The Rice And The Wrongs: Discrimination Not Stuck In The Past

Story by Dan Nguyen 

| Published Nov 11, 2008

One night I woke up to the throbbing pain of huge balls in the back of my throat; they were my tonsils.

As misleading as that sentence sounds, I knew with certainty balls that big in the back of my mouth could only mean one thing: strep throat.

As I sat in the waiting room of the University Health Center waiting for a doctor to prescribe me my antibiotic fix, I began to think of the wording of my e-mail that I would send to my professors, telling them I would be absent from class.

When writing a legitimate “I’m sick” e-mail, one must remember how many times one has illegitimately claimed “sickness” to the professor before.

The nurse called my name, and I began to groggily walk towards her.

“Hi, Dan,” she says to me. “You have a brother named Mai?” she asks me.

“No” I respond, “I only have two older sisters.”

“Oh! Can and Bu?”

“Umm, No.” I react.

I’m not even sure if those are even girl’s names. If I had to make a guess I’d say they were boys’ names, if they’re names at all.

Whatever the case didn’t really matter, I’ve had the same conversation before, different Asian sounding names, same responses.

There are a lot of Nguyens in America, and it’s very rare that anyone has ever correlated me with my two old Asian sisters correctly; anglicized Amy and Tammy.

Madison-the-nurse took my height and weight and walked me to my patient’s room.

Somewhere along the way we struck up a conversation leading us to talk about my fraternity.

Turns out she had a son in the same one some 20 years ago. I tell Madison it’s still a decent house, how we stride to set our priorities right, and how our cook makes a damn good meal.

“When my son was at school they had the greatest black cook,” she tells me. “Can you imagine a black cook with all those boys? She was great. She treated them like their own, and you know how those blacks treat their family.”

Madison was the nicest aversive racist I’ve ever met. Her day was consumed with helping sick college kids that can’t afford health care.

And she was nice enough to wait with me until the doctor came, even if every once in awhile she threw in a quirk that would make me cringe a bit.

To be honest though, Madison-the-Nurse scares the fuck out of me.

Here we are as Americans, ready to inaugurate our first Black president. No matter what happens these next four years, history will be in the making.

Yet, I’m worried because of people like Madison. I am even more worried for the more politically correct people of America who do not know of people like Madison.

But, I am most worried about the well informed educated citizens of this nation who despite the acknowledgment of people like Madison think that racism is over.

Just because president-elect Obama is black does not mean racism is over.

The thing about aversive racism that makes it complicated is that we hardly know we are doing it. Isn’t that the point for it being called aversive?

For that I’m letting you know right now, I am not lecturing anything, for all I know I’m the worst aversive racists you know.

Fuck, I write a column named the “Rice and Wrongs.” I’m sure it’s not the only evidence of myself exploiting my race (ask my friends).

I only ask that when we think of our nation, the politics, its people and its future, we don’t assume that equality has been met.

That everything we can do to help those in need has been done.

For race, for class, for gender, for that ugly chick with the lazy eye that sits in the back of the classroom, let’s not assume discrimination is a thing of the past.