Yoon of ‘What three guys think’ sent in our first correspondence piece.
A friend of mine is a student at a large public university and he was recently assaulted by an alleged fraternity member of the local “tough guy” frat for being Asian. Nothing more nothing less.
Flash back seven-plus years to September 12, 2001, a day after Middle Eastern holy warriors murdered thousands of civilians in New York City. I am an Asian student at the same public university and I am threatened by fraternity members while walking down the street that night. They are angry and drunk, spewing profanity at dark skinned male pedestrians; presumably, the alcohol they had consumed had distorted their minds into believing that we (I swam outdoors regularly then, the sun giving me a darker complexion than my parents did) were involved in the horrific act of terrorism 3,000 miles away.
After hearing that an Egyptian-American acquaintance of mine had to literally fight his way through them only five minutes earlier – the three frat members saw a Persian looking man and went after this guy – I was waiting for the fratties to say something to me. I intended to exact retribution with physical violence. Suddenly, a third victim of the verbal abuse appeared on the scene and she had brought her boyfriend, and the guy looked pissed. Apparently, the fraternity members had also spewed their obscenities at women that night. Bad for them.
“Are you down, bro?” asks pissed-off boyfriend to me. The next thing I know, the mean-looking, short-stature boyfriend turns and drops the shortest fratty with one punch to the chin and then jumps on the largest frat guy who was at least 6′ 3′. Wow, he’s amazing, I thought. That left me with the beer-bellied fratty who was more or less my size. I wildly threw my fists at the guy’s head and connected a few times. He eventually fell to the street and curled up to protect himself, leaving me to aid the boyfriend. Keep in mind this guy is a complete stranger to me but my brother-at-arms at that moment.
The police arrived about two minutes later but the boyfriend and girlfriend had fled the scene. The guy must have done this kind of thing before because he knew what would happen next. The police sat everyone on the curb and proceeded to question everyone for at least 30 minutes.
In the end, the fratties went to jail for being drunk in public but not for assault, not for yelling obscenities, not for being a-holes. Why? Because I decided not to press charges. I merely thought I would follow that “Bro” code and keep it simple. They were just being drunk and stupid that night.
Back to present day and I am looking at my friend: he has a lacerated lip, seven stitches and bruises all over his face. All of this caused by a drunk dude committing assault on my friend because he is Asian. I immediately think, “Nothing has changed at this school in eight years.” We have a black president and more minorities in elected office than ever before yet racism still pervades the so-called liberal college campus in California.
Nothing has changed because I did nothing to change it. I don’t think I could have prevented my friend’s injuries had I pressed charges the night of my sole adult fist fight but I could have brought awareness to the campus in 2001 that could have blossomed into a closer, inclusive community in 2009. A fist fight did nothing but a simple article published in the school newspaper that condemned racially motivated attacks could have achieved a step closer to a real, peaceful community.
Okay. Lesson learned. Oh, and fighting is bad. Really, what kind of meat-headed, immature, ignorant Neanderthal reacts to name-calling with violence? But that was 2001 me. I’m wiser now. Right?
Tags: correspondence piece, stories, yoon
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