In honor of Black History Month, I interviewed a student with black heritage about experiencing race-related discrimination or hate. This was with the intention of seeing how black students are treated in our school and the general community.
The first question I asked was how they feel about fellow students saying and/or using racially charged language (for instance, the N word).
The student said that while it doesn’t particularly make them feel strongly in any sort of way, it does change their perspective on the people who say it. This is because it makes them uncomfortable, as the people who say it know it’s wrong – and when these people say it around the student, they look at them like they expect them to do something even though the student obviously won’t say anything. As put by the student, “It's just tiring, we aren't in 3rd grade, you’re pushing 18, I'm not gonna sit here and lecture you on not to say slurs.”
The student said that it proves to them that the people saying it are uneducated, lame, and weirdos, especially when the people saying it are in high school, then they just feel second-hand embarrassment for those people, as it doesn't make them sound cool, but instead like a loser. The student even said that no matter their race (white or asian), it sounds unnatural and strange. In the student’s own words: “I think people should stop asking ‘can I have an n word pass?’ but instead ask ‘can I have a job application?’”
The second and third questions I asked were about how often the student gets insulted in a manner relating to their race and whether it bothers them more than non-race-related insults.
To this, the student answered that while they do get a lot of race-related insults, they mostly don’t bother them. However, the ignorant and/or insensitive ones make them feel a bit like “That’s weird, why would you say that?” Furthermore, they said that they have seen many students receive race-related insults, and unless these insults are either related to slavery, simply ignorant, or insensitive, then they don't really mind.
The fourth question I asked was whether the student ever wished they weren’t such a minority in our school. To this, the student said that, when they were younger and still trying to figure out who they were and where they belonged, they were affected by being such a minority; however, as they got older and started to find themselves, they realised that being a minority was different and that it’s kind of fun being different. As stated by the student, “It's not bad, and it's a big part of who I am, and it shaped me, so I wouldn’t not wanna be black. No offense, but not being black would be boring.”
The fifth question was about whether the student ever felt singled out or targeted because of their race in our community. The student said that in Cambodia, they definitely feel somewhat targeted, as when you’re different in this country, you stick out like a sore thumb, as you obviously don’t look the same. They said that when they were younger, they had a lot of people ask things like “Can I touch your hair?” and this would be a lot for them. However, when this student got older, they got a lot more used to these types of questions and could manage either giving consent or denying the request.
The other way is that when they speak Khmer, people are often very surprised, and then they have to explain that they are mixed and all that. So they do get targeted, but not always in a bad way, sometimes more in just an innocent surprise kind of way.
The student said that a part that really sucks is that they have never felt “actually Cambodian,” and this sucks because they are Cambodian born and raised, and when you don’t feel like you fit in the country that is literally all you’ve ever known, then it’s obviously quite upsetting. But they do also know that this is just kind of the general third culture kid experience (never feeling like you belong anywhere, a sense of disconnect with your own nationality and culture).
The final question I asked was whether they had ever experienced genuine hate speech or discrimination in Cambodia or in our school. The student said that in Cambodia as a whole, they personally had not experienced true hate speech or purposeful discrimination, but instead curiosity that can sometimes cross boundaries. So while they have experienced what is objectively discrimination, it is less so from a place of pure hate and more so from a place of ignorance and insensitivity, or lack of empathy.
As for our school, not really, besides ignorant comments and insults, but even then, it’s not truly hate speech and not truly from a place of hate. They said that since everyone is from different places in our school, they don't think they have it any worse than the other foreigners, pointing out that all the other foreigners they are friends with get frequent racist comments and insults about their own respective races and cultures.
They said it’s hard never feeling like you belong somewhere, especially because their whole family is Cambodian, and “that it is literally all I know. And, to not belong in that place that is all you know, it’s like, not fun.”
That marks the end of the interview, I hope this interview is able to shed some light on what the experience of being half black in Cambodia really feels like and also why it’s not okay to just be throwing around slurs and other racist comments because even if they are not meant hatefully, they still get heard and are still something that black students have to put up with in their lives.