![\"asialogo\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/368\/2014\/07\/asialogo-150x150.png\")
<\/p>\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”Racial Interactions” text_orientation=”center” background_overlay_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.34)” _builder_version=”4.25.0″ title_font_size=”50px” background_color=”rgba(255, 255, 255, 0)” background_image=”https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/ain\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/368\/2024\/03\/Racial_interactions_upright-e1710878718686.jpg” parallax=”on” custom_padding=”100px||100px|” text_shadow_style=”preset3″ global_colors_info=”{}” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”|||” custom_width_px=”695px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.3″ text_font_size=”15px” text_line_height=”2em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
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The Asian population in\u00a0Northfield has gradually become more visible and vocal over the last few decades. <\/strong>With that racial diversity comes the opportunity for the mostly “white” town folks to socialize, communicate, and develop professional and personal relationships with these rather different ethnic and cultural groups. Asian Americans here, for better or for worse, stand out in a crowd. What kind of experiences do our storytellers have in regards to racial interaction, tension, and perhaps even discrimination? Most of them note a certain degree of misunderstanding due to lack of cultural knowledge or history. However, they also believe that the community at large is cordial, courteous, and open to learning. Some even take advantage of such mishaps to rebuke long-established racial stereotypes.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”#e2e2e2″ custom_padding=”|15px||15px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]Naomi Munggai –\u00a0<\/strong>“I just toughen up… I cannot take all these things personally all the time. For little things… I’m not going to look at that, and… let it spoil my day or my life. I’m just going to move on.”<\/p>\n The Asian population in\u00a0Northfield has gradually become more visible and vocal over the last few decades. With that racial diversity comes the opportunity for the mostly “white” town folks to socialize, communicate, and develop professional and personal relationships with these rather different ethnic and cultural groups. Asian Americans here, for better or for worse, stand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":850,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" The Asian population in\u00a0Northfield has gradually become more visible and vocal over the last few decades. <\/strong>With that racial diversity comes the opportunity for the mostly \"white\" town folks to socialize, communicate, and develop professional and personal relationships with these rather different ethnic and cultural groups. Asian Americans here, for better or for worse, stand out in a crowd. What kind of experiences do our storytellers have in regards to racial interaction, tension, and perhaps even discrimination? Most of them note a certain degree of misunderstanding due to lack of cultural knowledge or history. However, they also believe that the community at large is cordial, courteous, and open to learning. Some even take advantage of such mishaps to rebuke long-established racial stereotypes.<\/p> Naomi Munggai -\u00a0<\/strong>\"I just toughen up... I cannot take all these things personally all the time. For little things... I'm not going to look at that, and... let it spoil my day or my life. I'm just going to move on.\"<\/p> [iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-PAVXt-K3D4?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen]<\/p> Naomi Munggai Transcription<\/p> There was a parent close by and she said \u201coh stop by at my house I have two girls and you have two girls and, you know, they can play together.\u201d And I thought that was a genuine invitation. And me, silly, I said \u201coh, I\u2019ll do that.\u201d When, you know, on the way from home, because we walk and I said \u201cI\u2019ll do that.\u201d So, walking back from preschool, this was Longfellow School, house is there, and their house was along the way. I stopped there and rang the doorbell, and I saw the kids outside, the two girls, and rang the doorbell. And, the grandmother opened the door and she said like \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d And I said \u201cOh, is, is so and so in the house because she, she told me we can stop by here, you know, my kids can play.\u201d And she looked at my kids and she goes \u201cGo, go, go, go inside, go inside.\u201d Asked the two grandkids to go in the house. And then my two girls couldn\u2019t understand like \u201cWhat happened? We were just playing in the school and now we cannot play with them?\u201d And I felt so bad for, for my girls. I felt so bad. And they were saying like \u201cMom what happened? We were just playing with them. Why is it we cannot play?\u201d I said \u201cI don\u2019t know, but we are not coming back. We are not walking this way ever. We are going to go that way next time. We are not passing here.\u201d And so they asked me that question and I felt that... discrimination. I came home, I told my husband. He said, \u201cIf that is going to break your heart, you better learn it girl. This is tough world here.\u201d And I said, \u201cYes, sir. I\u2019m going to learn.\u201d And so, I just toughen up after that, you know, like I cannot take all these things personally all the time. For little things, somebody look at me differently, I said, no, I, I\u2019m not going to look at that and I\u2019m not going to let it spoil my day or my life. I\u2019m just going to move on.<\/p><\/div> And another story I thought was interesting is because I don\u2019t look Thai in a way. You know, so people have that expectation that Thai should look a certain way. So, when I went to the grocery store there was a kid there and she turned to me and she said \u201cHola!\u201d And I had just come from Thailand, I had no idea what \u201cHola\u201d meant. You know, and I looked at her I said \u201cWhat is she trying to say here?\u201d And she said \u201cHola\u201d and I said \u201chuh\u201d and I felt so bad because I didn\u2019t know how to respond because I didn\u2019t know. And the kid looked at me and she looked so disappointed. You know, and that was so sweet in the sense that in a small town where people try to kind of interact with you. So, those were kind of nice experiences I\u2019ve had. But I\u2019ve also had people in small towns coming to me and saying, you know, asking where I was from and said \u201cOh, do you use elephants in Thailand. You know, as a means, a mode of transportation?\u201d Then I will say \u201cOh, not anymore.\u201d \u00a0She said \u201cBut I saw that in The King and I<\/i>,\u201d you know. And I said \u201cOh, that was, you know, centuries ago. And now we are just like any other country.\u201d We just, I\u2019m not, I don\u2019t get upset. I just find it, that it\u2019s our opportunity, actually, to tell them about our country. And not, we shouldn\u2019t get upset or angry when people ask questions like this. Or, one time I had somebody come and ask me whether there are bathrooms in Thailand. So I said, \u201cYes, we do have,\u201d you know. But people did not know much about Thailand when I first came here. If I say I\u2019m from Thailand a lot of people would think I said that I\u2019m from Taiwan. But nowadays everybody knows where Thailand is.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div> Toui Mohlke -\u00a0<\/strong>\"The teachers and the faculty used to get\u00a0the two of them [my daughters and another Asian American student] mixed up. ... Just because they were one of the very few Asian kids around was kind of an eye opener when I first moved to Northfield.\"<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> \u00a0<\/p> [iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v-Nlc-9Nffc?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen]<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Her [a family friend's]\u00a0daughter and my daughter are the same age. And the reason that we, our families ever got to know each other is because her daughter, Leah, and my daughter, Casey, they... the teachers and the faculty used to get the two girls mixed up. They\u2019re both half Asian and half Caucasian. They really don\u2019t look anything alike, but that\u2019s, you know, there\u2019s so, so few Asian kids, and most of them are adopted, actually. The ones that they, that are around. Yeah\u2026 that, I mean, that one still cracks us up because they really do not look anything alike. And to have the two of them mixed up just because they were one of the very few Asian kids around was kind of an eye opener when I first moved to Northfield.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div> \u00a0<\/p> [iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WzEyRoW5ZHA?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen]<\/p><\/div> You know, I took Norwegian and the instructor\u2019s reading off the roll and she\u2019s like \u201cAnderson, Andreson, Bjorkland, Bjork, Muri, Muri, Muri-. So, but you know, like I said \"Jeg snakker lit norsh\" <\/em>[I speak a little Norwegian].\u00a0I worked in the King\u2019s Room and during Christmas festival you have all these people coming back. And of course, anytime someone, a veteran, sees me that was stationed in Japan during the war they have to come up and try their Japanese out on me. And so I would just look at them and say \"Jeg forst\u00e5r ikke. Jeg snakker norsh,\"<\/em>\u00a0[I don't understand. I speak Norwegian] and they\u2019d just kind of \u201cWOAH,\u201d you know.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tNaiomi Munggai Transcription<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
There was a parent close by and she said \u201coh stop by at my house I have two girls and you have two girls and, you know, they can play together.\u201d And I thought that was a genuine invitation. And me, silly, I said \u201coh, I\u2019ll do that.\u201d When, you know, on the way from home, because we walk and I said \u201cI\u2019ll do that.\u201d So, walking back from preschool, this was Longfellow School, house is there, and their house was along the way. I stopped there and rang the doorbell, and I saw the kids outside, the two girls, and rang the doorbell. And, the grandmother opened the door and she said like \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d And I said \u201cOh, is, is so and so in the house because she, she told me we can stop by here, you know, my kids can play.\u201d And she looked at my kids and she goes \u201cGo, go, go, go inside, go inside.\u201d Asked the two grandkids to go in the house. And then my two girls couldn\u2019t understand like \u201cWhat happened? We were just playing in the school and now we cannot play with them?\u201d And I felt so bad for, for my girls. I felt so bad. And they were saying like \u201cMom what happened? We were just playing with them. Why is it we cannot play?\u201d I said \u201cI don\u2019t know, but we are not coming back. We are not walking this way ever. We are going to go that way next time. We are not passing here.\u201d And so they asked me that question and I felt that… discrimination. I came home, I told my husband. He said, \u201cIf that is going to break your heart, you better learn it girl. This is tough world here.\u201d And I said, \u201cYes, sir. I\u2019m going to learn.\u201d And so, I just toughen up after that, you know, like I cannot take all these things personally all the time. For little things, somebody look at me differently, I said, no, I, I\u2019m not going to look at that and I\u2019m not going to let it spoil my day or my life. I\u2019m just going to move on.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/I1wMqrtGcw8″ _builder_version=”4.25.0″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”#ffffff” custom_padding=”|15px||15px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/nGLygurVfbc” _builder_version=”4.25.0″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]Ameeta Sony<\/strong> – “I also had people… asking where I was from and said, ‘Oh, do you use elephants in Thailand? You know, as a means, a mode of transportation?’ Then I will say ‘Oh, not anymore.’ She said ‘but I saw that, in The\u00a0King and I<\/em>.’ … I don’t get upset. I just find… it our opportunity, actually, to tell them about our country.”
\n\n\t\t\t\t\tAmeeta Sony Transcription<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
And another story I thought was interesting is because I don\u2019t look Thai in a way. You know, so people have that expectation that Thai should look a certain way. So, when I went to the grocery store there was a kid there and she turned to me and she said \u201cHola!\u201d And I had just come from Thailand, I had no idea what \u201cHola\u201d meant. You know, and I looked at her I said \u201cWhat is she trying to say here?\u201d And she said \u201cHola\u201d and I said \u201chuh\u201d and I felt so bad because I didn\u2019t know how to respond because I didn\u2019t know. And the kid looked at me and she looked so disappointed. You know, and that was so sweet in the sense that in a small town where people try to kind of interact with you. So, those were kind of nice experiences I\u2019ve had. But I\u2019ve also had people in small towns coming to me and saying, you know, asking where I was from and said \u201cOh, do you use elephants in Thailand. You know, as a means, a mode of transportation?\u201d Then I will say \u201cOh, not anymore.\u201d \u00a0She said \u201cBut I saw that in The King and I,\u201d you know. And I said \u201cOh, that was, you know, centuries ago. And now we are just like any other country.\u201d We just, I\u2019m not, I don\u2019t get upset. I just find it, that it\u2019s our opportunity, actually, to tell them about our country. And not, we shouldn\u2019t get upset or angry when people ask questions like this. Or, one time I had somebody come and ask me whether there are bathrooms in Thailand. So I said, \u201cYes, we do have,\u201d you know. But people did not know much about Thailand when I first came here. If I say I\u2019m from Thailand a lot of people would think I said that I\u2019m from Taiwan. But nowadays everybody knows where Thailand is.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”#e2e2e2″ custom_padding=”|15px||15px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]Toui Mohlke –\u00a0<\/strong>“The teachers and the faculty used to get\u00a0the two of them [my daughters and another Asian American student] mixed up. … Just because they were one of the very few Asian kids around was kind of an eye opener when I first moved to Northfield.”<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tToui Mohlke Transcription<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
Her [a family friend’s]\u00a0daughter and my daughter are the same age. And the reason that we, our families ever got to know each other is because her daughter, Leah, and my daughter, Casey, they… the teachers and the faculty used to get the two girls mixed up. They\u2019re both half Asian and half Caucasian. They really don\u2019t look anything alike, but that\u2019s, you know, there\u2019s so, so few Asian kids, and most of them are adopted, actually. The ones that they, that are around. Yeah\u2026 that, I mean, that one still cracks us up because they really do not look anything alike. And to have the two of them mixed up just because they were one of the very few Asian kids around was kind of an eye opener when I first moved to Northfield.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/B8l1E4gXtek” _builder_version=”4.25.0″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|15px||15px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/KwHqNQfOHwk” _builder_version=”4.25.0″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]Jane Murakami<\/strong> – “Anytime someone, a veteran, sees me that was stationed in Japan during the war they have to come up and try their Japanese out on me.”<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tJane Murakami Transcription<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
You know, I took Norwegian and the instructor\u2019s reading off the roll and she\u2019s like \u201cAnderson, Andreson, Bjorkland, Bjork, Muri, Muri, Muri-. So, but you know, like I said “Jeg snakker lit norsh” [I speak a little Norwegian].\u00a0I worked in the King\u2019s Room and during Christmas festival you have all these people coming back. And of course, anytime someone, a veteran, sees me that was stationed in Japan during the war they have to come up and try their Japanese out on me. And so I would just look at them and say “Jeg forst\u00e5r ikke. Jeg snakker norsh,”\u00a0[I don’t understand. I speak Norwegian] and they\u2019d just kind of \u201cWOAH,\u201d you know.<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"close<\/div>\u00a0[iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dnwSoNe8YH4?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen]<\/div>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Ameeta Sony<\/strong> - \"I also had people... asking where I was from and said, 'Oh, do you use elephants in Thailand? You know, as a means, a mode of transportation?' Then I will say 'Oh, not anymore.' She said 'but I saw that, in <\/span>The\u00a0King and I<\/em>.' ... I don't get upset. I just find... it our opportunity, actually, to tell them about our country.\"<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>Ameeta Sony Transcription<\/div>Toui Mohlke Transcription<\/div>\u00a0Jane Murakami - <\/strong>\"Anytime someone, a veteran, sees me that was stationed in Japan during the war they have to come up and try their Japanese out on me.\"<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\u00a0<\/div>Jane Murakami Transcription<\/div>\u00a0<\/div><\/div><\/div>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-504","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/ain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/ain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/ain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/ain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/850"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/ain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/ain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1725,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/ain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504\/revisions\/1725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/ain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}