Elephant skin

I just came across your website and read an article with the title “I can laugh about it“. Please tell the author that I had experienced the same thing in my own hometown back when I was in the elementary school.  I did not even know that my grandpa came from China, I didn’t speak a word of Chinese and didn’t realise that I am a mixed-yellow.

I’ve been called yellow skin, Chinese, being yelled to get out of the country I was born in. The individuals who did it were mostly children and not more than 8 years old. It happened in an Asian country, where I was born and raised, and coincidentally the author’s neighbour country too. Then I grew up, tried to learn Mandarin Chinese, my Indonesian-born-Chinese friend mocked my dialect and said that I would never be able to speak Mandarin in my whole life.

So when I was suddenly approached by a man in Berlin, who said “Chinesisch raus!”, my skin was already as thick as elephant’s skin. And I’ve been living here for 11 years…

But one thing I’ve learned from my parents is: being treated racially is not nice, so don’t ever treat others like that!

I’m glad that she grew stronger.