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On November2'1,,2010,Dr. Ravi Shankar,English Professorand Poet of Central ConnecticutState

University wrote an article n Hartford Caurant, sayingthere is no clozurefor being discriminatedin
an incident wherehe was stoppedby New York police and incarceratedsimply becauseof his ethnic
origin and his skin color. The zubtitleof the article reads"settlementcan't restorefaith in police,or
fix problem".

I oannot agreewith Dr. Shankarmore.

By now if anyonegoesto internetand Google me, he will find tons of negativeand distortedreports
about me, a personwho prrcttymuch was unknown to any strangerby April 2010, and by law still
assumedinnocenteversince.Police selectivelyrevealedseveralitemsof my personalpropertiesin the
car, andleft it to the mediaand the public to makeboldestaszumptionsout of context,zuchas oneof
the offrcer was a hero,or therewas a plot for a massacre.
Pretty muchI was demonizedby the media.
And the media neededthosbbiasedand distortedreportsto fit their stereotypementality.Even my
closestfriendscastno doubt,ofwhateverappearedin the mdia, I do not blamemy friends.And I do
not blame peoplewho usedto take newsreportsas truth teller. However,it is no longer newsthat the
mainstream media had colored their reports and biased against people from China. A CNN
comrnentatoronce called Chinese*a group of goons and thugs", triggering the birth of a popular
sayingin ChinaoMancan not behavetoo 'CNN"| here*CNN'used as-anadverband meaninglackof
integrity. Can the samecommentatorsay similar words about a Jew?He will be stonedto deathfor
-ami-semitism. hfr. Wiliiaru,l@oeran had uniten a book Coloring' the News to illustrat.vinv;,
crusadingfor diversity had coritpted Americanjournalism. In his boolq he criticized the major media
"committed tho most glaringjournalist malpractice"by failing to presentunbiasedreportsaboutDr.
PatrickChavis.

A Chinesewill be accusedof being lazy, if he or she doesnot work harderthan other colleagues.A
Chinesewill be accusedof "mentally instable"or "violent" if he,/she
complainswhen beingwronged.
A Chinese is supposedto take less pay, utter no aomplainls,and be a scapegoatwhen someoneis
neededfor blame.

Two months ago I becamea patient at a hospital in Middletown. One day when I was taking my
dinner in cafeteriafrom a bhck cook. Shegave me four meatballs.I askeda black staff Cherrywhy
the cook only gave rne four meatballswhile the peoplebeforeme eachhad got eight. Shesaidthere
were not enoughmeatballs,Reasonableenough!I did not complain,But when I saw peopleafter me
each still got eight meatballs,I went to ask the cook directly. Shesaid I got four becauseI did not tell
her I wanted eigt*. But all the rest did not askedeight meatballseither, and yet they all got eight. To
be honest,usually I only ate:threeor four meatballs.But that doesn'tmeanthey could give rne less.
Similarly, when I took three milks, the cook would take one back im.mediatelyand told me each
personcould only have two at maximum.Agai4 I had seenother peopleeachgot three milks. One
morning,when HispanicstaffSandratried to gpveawaythe leftover juice,sheaskedwho neededexfra
juice. I raisedmy handandaskedone more. Sandrasaid*No" becauseI abeadyhad two. And right in
front of me, shegavejuice to anotherpersonwho alreadyhad two juices. The sameSandraone time
blamed me for using bad word, when I was talking to a blond staff.Carolinewho gave me a tiny
 o'stingy".When
Sootchtapeto sealan envelope.I kind of madea joke by telling Caroiinethat shewas
Carolinewantedto dropthe letterinto the mailbox,shehadto askbrunetteSandrato movea little bit
becauseSandrawas surfing internetand the computerwas right in front of the mailbox. Sandragot
upset for bcing disturbedand yelling at me "you are rude at lady. Stingy is a bad word". I was
speechless, as I had heardnnny other peopleunleashingon her a point-blankbarrageof F-bombs,A-
bombs,andMF bombsand Sandraneverbecameupsetwith them.Oneday when I was returningfrom
the courtyardto the building,just when I was aboutto enterthe door, a saff Miguel shutthe door in
my face. One night whenI wasusingthe hallway light for reading Miguel found out andimmediately
turned the light off. When tr questionedMiguel that it was not curfewtime yet, Miguel said that he
couldturn the light off at anytime he liked. Finally I got into heatedargumentwith Miguel onenight
when he refusedto openthe door of laundry room so I could move my clothesfrom the washerto the
dryer, At beginning,he saidthat it was medicationtime and he could not open the door for safety
reason.Good reason!But secondtime when I askedhim againto openthe door, Miguel saidthat he
could open the dooq but he did not want to open becauseI "demandit". Later in one night, I was
aboutto havea shower.Therewas no towel. I askeda femalestaff to give me sometowels.When I
was following the staffto the storageroon! Miguel sawme and lockedthe showerroom immediately.
When I came back I was surprisedto find that the showerroom was locked. I let the female staff
know. Miguel was nearby.And the female staff askedMiguel "is there no shower allowed during
snaoktime?" Miguel stammered andsaidthat "yes ... supposedly... there... is no shower... allowed
..., but if you..," The femalestaffjust openedthe door.On December17, 2010,therewas a lunchat
the lower gymnasium.Before l1:00 AM I askedfor a pen. Sandradid not give me a pen and told me
Unit 3 was coming for lunch.I told him it was not lunch time yet andthat day the lunch would not be
in the dining room. Shestill did not want to give me the pen. WhenI complainedto the forensicsocial
-*orkei; shesimply sa:dthat shsdid aci -ffant tc quc#oa her staffs juCgment(fur act
Fviag the peai.
On December18, 2010,a staff askedme to retum the pen at 17'25in the morning before lunchtime
(12:00PM), I did not get out of the bed immediately as he wanted. He simply put me in "pen
restriction" (can not use pen) for twenty-four hours. There was also situation such as Tim Murphy
singled me out and searchedme one day when I was just out of the dining room. A few days ago
(01/05/11),Tim called me to the conferenceroom wheretherewere tw'o securityoffrcersand several
staff and nurse, and declaredthat he had found a pen in my room and I was guilty in associationwith
the pen,and he placedme on pen restriction.Basically, afterhavingyelling with Miguel that night and
a nurseelaimedhe was'ntheBoss",I had decidedNOT to argueor debatewith any staffhere, because
they saidthey were "the Bossrunningthe place",and theii egowasrbiggerthan'their;f€sticle, and it did
not make any senseto talk to them wheneverthey were making their statements.After the "laundry
gate"event,I hadmadea complaintto the Unit Director Frank.Frankis a nice guy. But he simply said
that"ovr perceptionwasdifferentfrom yours."

An explanationor complaintfrom a Chineseis inherentlyquestionable.But the sameexplanationor

complaint from any other peopleare assumed"tfiJ€'until "proved otherwise".When Omar Thorton
hurt eight people,his neighborssaidhe usedto be a nice guy. While chargesagainstme were pending
being challengedin the court,two doctorsfrom Kingsbrooklewish Medical Centerin Brooklyq New
Yorh had told New YorkPost that "What truly scaresme is he could havegotten into this placeand
initiated a rnassacre,"Another saidthat "(He) was mentally unstableand violent", And on May 15,
2008, "(He) was in library when a patient was dying" afld "(He) allegedly threw ethnic slur at"
someone.Thssetwo doctors'allegationswere baseless,to saythe least.But their commentswent to
newsanyway"The medianot only failed to condemnthe horrible malpracticesoccurredin thosetwo
doctors' hospital, but also failed to condemnthat "someone"was a perpetuallawbreakerand an
inourableliar, just iike thosetwo doctors.Up to nowoI only know trvo badwords aboutpeoplefrom
India. One is "dot-head"from July 5,201A Time magazine.Anotherone is "sand negro" from Dr.
Shankar'sarticle.Back to 2008I did not evenknow how to utter an "ethnicslur" to an Indianfiom
India. On November29,2010,one of my attorneys,a public defender,askedme a question:"Does
Chinesehave emotion?"After I told him that we Chineseare pretty cmotional.He continuedto say
"How aboutyou?" This was the attorneywho insistedthat he was doing his best to defendme in the
court. And yet he seemedto havethosestereotypeperceptionsaboutChinese.A Chineseis assumed
"gvilty" until "proved otherwise".In May 2008, I repeatedlytold my former employerthat I did not
posethreatto anyone.Yet, the employercontinuedto fire me on that basis.By New York Statelaws,
an employercanlay offan employeewithout giving anyreason.My formeremployerevenfelt it was
necessaryto makeup a story, suchas I pulled out a pen from my pocketand poked someone'seyes.
When he movedback*ard, I movedforward continuingto poke his eyes.What a liar! But it did not
mattera bitl The employerjust saidwhateverthey wanted.For themto saya Chinesewas violent, no
matter it was true or not, it was as easy as calling any Chinese"Wanton Soup"! The employer
presentedthoseallegationsto New York State,to EEOC, andto the Court. Then,they failed to show
up in a hearingat Nerv York Stae Departmentof Labor. They evendid not botherto appealwhenthe
Labor Departmenthad ruled in my favor. As to the lawsuit in New York FederalCourt, the attorney
for the employersimplytried to postponea depositionand askedthe Judgeto dismissthe case.

Last winter in Georgia,one morningwhen I broughtmy daughterandyoungersonfor a trail hiking in

a parh an old white lady cameout from her housewith her dog. The dog was not chained.Whenthe
dog camecloseto my childrentrying to sniffon them, both my sonandmy daughtergot panic.I used
a rvoocisrick geniiy to faid ;ire $og *on licking my chiidre* becauseiircy were screamingaruithe ciog
was big and did not look friendly. At this point the owner angrily yelled at me, saying"you can not
touch my dog." How could her dog touch my children, and I could not touch her dog? I told her that
my son and dauglrterwere scaredand she should call her dog back or chainthe dog. The ownerwas
very upsetwith her dog beingtouched,and shegruntedandwalkedawaywith her dog. The park hada
rule that all dogs shouldbe leashed.Obviouslythe ownerdid not carehow much the kids were scared
by her dog, In her eyes,her dog wasmoreimportantthananotherhuman'schildren.

Earlier this year in Februar.vandMarch we kept receivinglettersfrom the elementaryschoolaskingus

to verify our residence,We had provided all required documentssuchas water bills and electricity
bills when we registeredour childrenfor school last fall. It was not the time to registerfor the next
schoolyear yet. When being askedwhy the schoolcheckedour residencedocumentsat that time, the
schoolsaidthat they had s€ntus letterswhich were returnedto them.But they could not showus afly
returnedletters.

And let's tum the tablearoundandseehow Americanlookedat itself.

When American army launchedthree missilesfrom three different directionsand destroyedChinese

embassyin firrmer Yugoslavia,the army saidthatit was a mistakebecausethe mapthey usedwas out-
oFdate.Amerioanwantedtire world to believe that a military operationas sophisticatedas that was
merely a mistake from a single person.If it was a mistake,it would have required an order from a
commander,to a sophisticatedcomputersystemin Coloradoor Arizona to sendout an unmistakable
signalto a carrier, orderingthe most secretivestealthyfighter jet to take offthousands miles a'way,
 targetingatthe samebuiiciingat thesametime from threedilferentclirecticns
andsimplydemoiishing
thebuilding.In 2001.an Arnericansurveillance planecoliidednith a Chinesefighterjet in Chinesi
airspaceSouthChinaSea.Americanarmy blamedChinesejet pilot engagingin recklessflying and
showedvideo frorrtpastthat Chinesepilot had got so closethat he couldbe seenpostedhis e-mail
addresson the cockpit windou'. \\'hen Americancrew memberswere entertainedlike VIPs in a
Chineseairbase.AmericanwarnedChinesegovemmentthat the surveillanceplane was American
territory.If Chineseboardedthe plane.it wouldbe considered
asinvadingAmericanterritory.

I cannct help but recailu,hatI sar"in moviessuchas Lion King u,herethe prev had to celebrate
the
hinh nf the nrcdatsl In Hollywoodmovies,Chineseor Asiansu'erealrvaysdevoidof expression. less
human-andairkriard

Let's quotea paragraph fromMr. H.G Bissinger'sbookFridm f ightLights-ATown, A Team,andA

Dream."The first murderin Odessaoccurredlatein the nineteenthcenturyn'hena cowboyrodeinto a
water-drillingcamponeafternoonanddemanded somethingro eatfromthe cook.The cooh described
as a "Chinaman",refused,so the coutov promptlyshothim. He rvastakento SanAngelo andput on
trial, but thejudge freedhinron the groundsthat therewere no lawson the booksmakingit illegalto
kill a Chinaman."

DavidMcCulloughin his book Truman,describedyoungHarr1,'5prejudice."One manwasasgoodas

another,he thought,'ro long as he's honestand decentand not a niggeror a Chinaman.'His Uncle
Will Young,the Confeilerate vetcran,had a theorythat 'the Lord madea rvhiteman of dust,a nigger
from mud,thenthren up whatu,asleft andit camedowna Chinaman'." *He doeshateChinksand
Japs.Sc co i. it is;acep,:cj"di:ei guess.Bui i a-r sircn#i'cf :he cpli:-,-'r,
thai;egroe; oughtio be ln
Africa, yellow menin Asia-andWhite men in EuropeandAmerica."Ironically,it was a "Chinaman"
doctor who providedthe terminalcareto Mr. Harry Truman's father.,{nd it was the samePresident
Trumanwho refi.medto depioymassdestructiveweaponin Korean \\-ar and to limit the war to the
KoreanPeninsula.

At the end of his article,Dr. Shankartranscended,"I think about the otherswith whom I spentthe
weekendin jail, thosewho-unlikeme-haveno forum or meansof recourse, andthus no voice.It is to
them,I hope,that my viotorybelongs."

We do not know the oddsrvhenthe voice from thosecould be heard.But only with naivehopemay
not be enough.I wish Dr. Shankar,a poet himself, would read l*s predecessors'poems loud,
"Whoever degradesenotherdegradesme; Whatever is done or said returnsat last to me" (Walter
\trtritman),or "The land rvasours beforewe were the land's" (RobertFrost). Discriminationis a
contagiousdisease.Anyonecancatchit. MalcolmX saidthat "The white losttheir skin color andthus
their humanities."It is ali aboutpower.Both cowardsand bullieslike tc use it to againstthe people
they do rrot like. Whoeveris dominant,he or sheis proneto catchup ir'ith the diseaseanduseit as a
weapon.