My friend Dylan and I were engaged in a conversation on AIM where he asked me how my weekend was going and then we came the subject of Chinese New Year and how it should be a holiday. I proposed that i write a letter and here is a short snippet of our conversation:
brooklynslider (4:14:37 PM):wat u gonna say
LaZI sH o r T iE (4:21:04 PM): well mr.obama
LaZI sH o r T iE (4:21:21 PM): since you yourself is a man of mixed race
LaZI sH o r T iE (4:21:45 PM): i would suppose that you have consideration for other races unlike white suppremesists
LaZI sH o r T iE (4:22:16 PM): therefore i assume that you also have consideration for the religions of other races
LaZI sH o r T iE (4:23:12 PM): on that note i am writing to you as an asian teenager that thinks it is only fair that chinese new year be also made into a holiday where everyone gets the day off
LaZI sH o r T iE (4:24:05 PM): as i mentioned before, i am an asian teenager and i find it hard to catch up in school sometimes because i have to miss it for the traditional celebration of chinese new year with my family
LaZI sH o r T iE (4:25:29 PM): i also have an older brother who deems it difficult to be at work while the majority of his family members are all celebrating and he has to miss out on this important event because he does not have a job that offers numerous sick days
LaZI sH o r T iE (4:27:01 PM): so in this letter, i request, of you, mr.obama, that you make chinse new year a national holiday where the asian popularity does not have to choose between asian traditions and the traditions of the american way of life
brooklynslider (4:27:17 PM): thats really well written
LaZI sH o r T iE (4:27:22 PM): why thank you
I posted this because i found it an important part of the way of life of an Asian American teenager. I also found this an important issue that the US government fails to address. That just goes to show how the US government seems to be of a multiracial population but in reality it is mostly white supremacists who run things in America.
I was watching the Miss America pageant the other night and one of the competitors was asked the question "Since we have an African American man as our new president, do you think that the world has changed in terms of racism?" I do not feel that she answered the question adequately. I think she avoided the subject of the question as a whole.
I, on the other hand, think i can answer that question somewhat.
I do not think racism has changed. I do not think it will change. Sure we have an African American president but in terms of racism as a whole i think the blacks and the whites are equally racist. Caucasians think they have superiority because African Americans were slaves in the past and because they have colored skin. But now i think the roles may change a little bit. African Americans will think that they have the upper hand now that we have an African American president. They do not seem to realize or acknowledge that Obama is of MIXED RACE. He is half white and half black. For all we know he could be another white supremacists added to society. He does agree with some things that bush has had said.
I just wanted to shared my thoughts to someone that would actually care of the matter and on blogger, there has got to be someone who cares.
What I'm trying to say is that in the end RACISM DOES NOT CHANGE. There will always be racism in the world. There is no stopping it.
Well i wanted to write more but i need to attended an important Chinese new years eve dinner i might write more later.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Obama’s Inauguration Assignment
First off, let me start by saying, that speech is A LOT longer in words than it was on the tele.
Second, I want to point out something that some others may not have noticed but I thought was interesting. Since Bush’s term ended, Biden was sworn into the white house BEFORE Obama was. Doesn’t that mean that Biden was president for about 10 minutes while the orchestra was playing?
Now about the inauguration of Barrack Obama, I thought it was generally a nice ceremony. When I was watching it, I wasn’t too sure about what to expect because I’m sure that there are many attacks planned against Obama because it’s such a big change. I also thought that there was way too much money spent to inaugurate the president of the United States of America considering the horrible economy that we have right now. All the money spent on the ceremony could have been used for much more useful things such as feeding the starving in third world countries or helping the poor in the USA.
“We will not apologize for our way of life.” – B. H. Obama
“The American way of life is non-negotiable.” – G.W. Bush
Just this second, I searched up Bush’s inaugural address to compare it to Obama’s and when I clicked on the first link on google, I found it funny that it said “The page you requested wasn't found at this location. The Obama Administration has created a brand new White House website, and it's possible that the page you were looking for has been moved.” I found this funny because Obama’s administration immediately changed the website and moved Bush’s speech somewhere else. The first thought I had was, “wow it seems as though Obama’s erasing what Bush did during his terms as president.”
Well I continued searching and realized that Bush had two inaugural addresses and I didn’t want to read both of them so I will just compare the two quotes.
Both Bush and Obama mentioned something about the AWOL. They both seem to say that the AWOL is a set thing. We cannot change it. Bush said it is “non-negotiable” which means that the AWOL is the way it is; we cannot change what has been set. As for Obama, he said that we would not apologize for our life which suggests that we cannot apologize for what we have done in the past. We will not apologize for the way we live because it is the way we live. It is our way of life, we cannot change it. In a way Bush and Obama have the same views. Many people see Obama as “better” because he is different, he is of mixed race. Many people do not like Bush because he has led us through many troubles such as war in Iraq and this horrible economy that we seem to be stuck in. But the thing is, how do we know that Obama will not lead us into the same turmoil? How do we know how different he is? I guess that is what we can expect every time we elect a new president. Expect them to be great leaders and to lead us into greatness and prosperity.
I’m not too into politics; they do not interest me much. I’m more of a human rights person, meaning that I see everyone the same and that discrimination is wrong and equal rights and all that. I personally think it has a lot to do with common sense. Why do people have to be racist? What makes me, an Asian, so much different from a Caucasian person? I kind of want to know what goes on in a racist’s head. What do they think about? What makes them hate another race? Why do they have such discrimination against another HUMAN BEING? Through any kinds of discrimination, in the end everyone is a human being.
I honesty don’t have much to say about Obama’s inauguration itself. I’m not too excited that we have a black president now because I don’t see it as much different. I see Obama as another human being and just the same as any other candidate but I know for a fact that African Americans will look at white supremacists different and vice versa. The minority will have higher hopes of achieving the same dream as Obama did and blah blah blah blah. Of course we all know these facts already and I am just stating the obvious.
Second, I want to point out something that some others may not have noticed but I thought was interesting. Since Bush’s term ended, Biden was sworn into the white house BEFORE Obama was. Doesn’t that mean that Biden was president for about 10 minutes while the orchestra was playing?
Now about the inauguration of Barrack Obama, I thought it was generally a nice ceremony. When I was watching it, I wasn’t too sure about what to expect because I’m sure that there are many attacks planned against Obama because it’s such a big change. I also thought that there was way too much money spent to inaugurate the president of the United States of America considering the horrible economy that we have right now. All the money spent on the ceremony could have been used for much more useful things such as feeding the starving in third world countries or helping the poor in the USA.
“We will not apologize for our way of life.” – B. H. Obama
“The American way of life is non-negotiable.” – G.W. Bush
Just this second, I searched up Bush’s inaugural address to compare it to Obama’s and when I clicked on the first link on google, I found it funny that it said “The page you requested wasn't found at this location. The Obama Administration has created a brand new White House website, and it's possible that the page you were looking for has been moved.” I found this funny because Obama’s administration immediately changed the website and moved Bush’s speech somewhere else. The first thought I had was, “wow it seems as though Obama’s erasing what Bush did during his terms as president.”
Well I continued searching and realized that Bush had two inaugural addresses and I didn’t want to read both of them so I will just compare the two quotes.
Both Bush and Obama mentioned something about the AWOL. They both seem to say that the AWOL is a set thing. We cannot change it. Bush said it is “non-negotiable” which means that the AWOL is the way it is; we cannot change what has been set. As for Obama, he said that we would not apologize for our life which suggests that we cannot apologize for what we have done in the past. We will not apologize for the way we live because it is the way we live. It is our way of life, we cannot change it. In a way Bush and Obama have the same views. Many people see Obama as “better” because he is different, he is of mixed race. Many people do not like Bush because he has led us through many troubles such as war in Iraq and this horrible economy that we seem to be stuck in. But the thing is, how do we know that Obama will not lead us into the same turmoil? How do we know how different he is? I guess that is what we can expect every time we elect a new president. Expect them to be great leaders and to lead us into greatness and prosperity.
I’m not too into politics; they do not interest me much. I’m more of a human rights person, meaning that I see everyone the same and that discrimination is wrong and equal rights and all that. I personally think it has a lot to do with common sense. Why do people have to be racist? What makes me, an Asian, so much different from a Caucasian person? I kind of want to know what goes on in a racist’s head. What do they think about? What makes them hate another race? Why do they have such discrimination against another HUMAN BEING? Through any kinds of discrimination, in the end everyone is a human being.
I honesty don’t have much to say about Obama’s inauguration itself. I’m not too excited that we have a black president now because I don’t see it as much different. I see Obama as another human being and just the same as any other candidate but I know for a fact that African Americans will look at white supremacists different and vice versa. The minority will have higher hopes of achieving the same dream as Obama did and blah blah blah blah. Of course we all know these facts already and I am just stating the obvious.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Winter Holidays
Christmas
I spent Christmas with my family. Everyone was home and we all opened our presents at 12:00am on Christmas day. On Christmas Eve we had a “special” dinner meaning we had a dinner that we wouldn’t have on a normal basis. My sister came over with her family and my dad came home from work, everyone had a good time and enjoyed themselves. On Christmas day, everyone just relaxed but my day had to go back to work in the morning and my sister left the night before after opening presents.
In comparison to the AWOL, my family seems like we came pretty close. We had a special dinner and we opened presents with the family all gathered around in the living room with a Christmas special movie displayed on the tv. Though we are an Asian family and will never truly have an AWOL due to so many traditions, we still celebrate American holidays like people see on tv.
New Years
My family did not celebrate new years together. My brother and sister in law went to a party at a friend’s house, my mom went to her friend’s house and I went to my friend’s house after hanging out with a bunch of friends. My friends and I went to a party, had fun, celebrated new years and went home.
Separately, I’d say my family had an AWOL new years but as a family, we did not sit at home while I watch them get drunk and count down till the new years and all cheered at the tv of which we felt was our connection to everyone else on the east coast.
I spent Christmas with my family. Everyone was home and we all opened our presents at 12:00am on Christmas day. On Christmas Eve we had a “special” dinner meaning we had a dinner that we wouldn’t have on a normal basis. My sister came over with her family and my dad came home from work, everyone had a good time and enjoyed themselves. On Christmas day, everyone just relaxed but my day had to go back to work in the morning and my sister left the night before after opening presents.
In comparison to the AWOL, my family seems like we came pretty close. We had a special dinner and we opened presents with the family all gathered around in the living room with a Christmas special movie displayed on the tv. Though we are an Asian family and will never truly have an AWOL due to so many traditions, we still celebrate American holidays like people see on tv.
New Years
My family did not celebrate new years together. My brother and sister in law went to a party at a friend’s house, my mom went to her friend’s house and I went to my friend’s house after hanging out with a bunch of friends. My friends and I went to a party, had fun, celebrated new years and went home.
Separately, I’d say my family had an AWOL new years but as a family, we did not sit at home while I watch them get drunk and count down till the new years and all cheered at the tv of which we felt was our connection to everyone else on the east coast.
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