Edmonton Journal
Saturday, May 7, 2005
Page: D5
Section: Ed
Byline: Olivia Cheng
Column: Olivia Cheng
Source: The Edmonton Journal

During my first month reporting for Global Television, I was at City Hall covering a citizenship ceremony when an elderly volunteer startled me with her greeting.

"WEL-COME..TO.. CA-NA-DA," she beamed, loudly emphasizing each syllable. "YOU..MUST.. BE..FROM..KO-RE-A!!"

She was so proud that I didn't have the heart to correct her.

As a 25-year-old Chinese-Canadian, born and raised here, I've learned to expect moments -- comical or otherwise -- that reflect the experience of growing up Asian in the City of Champs.

Many of us are first-generation Canadians, raised by immigrant parents who desperately want us to fit into a new world without losing our cultural roots.

"I came here from Asia when I was 11," says Jackson Liaw, 25. "I didn't know a word of English and my parents would always push me to make friends with Caucasians. The next thing you know I totally lost my Chinese."

Nora, a U of A sciences student, recalls a constant conflict of cultures -- a struggle that went right down to the Thermos of rice in her lunchbox.

"I was always self-conscious and I was worried people would make fun of the way my food smelled," she says, with a laugh. "I just wanted the normal sandwich with the ham and the lettuce."

Experts who research intergenerational conflict in immigrant families say it's common to see such tugs-of-war, especially around issues of identity, values and acceptable behaviour. "Children tend to accommodate the new culture faster than their parents because they're exposed to it in the higher degree in the school context," says Dr. Noorfarah Merali, an assistant psychology professor at the U of A.

Adding to the anxiety of fitting in is parental pressure to earn top marks; I still recall dreading the "What-happened-to-the-other-12-per-cent?" lecture after scoring 88 per cent on a math test.

"I believe it's Asian culture itself that puts pressure on the kids to do well in school," says Steve, a 21-year-old pharmacy student. "With school, people expect better jobs. Better jobs mean more money. And what do Chinese people value most? Money."

As Asian kids, we're pushed to achieve financial status and security because of the extreme poverty endured by our parents in their homelands. When my mother was born, my grandmother tried to suffocate her because the family was too poor to feed another mouth. Thankfully my they had a change of heart.

As Lisa La notes: "(Our parents) brought us here. They want us to do better than them and have a better life."

Even our parents' best efforts can't shelter us from all of life's ugliness.

When I was 15 and walking to the bus stop after school, a middle-aged man walking ahead of me suddenly whirled around and shoved me. "I'm sick of all you Chinks taking our jobs," he screamed. "Go the f*** back to China!" At age 19, I was out clubbing with girlfriends when a bouncer at the old Barry T's blocked our path. "Sorry, no Asian girls tonight." There had been a fight involving Asian girls the night before.

Young Asians say it's frustrating when the actions of a few are unfairly projected onto them all.

"Sometimes (bouncers) will be like, 'Oh, do you have five pieces of ID on you?' " says Linh Dang, 26. "As if I'm going to have five pieces of ID on me! And then you'll see right in front of your face how other people just walk right in without getting their IDs checked. That's just wrong."

In light of the city's significant Asian-based gang problem, the prejudice only stands to be perpetuated. And as maddening as the stereotype may be, many members of the Asian community concede there's occasionally some truth to it.

"I had a phase where I didn't even want to associate with Asians," says Steve the pharmacy student. "If I'm hanging out with a white buddy, my night will go a lot smoother. If I'm with my Asian friends, shit happens that causes a lot of trouble."

When trouble does go down, word spreads quickly through the community. Denny Chew, 25, says: "With the Asian community, everyone pretty much knows everybody." It's only a few degrees of separation between you and the person lying in a hospital bed, a jail cell or the cemetery.

After a shooting in the downtown area several years ago, Steve was pulled over by police near Telus Field. He and his four passengers, all post-secondary students, were forced to lie face-down on the pavement while police and dog units searched them for guns and drugs.

Police admit they were given "very little direction" in how to handle such situations back then, but say policy has changed.

"A few years ago the perception was that young Asian males driving around in certain vehicles in twos or threes typically were looked at as being possible drug dealers carrying firearms," says Sgt. Warren Ottenbreit of the EPS gang unit. "Because of the nature of the violence that was occurring at that time it was felt that they should be dealt with in that manner. Would it be acceptable now? No. Absolutely not."

Indeed, people are becoming more sensitive to cross-cultural issues. But perhaps the most important lesson is that many concerns aren't race-related at all.

"Asian people are just like any other race," says Alex Nahn, a 24-year-old economics major. "There's bad guys, there's good guys. We're made up of lots of different types of people."

ocheng@thejournal.canwest.com
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