Hairdresser: Youre American? You dont look American. Americans have white skin and blonde hair. Me: No, thats not true. All Americans can look different. Hairdresser: But I see on TV! And movies! They dont look like you. Me: Well...TV and movies are controlled by white people. The most difficult part of my service so far has been having to explain my identity to every native I meet, and being met with resistance and doubt each time. Its like when someone flicks your forehead. The first couple of times, its ok. Then it gets annoying. After 6 months of repeated forehead-flicking, you want to strangle the person. Whenever I lose patience at having to constantly defend my identity, I have to remind myself--Its not their fault. Its our fault. Media matters, representation matters, and America needs to do a better job representing ALL of its citizens. #peacecorpschina
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 03:06:15 +0000