This is my latest post for Feminist Studies in Religion, “Do you Speak English? Racial Discrimination and Being the Other”. I would love to hear your comments or feedback.
I speak fluent English, conversational Korean and textbook French. I am proud to be trilingual and I always encourage my children to speak Korean with me. They never do. I do my best to speak to them in Korean, unless I am disciplining them. Then, only English comes out of my mouth.
We live in a multilingual world; it is wonderful to hear different languages. However, in the corner of the world where I live, it is difficult to hear a language other than English.
I was in and out of the hospital several times over these past two months. Each time I entered the hospital, the first thing the doctor would ask me was, “Do you speak English?” It is a very simple question, and perhaps I should not have become so upset, but when one doctor after another asks, “Do you speak English?” it gets to be quite annoying. I would love to scream back, “Of course I speak English!” But I try to remain calm, and sheepishly answer, “Yes.”
On one level, I realize I should not be so annoyed and offended. Perhaps the hospital has a protocol specifying that they need to figure out if a person is ethnic and whether he or she can speak English. Still, every time a doctor asks me this question, I wonder if they ask a white, European American patient the same thing.
Minorities are always asked to define themselves, or are identified with some form of adjective while the white, European/American is never asked to define himself/herself. This actually allows the dominant, kyriarchical system to keep its presumptions of “normativity,” while forcing those who do not fit that category to continually identify themselves. For example, I am never viewed or understood as simply a “woman,” but I am viewed and defined as an “Asian American woman.” As a result, I am continually viewed as the other that is always tied to my physical body in ways that are never asked of those in power/those making rules.
During one hospital visit, I spoke with a nurse for about five minutes, when she suddenly asked, “Is English your preferred language?” And I wondered, “Would she ask white patients the same question?”
If everyone was asked “Is English your preferred language of communication?” then there would be no issue. I wish that everyone was asked that question by default, because that would make so-identified Caucasians more aware of their situation because they would find it an absurd question.
I wonder what hospitals do if a person says “no,” they do not speak English…do they train staff to be multi-lingual or do they use it as an excuse to talk down to patients?
There are so many issues of power and privilege wrapped up in such a question!!!
The question of whether I speak English may be totally innocent. Good intentions may lie behind it. But, when I am consistently asked about my ability to speak English, it raises the questions for me of “Who am I in my community? How do the people who are providing my care see me?”
I look Asian and therefore to many in my community, I will be a constant foreigner who lives in their midst. Asking if I speak English leads me to wonder if, in the eyes of members of the dominant culture, I will ever truly belong. Will I be accepted for who I am? Or will I be forever seen, and treated, as an outsider?
Foreigners have traditionally been viewed with suspicion and as a source for many problems. If we look at the foreign women within the book of Ezra (Ezra 10), they were told to leave their families. They were thrown away from the community. They were outcasts and were not welcomed into the community.
Since I am viewed as a foreigner, I often feel a similar tension and discrimination from those in my circles. Those who are my colleagues often find it difficult to welcome me fully into the circle due to their, usually unconscious, suspicions of me which flow from their view of me as an outsider. Viewed as a foreigner, I become an easy target and a scapegoat when blame needs to be assigned. I am often blamed for things, for which my white friends or acquaintances would never be blamed. This happens without many people around me noticing what is happening.
If I point out such discrimination to my friends, they sometimes call me a trouble-maker. If I keep the experience within me, they will say, “there is no discrimination since she never spoke about it.” It becomes a no-win situation.
As I think about the simple, but disturbing question, “Do you speak English?” I wonder how many times I will be asked the question. And my heart aches when I consider how many times my children will hear the question.
To move forward, we must ask ourselves how our churches and American society can work together to attend to the fact that bodies marked by “foreignness” are hurting. This must begin with a critical re-evaluation of how systems of power and privilege mark certain people in small, but persistent ways. Only by attending to the daily existence of being marked as “foreign” or “other” can we provide firm ground for our larger goals of ending systematic racism.
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Grace Ji-Sun Kim is Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University. She is the author of 5 books, Contemplations from the Heart (forthcoming), Reimagining with Christian Doctrines co-edited with Jenny Daggers, Colonialism, Han and the Transformative Spirit, The Holy Spirit, Chi, and the Other: A Model of Global and Intercultural Pneumatology & The Grace of Sophia: A Korean North American Women’s Christology. She is a co-editor with Dr. Joseph Cheah for the Palgrave Macmillan Book Series, “Asian Christianity in Diaspora”.
Grace Ji-Sun Kim 
A good plate of food for thought. English is now the first global language, forcing the question whether it belongs only to traditional speaking English nations any more. I spent three years living in a white rural area of the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York, where much of the local population could trace their ancestry and land-deeds back to when the first Scottish settlers arrived. Those from outside of this “tribe” were referred to as flat-landers or city folk. Some these others had lived in the region much of their lives. and were still not accepted. So many stories… Hope you are feeling better.
Thank you John. I am still wrestling with this…..
I am doing better. Thank you.
Wow! It’s hard to believe you would be asked that question in the 21st century. I can’t possibly imagine how that must make you feel. I remember one wedding where I was asked to bless the meal; the bride’s family was full-blooded Italian, as I am, so I offered the prayer both in Italian and English. Both families were stunned (except for the folks that new me well…)
Nobody expected this from a white Presbyterian minister. That was a good experience; for you to be asked if you spoke English just because of your appearance must be shocking and hurtful. I’m even more surprised that friends would call you a trouble-maker for being offended and taking a stand. I can only pray with you that there will be positive and lasting change that will end the prejudice, ignorance and discrimination that hurts you and plagues so many.
Thanks for sharing your own experience. I also appreciate your prayers.
Interesting comment, Mr. Kenyon; English is indeed the dominant language in many ways, so much so that many local dialects in Italy and France are disappearing as English rapidly becomes the “lingua franca” alongside the more formal or normative forms of the primary language in each nation.
At the same time, many businesses are now encouraging their staff to learn Chinese in order to guarantee success in their dealings across the Pacific ocean. The tide is slowly changing direction in terms of which language has the greater global use.
This rings true to my American experience.
This is an ongoing problem for many of us…..
And also for our children.
How does this relate to your experience in Canada, Grace?
I also experienced it in Canada when i was living in London Ont.,….But not so much in Toronto.
@vbicjaq. The direction is towards one world language. Here in Puerto Rico the blend of English and Spanish is called Spanglish. I wonder what Chinese-English will be called? Chinish? Englese?
Reblogged this on Along the Graybeard Trail and commented:
Grace Ji-Sun Kim reflects on being viewed and treated as the other.
Thank you so much for the Reblog!
Mr. Kenyon, that’s interesting, because Spanish is the third most spoken language in the world. I wonder if there will be a day when all three languages meld together?
In Toronto, where I grew up, the fluid mix of Italian and English spoken by my generation is called Italese. The human mind and it’s ability to use language is an amazing thing; surely one of God’s greater creations.
Sounds like you may want to consider finding new “friends” and “colleagues”.
Thank you for your comment/
You are blessed, Grace! You are gifted in music and you certainly know math above most whites. Looking at you, I think you might be a doctor, possibly, or perhaps a medical technician.
You must know that there are many assumptions one may make based solely on appearance. I give you the “blonde jokes” to think about or perhaps the Hispanic engineer who is handed a broom, being mistaken as someone from maintenance.
The assumptions of others does not define you, it speaks to that person’s lack of knowledge and worldliness. If they had good sense at all they would know to simply speak and then if you looked puzzled then it is up to them to locate an interpreter. I have volunteered with Parents Anonymous almost 30 years and we learn about those “assumptions” we have that we did not realize we had. I was a Family Helpline volunteer too and the New Jersey Parents Anonymous organization was probably one of the first to employ Language Line, a translating service that speaks in over 200 languages.
People assume many things based on appearance; a southern accent means you are not too bright, a physical disability means you do not work, a person wearing dirty overalls is poor, and so on.
One pet peeve that annoys me is when people mention race only when it is other than white: “Take this form to the black woman down the hall,” or “Did you see the Asian boy play the piano on TV?”
I understand what you mean, now how do we get people to see this and care enough to stop and change their behavior?
Jackie, thank you so much for your comment. I am not sure how we can get people to see and care. But I think through small actions …… we can all change the world to make it a better place.
As a Canadian I find it kind of funny when I hear about Afro-Americans, Asian-Americans or Italo-Americans. While I still identify myself as having 100% Italian heritage, I never call myself Italo-Canadian. I’m a Canadian, and that’s all there is to it.
I do take umbrage, however, at the ‘whites’ title, as used by Ms. Ramirez. I know it’s a catchall phrase but it is, for me somewhat offensive as I consider myself Italian or Canadian and not simply a colour. I realize it might sound petty but it’s always bothered me, especially since I don’t identify with many of the traits usually associated with being white.
I think our identities are always challenged…..thanks for your comment. We need to use better words……
Further adding to the challenge of who we are is our eternally shifting context and company; who we’re with and what we’re doing has as much influence on our identities as we have on the people around us and the things we’re doing.
I’m glad God knows us for who we truly are.
You are so correct. Everything is in constant flux.
A hopeful sign? Watching TV straight from Detroit, I saw an ad that featured a family comprised of an Oriental woman and an African American man and a cute baby.
A few minutes later, another ad featured a couple consisting of a white man and an Oriental woman.
Then a Bowflex ad came on that showed folks of at least three ethnicity’s and an assortment of age groups. OK, the young lady using the product was impossibly fit and skinny (and way too happy!) but overall the impression is on of tolerance and acceptance in the minds of the advertisers. I realize that it’s not a universal feeling across the country, but I think that the overt demonstration of diversity is a hopeful thing; it represents the reality of the melting pot that the US can become if people open their hearts and minds.
thank you for the info…..there is always hope!