Worlds apart

The Duke Lemur Center is on my bucket list of places to go before I graduate (sob). So when several of my friends learned about free tours last weekend, I jumped on board. Rather than finding the lemurs worlds apart, though, I was intrigued and challenged by an international student who joined us on the tour. Many visitors made their discomfort and annoyance quite clear when she adamantly headed to the front of the line, unashamedly peeked behind the curtains in the nocturnal building, and spent large amounts of time in front of each window.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only time I witnessed such discomfort. It seems as though everywhere on Duke’s campus, particularly in classroom settings, international students are snickered at, whispered about and excluded from opportunities to engage in strong relationships with non-international students. Sadly, I sometimes find myself participating in this type of clearly disrespectful behavior and often have to proactively push away those thoughts. Why are international students and their accents the brunt of jokes? Why are they on the periphery of many campus activities and organizations?

The other day, I asked my Vietnamese friend whether she had decided to remain in the states after graduation. After discussing a host of factors in her decision, she shared one thing that stuck out to me the most: “I feel like I face racism here, and it’s very notable even on Duke’s campus, which troubles me. I don’t think I would feel that back home.”

Although she certainly cannot speak for all international students’ experiences, and though I don’t believe she was implying that Duke is outwardly antagonistic toward international students, her feelings still indicate a discriminatory environment. Rather than making an effort to learn about other cultures and experiences and extend a welcoming hand, our indifference and sometimes hostility toward international students marginalize those who don’t know our cultural norms.

There aren’t many institutional barriers between international and domestic students. Club sports and IM teams are open to all; anyone can express interest in Greek life, and many clubs and organizations search for diversity. But barriers are deeper than that. They lie in disrespectful thoughts and interactions, embedded in our culture of racism.

This racism seems to only apply to certain international students. How is it that students from Europe/Australia/South Africa tend to attract attention and acceptance, whereas students from Asian and Middle Eastern countries often experience disdain and exclusion? Is it because the former includes cultures that are similar to America’s? Is it because strong accents make us uncomfortable? The recent KSig scandal perfectly illustrates how Asian students can be alienated from our Duke community. Instead of striving to make connections with people of different cultures, have we reduced them to stereotypes? We reinforce not only a shared culture of racism amongst non-international students through our assumptions and stifled laughter, but also the notion that our norms and culture are superior to those of others.

Gradually taking the time to understand other cultural norms has helped me in my struggle to contribute to an inclusive environment. In Shanghai, you have to be aggressive if you want to get anywhere amongst the scrambling crowds. The first time my family visited, my dad, the unknowing pedestrian he was, would step aside for others. My mom teased, “If you keep doing that, we’ll see you in several hours once you actually get on the bus!” She told me that in school, students constantly competed to answer questions to reach the top of the class. With so many students, only a select few could gain educational opportunities that slipped through the fingers of others. If she hadn’t been that student whom we roll our eyes at now, she would have never made it to America. Understanding that China’s fast-paced and competitive environment not only influenced Chinese culture, but also constituted an integral part of it, helped me understand some of the cultural differences here at Duke.

I also recall my study abroad in China, with a group of eight American students. Everywhere we went Chinese people constantly greeted us with kindness, patience and excitement, attitudes that never failed to amaze and humble us. My summer job at Walt Disney World presented the other side of that coin. Cast members were openly condescending to international guests who asked questions or had difficulty communicating. The number of times a Chinese person complimented me on how good my utterly broken Chinese was dwarfs the number of times a cast member rolled their eyes at someone with poor English.