Lindsay Van Nostrand.
I am the second of fourteen adoptive children from two different countries, S. Korea and China. My parents are both Caucasian. My mother is Spanish, Turkish and Russian. My father is German, Dutch and Irish. My parents are often praised when people find out about my family. “Your parents are saints. What a great thing you’ve done.” Their children however have all experienced bullying, stereotyping, and discrimination due growing up in an upper middle class white community on Long Island. The first time I was told to “go back to your own country. We don’t want you here” by a white person, I was confused. If that statement was to mean white people of America don’t want people that look like me to be here, they should probably take it up with my parents since it was white people of America that brought me here to begin with. I think it is also important to note that I have experienced discrimination by the few asian people in my community as I am “Not a real asian, or a disgrace to my face”. Being told I’m “not a good asian” because I don’t fit the stereotype is still something I hear today.
