#17 Asian Persuasion

We have to do column writing for english. This is what I came up with. It may not be to your liking but I had to be biased :P

OUT OF THE MIX
Another routine morning, another day at school; yet something that is just so ordinary happened to catch my half closed eye. It’s those mundane things that seem so regular that really get you thinking. Why is the sky blue? Why do cows ‘moo’? And why does my mother always know when I’m lying? Though these light hearted questions are always left unanswered, the bowl staring at me with a compilation of fruit wouldn’t weasel its way out of my mind. There in the white opaque bowl lay some apples, oranges, a few pears and one banana. You’ve all seen this image before; every household has a fruit bowl, and if you decided to ask someone from the other side of the world to draw a bowl of fruit, you’d get relatively the same picture. So, why on this dreary day do I start pondering about fruit? To be quite frank, I just think I’m going a bit nutty but all of sudden this fruit bowl has transformed itself into my life. I take the banana and set out for another full day at school.

Banana; Musa Acuminata Colla- description: yellow on the outside, white on the inside. This has to be the epitome of all the things that make ‘me’, me. Born and raised in New Zealand, I rock the Asian eyes and hair but hold the distinct ‘Kiiweee’ accent. As I unpeel the yellow coating and dig into the creamy flesh; it hits me- this is why my head was so fruity today. “Aching wa Ching Chong! - God, they’re so annoying, bloody Asians. Oh crap, not you, Chloe- you’re not one of them”. Usually I’d take a comment like this lightly, I’d even put it down as compliment. But, seeing as this fruit bowl had magically taken over my mindset, I couldn’t help but taking it offensively. Since when was it alright to blatantly discriminate against a person because of the way their language sounds? No matter how ‘Pakeha’ I sound on the telephone, it doesn’t mean that I’ve lost the essence of my Asian heritage and it doesn’t make me any different to any other Asian. If you bully them, you’re bullying me. Trust me, if a gorgeous looking Italian fellow were to stand next to my friends speaking fluent Italian and began to sing like Pavarotti, not one word would escape the lips of any one of those girls. What makes ‘Asians’ so different? All I can begin to conclude at this point in my now fruit orientated world is that; they are the apples and the oranges, yet I still stand alone as a banana.

These fruits have really got me thinking. What makes me so different to every other Asian in New Zealand? In the world? If I can be accepted, why can’t they? It isn’t because they dress like clowns, or smell like rotten cheese, because they don’t. What makes them so appalling that it has become acceptable to shun and tease this particular race? Ever since the early migration of the Chinese gold miners in the 1880’s the isolation began. A poll tax was created to keep them out as people labelled them ‘Yellow Peril’, Alien, Heathen, Undesirable because they were afraid that they would hinder their ‘clean’ reputation. The tax elevated to an even more ridiculous price of 100 pounds in the 1900’s. This was equivalent to one lifetime’s earnings of a Chinese gold miner. Though this has been overlooked and apologies have been said it would be rude of me to blame the whole of New Zealand for the hurt that has been implemented on Asians. But as the saying goes; ‘It only takes one rotten potato to spoil the lot’. Till this day we still encounter harsh criticism from individuals who make it obvious that Asians are not wanted here. These are individuals who do not generate what they are saying before they splutter their unjust words. For example; in 2005, politician- Winston Peters states “We have now reached the point where you can wonder down Queen Street in Auckland and wonder if you are still in New Zealand or some other country”. If a politician believes this statement is humane and politically correct to say publicly; I cannot imagine what an average New Zealander would think they were entitled to say about an Asian. After all, it’s a free country, right? If a politician says it, why can’t I- that’s what’d I think, wouldn’t you?



The fact is, New Zealand – we are here to stay. Chinese, Koreans, Indians, Japanese, Malaysians, Indonesians, Singaporeans, the list goes on. It will take more than hurtful words to eradicate us from your society. In 2005, statistics show that 54% of visa approvals were given to citizens of countries in Asia. Without the diversity that they have brought to New Zealand, getting rid of Asians will leave you without all the things you love dearly. Imagine a life with no dairies, Chinese takeaways, two dollar shops, manicurists, Thai massages, taxi drivers, scientists, tutors and think about how the rest of the world would react to New Zealanders if we began to ban the arrival of Asians?

How about we inject some human into our veins, stop being childish and get on with life. There is no need for immature practises of pulling the sides of our eyes so you can’t see through them – you’ll just end up with premature wrinkles. No more screaming out profanities outside your windows, just because. And, please; no more imitating the way Asians speak – you sound utterly idiotic!

Come on New Zealand; let’s add some more yellow into our fruit bowls. It’s time to accept us into the mix.

Hope you like it ;). btw. I have been worked like a slave at school. Save me!