Asian America

A few weeks ago, during a trip to Maine, I was browsing through some small shops at Bar Harbor.  Before going into one of these shops, I held a door open for an old man to step through.  He was a tall man with white hair and a cowboy hat.  As he stepped through the held door, he made a comment of gratitude towards me.  But what he said, kind of caught me off guard.  He said, “Thank you, Charlie.”

I didn’t know what to say or how to react.  But I knew enough to know that “Charlie” was a slang term during the Vietnam War for Victor Charlie or more specifically “Viet Cong”.  And given that my family and I were practically the only Asians visiting the town dominated by whites, it made it even more apparent to me.

But the thing is, I didn’t feel as deeply offended as many people would think I should.  Because, for one thing, he didn’t say it in any sarcastic or degrading way—he did have the expression of genuine gratitude.  And perhaps it was also the fact that I understood that he was an old timer, born and bred in a different generation that just thought differently but, personally, didn’t have any ill intent towards me or other Asians.  For all I know, he could have even been a veteran, who just had trouble shaking old habits.

Either way, I wasn’t fuming.  But I did feel that I was treated to an off-handed compliment.

Some of you, out there, might get angry that I didn’t get angry enough about the situation.  But some of you might even think that this situation was so slight that it doesn’t deserve mentioning. 

Whatever the case, it does bring up an important matter—when does a person’s racial sensitivity cross the line to over sensitivity or under sensitivity?  How does a person draw the line?   

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