Yellow People and Public Space

            My first victim was a math assignment – complex, contained practically insolvable integrals, and probably attempted unsuccessfully hundreds of times before. I came upon it one evening on a holiday weekend in the public library, a place for nerds and normal people alike. For a while, it seemed like I could not solve the problem. Not so. To it, the young Asian girl – a height of five feet four point five inches with long dark brown hair, holding a graphing calculator in one hand and a mechanical pencil in the other – seemed menacingly close to finding its answer. After a few more quick calculations, the answer came closer. Within seconds it appeared on the paper.
            Asian people are prone to stereotyping as much as other races are. Oftentimes, as soon as we enter the classroom we are expected to be the smartest amongst our peers. Being a person that has gotten B’s before – not just on tests, but as a final grade (I know, I know. Gasp at that unimaginable thought.) – I actually don’t care so much about what others think about me. Just keep this in mind: “Ethnic stereotypes are boring and stressful and sometimes criminal. It's just not a good way to think. It's non-thinking. It's stupid and destructive.” -Tommy Lee Jones