I will admit I was quite anxious about walking up to a stranger, but I finally found the courage to walk in the door of the tea shop. I was quite fortunate to find a friendly looking young man sitting on his laptop, which I took as my queue to sit next to him, much to his surprise.  I introduced myself and explained what my purpose for sitting next to him was, and he was more than happy to talk with me.  Below are the notes to the dialogue of our conversation. The dialogue is not verbatim, as I was only taking notes by hand, but the young man I interviewed was patient as I wrote out our conversation in as much detail as I politely could.

Me: There are many racial issues that are occurring in the United States, how might you explain some of these issues to a person who has newly immigrated to the U.S?

Young man: I believe there are different levels and types of racial issues in the United States including both systemic and cultural racism.  I actually became an immigrant myself several years ago and have experience some of the racism in the U.S. I think one of the best examples I can think of for systemic racism is in my education.  I feel like as a minority student I wasn’t given the best opportunities to compete with the middle class and white population that dominated around me.  I was very fortunate to have been given opportunities that I know other minority students might not have had the benefit of, so I strive to help other minority students by tutoring them or helping them out in any way I can.

Me: where did you immigrate from if you don’t mind me asking?

Young man: The Philippines, approximately 5 years ago now.

Me: You said that you felt the U.S. has different types of racism including systemic and cultural. Could you give me an example of what you mean by cultural racism?

Young man: Well, I moved to Spokane, Washington when I first immigrated here, which is a very homogenous place.  One thing that bothered me was that my mom wanted me to become confirmed by the Catholic Church, but the lady at the church who was going to confirm me would treat me like I didn’t know as much as she did, and would ask if I was okay with the English language. It was insulting that she thought I couldn’t understand her and that she thought just because I had an accent that I was less intelligent.  I have learned now that she didn’t mean it out of racism, but out of ignorance. So, whenever someone says something racist or stereotypical of my culture I don’t assume they are racist, but they just don’t have much experience talking with people who aren’t white and I use that as an opportunity to educate people about myself and my culture. I’ve found people to be receptive of this and seem to be more sensitive or thoughtful about conversations in the future.

Me: Do you think that there is racism outside of the US?

Young man: No, I don’t think the U.S is the only place where racism is apparent.   In the Philippines, treatment of the aborigines is extremely racist.  Their physical appearance is stereotyped as short in stature, darker in skin, short curly hair, and this is thought of as ugly.  They are viewed as from the woods and uneducated and unable to succeed in the city. 

This is just an idea, but I think this stems from the Filipino obsession with being white and looking like Westerners.  Filipinos envy or aspire to have white skin and blonde hair, or other characteristics that identify them as mestizo.  People use things like papaya soap and glutathione and other alternative medicines for whitening skin. 

Anyways, the aborigines definitely have issues with employment and are the butt of jokes in my culture and have problems receiving higher education.

 

After this point the conversation wound down and I thanked him for talking with me, then I went off and enjoyed the rest of my tea while typing this on my computer.