Reggiegram : Did you know coffee actually affects discrimination?

Reggie短信:你知道咖啡实际上影响歧视吗？

Try it… or tea or cocoa… 

试一下…或者茶或可可

Part A. Are we making assumptions? 

第一部分：我们自己在做假设吗？

Do you assume I’ve been discriminated against? When people in America talk to me about discrimination they often assume that I might have felt it at some point, and therefore have a personal opinion on this issue. Indeed, in my maternal grandfather’s days in America a century ago, I have been told there was clear discrimination against my family and other Asians, for housing and jobs, so I’m pretty sure it’s been a big issue.                                       

你认为我被歧视过吗？当美国人和我聊歧视时，他们经常认为我在某一点上会感觉到，所以在这件事上有个人意见。实际上，在一个世纪前我外公在美国的时候，人们就告诉我，对我家人和其他亚裔有很明显的歧视，比如在住房和工作方面，所以我很确定这是一个大事。

However, in my own situation, I become embarrassed when pressed about this topic, because frankly I have not felt discriminated against, even though actually I looked for it! When writing this story, I felt oddly encouraged recently to hear a YouTube Asian Australian Pastor declare that he had not felt any discrimination either, even though he lived for 10 years in the USA. So I wasn’t alone!

然而，在我自己的经历里，当被问及这个话题的时候，我有点尴尬，因为诚实的讲我并没有感到被歧视，即使我真的去寻找蛛丝马迹！当写这个故事的时候，我在Youtube上听到一位亚裔澳大利亚籍牧师宣告他并没有感到任何歧视，尽管他在美国生活了十年，很奇怪的我被这个分享鼓励，因为不是我一个人这么认为！

Isn’t my color a problem? Which is really “strange”, because I am clearly Asian. I’m small, I don’t look white or have “American muscles”, and I have straight black hair and brown eyes. I’m lightly brown, even dark brown in sunny climes like Malaysia or India after a few days, when I can be mistaken for a native. I speak American English probably with a tinge of British and Hong Kong accents, though maybe only picked up by musical ears. 

我的肤色不是一个问题吗？这真是“奇怪”，因为我很明显是亚裔. 个子不高，看起来不像白人，也没有“美国人的肌肉”，我有黑色直发，棕色眼睛。我是浅棕色，甚至后来当我在马来西亚和印度的时候在阳光下是深棕色，像马来西亚人或印度人，那时人们误认为我是本地人。我说的美式英语可能有一些香港或英式英语口音，尽管可能学音乐的耳朵才能感觉到。

Does it matter where I’m born? 

Confusingly, most people can barely believe me when I reveal that, even though I was born in Asia, I was legally American from birth. Because my Asian-American mother born in Seattle, registered me at birth with the US Consulate. Or that our family has been in the country for six generations! Regardless, to Asian or non-Asian Americans, I am still Asian. Born and raised in Asia, so I’m Asian, correct?

我在哪里出生重要吗？

令人困惑的是，大多数人难以相信，当我陈明尽管我在亚洲出生，我从一出生就是合法的美国人，因为我的亚裔美国籍妈妈在西雅图出生，在我出生的时候她也在美国大使馆为我注册，或者说，我们一家人已经在美国六代了，无论如何对于亚裔或者非亚裔美国人来说，我仍然是亚洲人。出生和长大在亚洲，所以我是亚洲人，对吗？

I’m always amused however that a white kid, like Ruth Graham, wife of world famous Billy Graham, born in China of missionary parents, and who grew up in Asia, would not be called “Asian”. Born and raised in Asia, but not Asian. It’s a melanin thing I guess, and not logic. I wouldn’t call that discrimination myself but you could see how complicated things are from different perspectives. 

然而我总觉得很好玩的是一个白人孩子，比如Ruth Graham,世界有名的 Billy Graham的妻子，是父母在中国宣教时出生，在亚洲长大，不会被称为“亚洲人”。 在亚洲出生和长大，但不是亚洲人。我想这是一个肤色的事情，而不是逻辑。 我自己不会把它认为是歧视，因为你可以看到从不同的角度看，事情会是多么的复杂。

Was I discriminated in the “less progressive” Midwest? Since our arrival in the USA in 1966, I have been on the alert to find evidence of discrimination. Especially since we first lived in Chicago in a pretty black and rough area on 29th Street (“South Side Chicago”) where I was doing my pediatric residency training. Race relationships were tense in the years we lived there, 1966 to 1969, which included terrible race riots. So I was ready for any discrimination. 

我在“思想欠发达”的中西部地区被歧视了吗？自从我们1966年来到美国，我一直机警着寻找歧视的证据，尤其是因为我们先住在芝加哥南部29号街一个比较黑和乱的地区，我在那做儿科住院医培训的时候。在我们住在芝加哥的那些年里种族关系非常紧张，1966年到1969年期间发生了很严重的种族游行及暴乱，所以我已经准备好了面对任何歧视。

After Chicago, we moved to Cincinnati, where we lived on the western side of town. The academic types living on the eastern side tended to paint the western side as “bigoted Catholic conservative” and urged us not to move there.

在芝加哥之后，我们搬到了辛辛那提，还住在这个城镇的西边。住在东边的学术族群，倾向于把西边描绘成“顽固的天主教保守派”，并警告我们不要搬到那边。

At the time, the hospital itself was essentially a white doctors hospital with only two Chinese ancestry faculty. When the other one left, I was the only one. So I would have thought that some discrimination should have surfaced and was on the alert for it. 

在那时，医院本身实际上是一家白人医院，只有两位华裔教职。当另外一个离开的时候，我是唯一的一个。所以我想可能一定会有一些歧视会浮出来而且已经有所警惕。

But I failed miserably to find any obvious discrimination towards my wife or me, in Chicago or Cincinnati, in the hospital or on the streets, for 50 years. The black–white issue just rolled over us, and the west side Catholics were great. Maybe I’m really just not that sensitive, but that’s fine by me! In any case, I gave up seriously looking for evidence of negative discrimination towards us! 

但我很遗憾地失败了，50年里我没有找到任何明显的针对我妻子或我的歧视，在芝加哥或辛辛那提，在医院或在路上。黑白种族的问题已经让我们亚裔问题不那么尖锐，西边的天主教也挺好的。也许我真的不那么敏感，但对我来说很好！无论如何，我放弃再严肃的寻找对我们歧视的证据。

Is Asia less discriminatory? Growing up in Hong Kong however, I saw plenty of truly negative discrimination, so I wasn’t naïve about it. As a child, I saw Hong Kong well to do types clearly discriminate against the so-called “servant class” from China villages, serving the upper and rising middle class. Or towards Filipinas who were nannies for children of rich Chinese. 

亚洲人不太歧视人吗？然而在香港长大，我见了很多真的很负面的歧视，所以我并不是在这方面很幼稚。在我很小的时候，我在香港看了很多不同类型的歧视，对当时所谓的从中国农村来的“下人阶级”，服侍中上层阶级的明显歧视，或对在有钱的中国人家里照顾小孩的菲佣的歧视。

We saw a lot of looking down on so-called “Northerners, bak fong lo”, a pejorative term for Chinese who didn’t speak Cantonese, Northern meaning anything north of the adjoining southern province of Guangdong. Just like city folk in mainland China looking down on villagers who migrated to newly developing cities as manual laborers. 

我也看到了很多对所谓的“北方人，北方佬”的轻视，对不会说广东话的其他中国人的歧视用语，“北方”就是和南方省广东所有接壤的省以北的地区。就像中国内地的城里人对迁到新发展的城市做劳力的村里人的歧视。

Part B. Can we try to understand discrimination better? 

第二部分： 我们可以尝试更好的理解歧视吗？

Can I do some research? Trying to understand discrimination a bit better in the USA, I did a mini experiment. I did this in different “white” church lobbies, when I visited for the first time. I tried to see how long it would take for someone to recognize I was an ethnically different stranger, to come  to talk to me spontaneously. That would clearly show any discrimination of Asians I thought! For often 20 minutes nobody would do that, even though I was clearly different and standing alone. 

我能做一些研究吗？为了尝试在美国更好的理解歧视，我做了一个小实验。当我第一次去一个不同的“白人”教会的时候，我在大堂里做的。我试试看大家多久认出我是一个不一样种族的陌生人，主动来和我聊天。我以为这会很清晰的显示对亚裔的任何歧视。通常过了20分钟也没人会这样做，尽管我明显和大家不同也一个人站着。

Initially I thought, “Aha that confirms it, they’re racists!” But on further thought, that sounded simplistic, and I suspected there might be more to this experiment. Furthermore, when I tried this ploy at a “Chinese” church I was newly visiting, there was, surprise, sometimes a similar response. Maybe people just feel uncomfortable when I’m standing there strangely alone, and they’re not sure what I’m doing! Maybe they might even think my posture was threatening? This was getting too complicated. What was going on? 

一开始我想“啊哈这就确认了，他们是种族主义者！”但再想想，那听起来这个可能是太简单了，但我想这个实验可能有更多意义。另外，当我在新访问的“中国”教会尝试这种策略时，令人惊讶的是，有时也有类似的反应。也许我在那里一个人陌生的站着他们也觉得不舒服，他们也不确定我在干什么！也许他们甚至认为我的架势有点威胁？这就变的复杂了。到底怎么回事？

Could it be coffee?! I then stumbled onto another thought. When our Seattle multicultural church started to actively serve coffee in the lobby, I realized another dynamic might be in play. If I went to get a cup of coffee, or even when carrying an empty coffee cup, something seemed to change. The church is really quite a warm church, but people seemed even friendlier when I had the coffee cup in my hand! The posture or picture of a person with a coffee cup in hand, I guess in Western culture seems somehow reassuring and comforting. 

会不会是咖啡？！ 后来我偶然发现了另一个想法。 当我们西雅图的多元文化教会开始在大堂积极供应咖啡时，我意识到可能有另一种动态在流动。 如果我去喝杯咖啡，甚至拿着一个空咖啡杯，事情似乎发生了变化。 教堂真的是一个很温馨的教堂，但是当我手里拿着咖啡杯时，人们似乎更友好了！ 一个人手里拿着咖啡杯的姿势或样子，我想在西方文化中似乎有点让人放心和安慰。

To milk its full “friendliness” potential, instead of waiting for someone coming up to me, I just simply walked up to anybody in the lobby, now with a coffee cup in hand, and said (smilingly) “Hi I’m Reggie, how are you?” It was amazing how the atmosphere instantly changed, like some light switch came on, and we just started chatting. Of course, in previous iterations of this experiment, doing that without the coffee could still work, though a bit less “relaxed ”and “natural”!

为了充分发挥其“友好”潜力，我没有等待有人来找我，而是直接走到大厅里的任何人面前，现在手里拿着一个咖啡杯，然后（微笑地）说：“嗨，我是瑞吉Reggie， 你好吗？” 令人惊讶的是，气氛瞬间发生了变化，就像电灯开关打开了一样，我们就开始聊天。 当然，在这个实验的前几次中，没有咖啡的情况下这样做仍然可以，尽管不那么“放松”和“自然”！

What does a coffee cup imply? I surmised that, simply carrying a non-threatening coffee cup suddenly made me non-threatening, more likely open to chats, and “human”. 

一杯咖啡意味着什么？ 我推测，仅仅拿着一个没有威胁性的咖啡杯突然让我变得没有威胁性，更容易聊天，并且“接地气”。

However, there were a few occasions where this didn’t  work, with new Asian (!) visitors when I approached them. Maybe I seemed too assertive/friendly? Or was it just their shyness? Or, an Asian with a coffee cup is not that reassuring to some Asians, and maybe they hadn’t seen that image often? I really should do more “tests” among Asians! It’s complicated!    

然而，有几次这并不起作用，当有新的亚裔（！）访客时。 也许我看起来太自信/友好？ 或者只是他们的害羞？ 或者，一个拿着咖啡杯的亚洲人对一些亚洲人来说并不那么令人放心，也许他们没有经常看到那个形象？ 我真的应该在亚洲人中做更多的“测试”！ 这很复杂！

Maybe I’m making it awkward somehow? The moral of the story thus far is that people have complicated perceptions of others, especially strangers, particularly from another culture. And any conversation can be awkward. Americans are worried about “saying something wrong”. And may feel unable to continue conversations too long. Similar to  Asians in Asia meeting a non-Asian newcomer I suppose. 

也许我不知为何让它变得尴尬？ 到目前为止，这个故事的寓意是人们对他人，尤其是陌生人，尤其是来自另一种文化的人有着复杂的看法。 任何谈话都可能很尴尬。 美国人也担心“说错话”。 并且可能觉得无法继续聊太久。 我想类似于亚洲的亚洲人遇到非亚洲新人。

For example, when working in Cincinnati, a well-meaning white nurse said to me, “Oh, Hong Kong, I know, that’s in Japan, the capital or something like that.” At least she knew it was in Asia.

例如，在辛辛那提工作时，一位好心的白人护士对我说：“哦，香港，我知道，那是在日本，首都或类似的地方。” 至少她知道那是在亚洲。

Or an American saying to a new Malaysian friend, “Oh yes, Malaysia, the place where people live in trees.” Which really bothers people from Malaysia since they live in glittering cities nowadays and have airports more modern than any in USA. Actually the truth is a bit more nuanced since in reality remote parts of Malaysia used to be pretty wild.  

或者一个美国人对一位马来西亚新朋友说：“哦，是的，马来西亚，人们住在树上的地方。” 这真的让马来西亚人感到困扰，因为他们现在生活在耀眼的城市，拥有比美国任何机场都更现代化的机场。 事实上，真相有点微妙，因为实际上马来西亚的偏远地区曾经非常荒野。

Similar to the Malaysia story, I met someone from Colombia, South America, recently, and I started to chat about Colombian drug cartels. Not a good opening with strangers, but it could happen when we try to say something, even with good intentions. Obviously I was “too smart” and the awkward moment taught me a lesson. 

与马来西亚的故事类似，我最近遇到了一个来自南美洲哥伦比亚的人，我开始谈论哥伦比亚的贩毒集团。 对陌生人来说不是一个好的开场白，但是当我们试图说些什么时它可能会发生，即使是出于好意。 显然我“太聪明了”，尴尬的时刻给了我一个教训。

Can we learn humility? We all learn from our faux pas. Actually we shouldn’t really have to know the geography, history and culture for every country, just a good heart I think makes a big difference. And humble questions about another culture are great openers for chats. Of course I no longer comment on drug cartels! 

我们可以学会谦卑吗？ 我们都从我们的失礼中学习。 其实我们不会真的了解每个国家的地理、历史和文化，我觉得只要有一颗善良的心就会有很大的不同。 关于另一种文化的谦虚问题是聊天的绝佳开场白。 我当然不再评论贩毒集团了！

One of the best steps to defeat discrimination I think is for each of us to take small steps to cross cultures. Imagine if everyone did that. I’m sure the world would be a better one. While “Hi I’m Reggie” helps break the ice at first encounter, not everybody is actually named Reggie, and you likely have a better name! And a unique smile. And your opening posture might be more creative than a coffee cup, just make sure it’s not intimidating! We can all try a little first step. A first of many to break discrimination, anywhere. 

我认为战胜歧视的最佳步骤之一是让我们每个人都采取小步骤来跨文化。 想象一下，如果每个人都这样做。 我相信世界会变得更美好。 虽然“嗨，我是瑞吉”有助于在第一次见面时打破僵局，但实际上并不是每个人都叫瑞吉，而且您可能有更好的名字！ 还有独特的笑容。 而且你的打开姿势可能比咖啡杯更有创意，只要确保它不会令人生畏！ 我们都可以尝试小小的第一步。 在任何地方打破歧视的其中一个。