The Boy Who Wanted To Die - Video 03 America

Hey, this is Darian and today I'm going to do a little bit of rearranging of things to make it more homey, to cheer myself up. My father reunited with us at sea. He said God had something to do with it. He was on a Filipino ship heading for the Philippines. He saw a US Naval ship in the distance. He just knew that we were on that ship. He jumped off of the Filipino ship and swam for the US Naval ship. He found us. My mother heard some commotion on deck. She went to see what was happening. The US sailors pulled my father out of the water. She recognized my father and ran into his arms. She told the sailors that he was her husband. We stayed in a refugee camp in Guam for a few months. We ended up in Amarillo, Texas. My father found a job at IBP and an apartment immediately. My mother was pregnant with my little brother. Here is where she gave birth to him. Here is where I use to live. Not too long after my baby brothers birth my mother found a job. Soon after we found a house in front of Eastridge elementary school. What memories do I have of my early childhood? Mainly getting into lots of fights. My first fight was before I even started school. I was playing with my brother at Eastridge Park. Then several kids came up to us. There were two older kids and one kid about my size. They challenged me to a fight. Then more kids surrounded us. They were cheering, "Fight, Fight, Fight". The younger kid was in the circle. He said, "I'll send you back to your country." Then he flipped me off. I didn't really know what he meant by sending me back to my country. I thought I was from America. I didn't understand the hand gesture either. I was lost in the moment. The kids were cheering. I just felt excited. So I just stepped into the circle. I kicked him in the stomach and punched him a few times in the face. He cried. The two older kids, I assumed they were his brothers, broke up the fight. The other kids cheered. I raised both my little arms up in the air, something I saw in a movie. We rushed home and told our father what happened. He laughed. Then I asked him what the little kid meant by sending me back to my country. My father was reluctant to tell us. It took him a few minutes then he told us that we came from another country, Vietnam. I kind of understood that we weren't from this country. I wanted to be like everyone. I wanted so badly to be an American.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Vietnam
• America
• Amarillo
• US
• Navy
• Refugee
• Guam
• Long
• Horn
• Texas
• IBP
• Eastridge
• Elementary
• School
• Park
• Filipino
• Fight

[jhirzel88]

I can see where that is going. I recall seeing videos at school that talked about discrimination back in the 80's and even in the early 90s, I recall that fighting was a cause of standing up for yourself, even though it may have been the wrong thing to do.

I'm sure when you remember this, it will make you think that it's good that you are an American now. Back then, you weren't, and your classmates simply called you Asian. I do in fact know one person in real life that is Asian-American.

[Darian03]

I really didn't intend for it to be about race. It is about my life. About the things that happened to make me who I am today. At that age I was pretty much clueless about being a certain race. I just wanted to be loved and accepted. If only we could all see each other as Americans.

[jhirzel88]

Well, yeah. I just got wrapped up in the discrimination part of the video. I almost thought that's why you had it titled "America". Granted, we have come a long way since the 80s and we as Americans are starting to except all races. It's not uncommon to find a white friend having a black friend, or better yet an Asian-American friend as I did. It's part of our society now.

We no longer discriminate in this nation. Not nowadays that is.

[Darian03]

I have lots of friends from different ethnic backgrounds. I like learning their culture. It is so cool to me.

[Raymasaki]

interesting story. the kid started it & was wrong to say "ill send you back" but you won the Fight so Good, that will teach him.

its not always about Race though either im White & got challenged By other whites to Fight all the time

[Darian03]

I know it isn't about race all the time. Sometimes kids just want to fight other kids. I have gotten into fights with other Asian kids. This was just a moment that I remembered from my childhood. "The Boy Who Wanted To Die" is a series of videos which defines my life. I still have a long ways to go. Thank you for watching. I think it is cool that you like to learn things from other cultures. You take care. Stay awesome.

[jhirzel88]

Well, I see. Now that I think about it, there are more Mexicans taking jobs than Arabs, and that is only because there are so many more of them. Technically, most of them entered our country illegally and are not registered US citizens. They crossed the border line just for better jobs, but had no intention of gathering information for their country. Yet, they are still looked upon more than the Arabs are. That is why they just see the Arabs more as the real illegal immigrants.

[paradoxparody]

@jhirzel88 Depends on which town you go to. If you are the only arab family in a town of 10,000 and can't get a job it's kind of hard to throw the race card. Listen it's all fare and good that you have arabs pumping THEIR gas into your cars but that doesn't speak for an entire country.

[jhirzel88]

Go to gas stations then, where you commonly see Arabs pumping your gas. There is no discrimination there. Is there? Maybe I'm missing something. However, the terrorist concept is kind of forces others to gear away from them, but they aren't being preventing from doing things that Americans do.

[paradoxparody]

@jhirzel88 unless if your arab

[josealfredosalgado1]

Dghjk

[josealfredosalgado1]

Dgh

[jhirzel88]

Of course, I never get to see that person anymore, but Chris is his name, and he went to high school with me back when I lived in Ohio.