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Self Love: Breaking racial sloganizing and silencing shame with the power of personal narratives, mental health, and love for community.
by Jason Jaewan Lee2 /9/04
It was 1994 and I was an eager, but scrawny sophomore at St. Joseph's Preparatory
High School in Philadelphia. My mission: get on the illustrious prep crew
team. What I thought would be a physical challenge became more of a psychological
one as I got a primer in white supremacy 101.
During one of the trial workouts we were instructed to run laps around the
school's third-floor hallways. As I turned a corner, two unfamiliar Caucasian
junior crew hopefuls came barreling toward me. "Gook!” ”Chink!” Gook!" their
verbal salvos screamed. A few minutes later, passing me once more, they slung
the same fighting words in my direction.
I was stunned and hurt. They might as well have skewered me with an oar. Because
that is what if felt like at the time. Needless to say, I quit the tryouts.
It is 10 years later, and there is a controversy over a steak shop in Wissinoming
whose name, unfortunately, is familiar to me. It is called Chink's.
