I would constantly get told like oh my gosh, I thought you were w when I was on the phone with you Like your English is so good.

And I'm like, wait, is that supposed to be a compliment?

Thank you.

But I don't know how I feel abou Hahaha.

I've known so many people who experienced racism and don't tra it as racism because they don't time to think about it, you know Yeah.

It's tough because you can't put it into words unless you fully processed the feelings and most the time BIPOC people don't have the time or luxury to process it Right?

They just feel it and they accep this is part of life and it suck And it sucks, you are right.

Because when we talk about racis and microaggressions, the truth doesn't always come from white p Sometimes it's coming from other communities of color or even our own community.

True.

Internalized racism.

Right?

Yeah.

I think there's internalized racism in all communities.

There definitely is in the Hmong community.

Ok, how does that show up for yo There've been a couple of times people were like, oh, you look K Oh, you're so pretty.

You don't even look Hmong.

And I'm like, wait, what?!

What does that mean?

Why Korean?

Because most people love Korean Like just love it, love it.

So then like, of course, then th like, oh, that girl is so pretty Cause the thing is what they're comparing it to.

Isn't actually Korean beauty.

It's the westernized ideals that Korean culture has adopted.

Of like a specific kind of jaw line, slim nose, even pale skin.

Okay.

So Korean dramas is just totally bring people together, but in general, I think the Hmong commu at least from the outside, look like a really tight knit communi Historically Hmong people have always fled countries where we're being forced to assimilate And it's always been like, no, w to exist as our own people pract own culture, speak our own langu I think, through centuries of li over our Hmongness and not be as too fully into another culture.

The result then is like, we're e in America, we're like, oh, we g stick to our people and have Hmo And like, um, which I think can helpful in that, like it's susta some of our cultural practices a harmful in that ,like, some peop don't know anyone outside of our community, which I think is not Yeah.

Yeah, it's good to have diversit within diverse communities.

Where I have experienced racism often has been in the city and it's often been young people.

There was one point in time when was working with middle-schooler sixth graders who are already to I've worked with kids of all age and sixth graders are the roughe And so I went into the sixth gra class and like the students are And then one, then suddenly this turned to me and said, Ching Cho the racism just like hit me like And I had to be like, okay, I'm the adult here.

And like having to figure out ho talk to this young person about racism that they didn't understa Right.

So what was your conversation like with that person?

It was short because I wasn't, i wasn't like I was a staff at the I was only there for specific length of time.

And so it was as simple as like, "Hey, that's not okay."

This was a student who was black And so I tried to connect with the level of like, "you and I'd appreciate it if someone called the N word, that's the level of that it causes me to hear that."

And she kinda like got very quie shy and I could tell she was thi about it, but also very embarras And so I just, I let her sit wit And then she like was very respectful for the rest of the t A lot of it is that they learn this somewhere, but they don't understand the impact of that.

Wow.

That's awesome you did that.

And it just kind of puts into qu like what teachers have to deal you know, where's the line betwe an adult teaches at school and w a parent should be teaching at h Now with everything that's been Like, do you think things are getting better?

Are we finally solving racism for once and for all?

I believe racism has always been it's just been packaged differen Just because George Floyd was mu and there's been racial reckonin like uprisings, I don't believe things are going to change all t And I think that the battle to fight racism will continue on for a very long time.

George Floyd say his name.

I mean, even, even being an ally is somewhat complex, somewhat complicated on when you should act and when you shouldn't.

Right?

I talked to a friend of mine, he Mexican American organizer has b a lot of these Black Lives Matte And we talk a lot about how, lik you know what we're going to sho up and we're going to make mista Right?

We're going to say the wrong things sometimes we're going to do things slightly wrong.

And like when someone tells you, you learn from it and you correc Right.

Because we're all learning.

You just have to come from a place of not making it about you, because it's not about you.