Chinese Americans have a history too.

I went to lunch with my new Chinese friend Cindy.  Her parents were also there and they are three generation immigrants.  They are Americanized.  They have a story to tell.

Cindy’s mother was raised in Mississippi.  She reports that when she was young,  the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana did not have schools for the Chinese.  Chinese had to attend schools with Blacks.  They, like the blacks would pick cotton in the fall and attend school four months of the year. Grenada,  Mississippi where she lived did not allow the Chinese to attend school.  Her father and four cousins lived in Tennessee.  Because they had property, they could attend school. Cindy’s mom reports that the Chinese got together and built a school in Tennessee.  She attended school in Tennessee and attended Memphis State. She reports of a time when a black male spoke to or accidentally bumped into a  white female and was hanged for doing so.  She still recalls how he looked swinging.  There was extreme racism for nonwhites at that time. Cindy’s mom looks Chinese and sounds American.  They have lost their Chinese accent.  Television needs to accurately depict the Chinese people and their struggle.   They have a history to tell and Americans need to hear and know it.