My story really starts when I came to the Seattle from Seoul, South Korea in 4th grade. I did not speak English fluently, in fact I barely knew English at all. But perhaps more importantly, I faced cultural barriers: I did not know what was “cool” or “weird” in the minds of American 4th graders. I remember when I looked up the word in the dictionary. It said, "Unusual, strange and odd." I cried and cried that night.

Because of my ethnicity and my broken English, other kids teased me. I lived in a pretty affluent neighborhood so I was one of the few Asian students in my elementary school. And now that I think about it, because everyone else said that I was different and weird, I started to believe in it myself. After a while I truly agreed with them. Everyday I walked down the halls feeling so different and ugly and worthless.

So I decided to copy others and try to be like them. I remember begging my mom to buy the same clothes as everyone else and practicing how to roll my eyes so I could act the same way as all the other girls. I remember hating my black hair and wishing to be blond. I remember throwing up after forcing myself to eat chocolate chip cookies and macaroni and cheese. All the other kids were enjoying their cookies so I forced myself to eat it also. These things sort of worked and I was able to somewhat fit in.

But no matter how hard I tried to be “cool” and not “weird”, it was difficult to answer some of the questions that came my way. What was truly puzzling for me was the stereotypes and prejudice they had against “Asians”. (The concept of Asians was also something that was new to me. I had always identified myself as Korean and not as “Asian”.) People asked me questions such as , “do your parents run a laundry mat ?” Or “wait!! You are from Korea? Are you communist?” At first I was confused and even upset by these random questions, but later I learned that these were typical prejudice/stereotypes against Asians. Now, when people ask me these questions I use it as a chance to educate them about how misleading stereotypes can be.

Since then, I have changed a lot and am now fully confident in my identity and proud to be a Korean. But it took hours of studying, many sleepless nights and telling myself "I am important. I am special."

After a while I realized that I was not alone in being different. I realized that ethnicity was only one of countless other ways people identify themselves. My self-esteem came crashing down because my fourth grade peers. I cannot imagine what would have happened to me if someone questioned or disproved of my religion, sexuality, gender or my rights as a human being.

I believe that individuals are special and important because of their different nationality, gender, sexuality, race and religion etc. etc. And it is their right to identify themselves in whatever way they see fit. And those individuals deserve a right to express their opinions and not face prejudice or threats.