Stereotypes
... to judge others who were born in Central Vietnam. I used to think that people who were born there were stingy. During the four years 1990-1994, when I was still in Vietnam, I began to type-cast other people because everyday, I have heard everyone in my neighborhood told each other that “You have to be careful when you play or interact with people who were born in Central Vietnam because they are stingy, cunning, and selfish.” Due to such influence, I have kept myself away from any classmate in my class who spoke with such accent even though I did not know anything about them. When my family arrived in Santa Ana, California, June 29, 1994, I was a fifth grader in Mrs. Radcliff’s class at Clinton Mendenhall Elementary School. In my class, some students also had the Central Vietnamese accent. A classmate of mine, Hong, had come to California one year before me. In class, she helped me with my grammar, showed me how to read, and helped me solve math problems. Once, she invited me to her house. Her parents and sibli...