WW: How do people currently interact with your culture?
Sophomore Suri Vang: “I don’t really have people that celebrate my culture. It’s hard to answer questions like this because not a lot of people know my culture.”
Sophomore Redhi Bedi: “Some people can be really racist about it, and some people really like it. A couple of weeks ago, we [an Indian dance team] performed for the Oregon Trailblazers … a lot of different cultures really liked our performance, [and] we didn’t really get a negative effect, but then some people on our Instagram page didn’t like our culture and would leave bad comments.”
WW: How should people behave towards your culture?
Vang: “First of all, don’t be racist. Cultural appreciation and representation. Just celebrating every culture we can.”
Bedhi: “I feel like they should have an open mind. They shouldn’t just come out and judge; they shouldn’t have an opinion on it until they’ve experienced something or have enough knowledge to have an opinion. White people out there, that’s mostly who it is, don’t have an opinion on it. They don’t even know where India is, and they’re saying racist comments about our culture: the way we dress, our food, and that’s not just with Indian culture, that’s with a lot of Asian or even African cultures too. You should be educated about it and have enough information to have an opinion that’s actually truthful, not just something you’ve heard on TikTok [or other social media platforms].”
WW: Have you ever experienced racism?
Vang: “Well, yeah. I was being racist to myself. I had never heard these words [racist remarks] before. People would say it to me in the halls, and at first, I thought it was funny…It made me feel like I don’t want to be Asian, I want to be ‘normal’”
Bedhi: “Like everyday since I’ve been in school. A couple years back, it got pretty bad, and I don’t care. Like what are you gonna say? I’m Indian, I’m proud of it.”
WW: How have you promoted your culture?
Vang: “I try to promote this thing we call a Hmong [New] Year and everyone is invited. I do mention it a lot to people and try to promote that way. I have gotten some people, but not a lot. It’s really hard.”
Bedhi: “We started our very first dance team and are going out to different big groups. We’re going to go to Oregon State University (OSU) and University of Oregon (U of O) We’ve [also] been to the Trailblazers. Even if we can’t show the other parts, we can show the dance that’s part of our culture.”
