[Applause]
tell your story change the conversation
organized by students TEDx youth at s HC
so I was walking home one day minding my
own business like any other angsty
teenager in their sophomore year of high
school with my earbuds on listening to
the hip Tunes at the time then suddenly
a group of five middle schoolers
completely surround me and I just stand
there
dazed I had no idea what was going on
then they start badgering me with
insults one boy repeel he says Neha Neha
another one is asking how my calculus
homework was and others asking if I had
rice for lunch that day different
stereotypes were being thrown out of me
that I just stand there not really sure
as to how I’m supposed to respond when
they saw that I wasn’t reacting to their
jeering they made some passing comment
on how Asian and serious I was for not
being able to take a joke and walked
away after they left I was finally taken
out of my stupor what in God’s name just
happened after I got over the irritation
the disbelief the discomfort I began to
realize that there was a problem and the
problem didn’t just come from from the
fact that five middle schoolers with
throwing racial slurs at me but more so
from the fact that these middle
schoolers were also Asian let that sink
in for a second these middle schoolers
were making fun of me for being Asian
and making fun of our heritage and
culture as if it wasn’t theirs but what
scared me the most was that I saw myself
within them I saw their attempts of
pushing away their heritage and culture
as far away as possible as a reflection
of my own struggles
I went through starting their age and
continued to face throughout high school
now I believe the source of this
struggle is the lack of Asian
representation within the media and the
curriculum because the asian-american
community has been considered the
invisible minority for far too long
because despite the fact that we are
present within the American culture were
often disregarded during the discussion
of race and overlooked by both white
people and people of color when we are
seeing however it’s only through the
lens of prejudices and stereotypes even
Asian Americans themselves are passive
towards this in accurate portrayal to
the point in which we take part in
making fun of ourselves first let’s talk
about the media let it be in the
comforts of our home scrolling through
our phones or in the car listening to
the radio
we are always somehow engaging with the
media and are bombarded with information
after information about a myriad of
topics when we hear something over and
over again we internalize it and we
begin to view it as the truth so growing
up I loved to watch TV I did my absolute
best to spend as much of my time in
front of it even if it were to watch
those reruns of those awfully boring
shows but as I would switch through
different channels the same theme would
appear there were no Asians because of
this slowly without even realizing it my
definition of what being a typical
American bent was to be white and I’m
sure you realized by now I’m not white
I’m Chinese so I grew up in this
perpetual gray area not really knowing
as to where I stood I wasn’t exactly
Asian because the culture outside of my
home wasn’t but I by my definition Ben
wasn’t American
so what I did was that I tried my best
to be white I did whatever I could to
just fit in and be deemed as cool and
normal even if it was at the price of my
own culture my own identity and my own
happiness now people may argue but there
is representation have you not seen
Milan rush hour well I have two things
to say to that first with the exception
of an extremely small number movies and
TV shows tend to only have one Asian
American supporting character if any at
all each playing to the same story if it
was in a high school setting there were
the nerds in the back of the AP calc
class who always got straight A’s if it
was in a business setting
they were either the janitors with heavy
accents or just another socially awkward
worker in the background that’s it these
were the only Astaire these were the
only stories about the Asian American
experience that people were exposed to
and savvy these became my definition of
what being Asian meant and I hated it
these stereotypes only made me
embarrassed to be myself now secondly
with the little representation that we
do have well they’re only of some East
Asians meaning Chinese Japanese and
Korean you have to understand that
there’s so much more to Asia than these
three countries yet all these people are
being left out Sony and know there is
barely enough Asian representation
within the media because a little amount
we do have her only of some Asians now
the issue of representation isn’t
limited to the media either it is
prevalent in schools as well the purpose
of Education isn’t just to teach us how
Adams
or how to find the theme of a poem but
rather it’s about the practical skills
we gained so that we can apply them to
society and better understand the world
around us education gives us the power
to question society and acknowledge its
faults with this in mind there needs to
be more representation to help fight the
preconceived notions than many people
including asian-americans themselves
have towards Asians so that the single
story that pushes many Asian Americans
away from their heritage can finally be
destroyed but increasing representation
we help Asian Americans from a younger
age to feel more included within the
conversation and to become more
comfortable with themselves we read so
many books in English and history
classes mainly talking about the white
experience yet rarely do we learn about
the Asian or Asian American experience
until we reach our high school years by
that point many have already
internalized the fact that we simply
aren’t part of the conversation we feel
as if we’re only supposed to be part of
the background I have friends who feel
uncomfortable whenever the Asian
experience is even mentioned within
classes simply because they’re not used
to their culture of being brought up
within a classroom setting
they have disassociated their lifestyles
at home with their lifestyles at school
feeling as if it’s normal for classes to
never talk about their own lies but this
shouldn’t be the case we need to be more
exposed to the incredible stories such
as the noble Japanese soldiers that
continue to fight for America during
World War two or the first Asian
American voted into Congress in 1957 an
Indian American Dileep song when we are
more exposed to these stories we can
replace the come
attitude than many people that many
people associate with the title the
invisible minority and the model
minority we can finally understand the
huge impact we had on America in the
past and the enormous power we have to
make change so how can we chase this
discrepancy this lack of representation
in the media and curriculum so that the
future generations can have the
confidence and courage to raise their
voices so that more than one story is
being heard my solution we as Asian
Americans need to reform representation
on our own terms we understand the Asian
narrative the best since we live it so
we should be the ones just to decide how
we should be represented the little
amount of representation we do have
reflects on how our current society
views us which may not be completely
false but it’s not even close to the
whole story once we take the counter
narrative into our own hands we reform
Asian representation to more positively
reflect our own experiences the more we
talk about our passions and our
experiences the more Asian Americans can
feel that they have a right to be
included in the conversation by
increasing representation we feel like
we no longer have to be invisible so
that the future generations don’t have
to go through the same struggles I had
to go through they don’t have to feel
that they had to identify themselves as
only Asian or only American at the price
of losing a part of themselves but
rather they can say with confidence I am
Asian American thank you
tell your story change the conversation
organized by students TEDx youth at s HC
so I was walking home one day minding my
own business like any other angsty
teenager in their sophomore year of high
school with my earbuds on listening to
the hip Tunes at the time then suddenly
a group of five middle schoolers
completely surround me and I just stand
there
dazed I had no idea what was going on
then they start badgering me with
insults one boy repeel he says Neha Neha
another one is asking how my calculus
homework was and others asking if I had
rice for lunch that day different
stereotypes were being thrown out of me
that I just stand there not really sure
as to how I’m supposed to respond when
they saw that I wasn’t reacting to their
jeering they made some passing comment
on how Asian and serious I was for not
being able to take a joke and walked
away after they left I was finally taken
out of my stupor what in God’s name just
happened after I got over the irritation
the disbelief the discomfort I began to
realize that there was a problem and the
problem didn’t just come from from the
fact that five middle schoolers with
throwing racial slurs at me but more so
from the fact that these middle
schoolers were also Asian let that sink
in for a second these middle schoolers
were making fun of me for being Asian
and making fun of our heritage and
culture as if it wasn’t theirs but what
scared me the most was that I saw myself
within them I saw their attempts of
pushing away their heritage and culture
as far away as possible as a reflection
of my own struggles
I went through starting their age and
continued to face throughout high school
now I believe the source of this
struggle is the lack of Asian
representation within the media and the
curriculum because the asian-american
community has been considered the
invisible minority for far too long
because despite the fact that we are
present within the American culture were
often disregarded during the discussion
of race and overlooked by both white
people and people of color when we are
seeing however it’s only through the
lens of prejudices and stereotypes even
Asian Americans themselves are passive
towards this in accurate portrayal to
the point in which we take part in
making fun of ourselves first let’s talk
about the media let it be in the
comforts of our home scrolling through
our phones or in the car listening to
the radio
we are always somehow engaging with the
media and are bombarded with information
after information about a myriad of
topics when we hear something over and
over again we internalize it and we
begin to view it as the truth so growing
up I loved to watch TV I did my absolute
best to spend as much of my time in
front of it even if it were to watch
those reruns of those awfully boring
shows but as I would switch through
different channels the same theme would
appear there were no Asians because of
this slowly without even realizing it my
definition of what being a typical
American bent was to be white and I’m
sure you realized by now I’m not white
I’m Chinese so I grew up in this
perpetual gray area not really knowing
as to where I stood I wasn’t exactly
Asian because the culture outside of my
home wasn’t but I by my definition Ben
wasn’t American
so what I did was that I tried my best
to be white I did whatever I could to
just fit in and be deemed as cool and
normal even if it was at the price of my
own culture my own identity and my own
happiness now people may argue but there
is representation have you not seen
Milan rush hour well I have two things
to say to that first with the exception
of an extremely small number movies and
TV shows tend to only have one Asian
American supporting character if any at
all each playing to the same story if it
was in a high school setting there were
the nerds in the back of the AP calc
class who always got straight A’s if it
was in a business setting
they were either the janitors with heavy
accents or just another socially awkward
worker in the background that’s it these
were the only Astaire these were the
only stories about the Asian American
experience that people were exposed to
and savvy these became my definition of
what being Asian meant and I hated it
these stereotypes only made me
embarrassed to be myself now secondly
with the little representation that we
do have well they’re only of some East
Asians meaning Chinese Japanese and
Korean you have to understand that
there’s so much more to Asia than these
three countries yet all these people are
being left out Sony and know there is
barely enough Asian representation
within the media because a little amount
we do have her only of some Asians now
the issue of representation isn’t
limited to the media either it is
prevalent in schools as well the purpose
of Education isn’t just to teach us how
Adams
or how to find the theme of a poem but
rather it’s about the practical skills
we gained so that we can apply them to
society and better understand the world
around us education gives us the power
to question society and acknowledge its
faults with this in mind there needs to
be more representation to help fight the
preconceived notions than many people
including asian-americans themselves
have towards Asians so that the single
story that pushes many Asian Americans
away from their heritage can finally be
destroyed but increasing representation
we help Asian Americans from a younger
age to feel more included within the
conversation and to become more
comfortable with themselves we read so
many books in English and history
classes mainly talking about the white
experience yet rarely do we learn about
the Asian or Asian American experience
until we reach our high school years by
that point many have already
internalized the fact that we simply
aren’t part of the conversation we feel
as if we’re only supposed to be part of
the background I have friends who feel
uncomfortable whenever the Asian
experience is even mentioned within
classes simply because they’re not used
to their culture of being brought up
within a classroom setting
they have disassociated their lifestyles
at home with their lifestyles at school
feeling as if it’s normal for classes to
never talk about their own lies but this
shouldn’t be the case we need to be more
exposed to the incredible stories such
as the noble Japanese soldiers that
continue to fight for America during
World War two or the first Asian
American voted into Congress in 1957 an
Indian American Dileep song when we are
more exposed to these stories we can
replace the come
attitude than many people that many
people associate with the title the
invisible minority and the model
minority we can finally understand the
huge impact we had on America in the
past and the enormous power we have to
make change so how can we chase this
discrepancy this lack of representation
in the media and curriculum so that the
future generations can have the
confidence and courage to raise their
voices so that more than one story is
being heard my solution we as Asian
Americans need to reform representation
on our own terms we understand the Asian
narrative the best since we live it so
we should be the ones just to decide how
we should be represented the little
amount of representation we do have
reflects on how our current society
views us which may not be completely
false but it’s not even close to the
whole story once we take the counter
narrative into our own hands we reform
Asian representation to more positively
reflect our own experiences the more we
talk about our passions and our
experiences the more Asian Americans can
feel that they have a right to be
included in the conversation by
increasing representation we feel like
we no longer have to be invisible so
that the future generations don’t have
to go through the same struggles I had
to go through they don’t have to feel
that they had to identify themselves as
only Asian or only American at the price
of losing a part of themselves but
rather they can say with confidence I am
Asian American thank you
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