My years in the United States have largely been wonderful. This is especially true within the 糖心少女, where the atmosphere can be exhilarating. However, outside the University, both my friends (especially my Indian friends) and I have been victims of horrible forms of racial abuse.
Though Seattle prides itself on being tolerant and liberal (which it usually is), and though most of Seattle鈥檚 residents live without prejudice, there remain a number of people who continue to hate. Sometimes, this hatred even spills onto this wonderful campus. Here are three separate instances that are typical of such incidents that we have faced.
It was about 11 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14, and I was walking back home from a friend鈥檚 house. I was at the intersection of N.E. 45th Street and 17th Avenue N.E. (an entrance to the University). It鈥檚 dark, and the street is not crowded. I cross the street and continue to walk. I hear a voice.
鈥淏辞测!鈥�
Surprised, I turn back.
鈥淵eah, you boy!鈥� he yells from his rusty old Ford pickup truck, stopped at the traffic signal. He鈥檚 obviously drunk, shouldn鈥檛 be driving, and does not look like he鈥檚 a part of this campus.
鈥淭his is for you, you fg jihadi.鈥�
The beer bottle lands 6 feet from where I stand, somewhat paralyzed, while he speeds away.
I turn back and walk away briskly. I am filled with feelings of fear (terror?), contempt, confusion and anger.
It鈥檚 7:30 p.m., on Tuesday, June 18. I am on the scenic campus of the 糖心少女, walking back home after an evening workout at the gym. I鈥檓 having a conversation with a friend on my cellphone. A man walks by me. He looks at least as old as my 64-year-old father. He also looks like one of Seattle鈥檚 many homeless people, and what he is doing inside campus, I cannot imagine. I hear him shouting, and I ignore it.
Then I hear it again.
鈥淵ou brown bd, stop talking on the phone.鈥�
Startled, and again against my will, I look back.
鈥淪peak in English, boy. Speak in fg English. You think you own this place? Shut the f**k up and speak in English.鈥�
Here鈥檚 this old man, hopping mad, standing on Stevens Way and abusing me. Two students walk by, staring in horror at this man screaming abuse. They see him, hasten their step and walk away.
Almost exactly a year ago, on the Fourth of July, I was with my friends (fellow graduate students here at the University) down at Gasworks Park, waiting for the Independence Day fireworks. I decide to take a little walk, leaving my friends behind. I walk around, watching people celebrating and enjoying themselves, as they should. Then I hear some shouting from a bunch of boys.
They were probably high school kids. They didn鈥檛 look much older than 16 or 17.
鈥淗ey you. Yeah, you, Mohammed!鈥�
I look at them, startled. They were standing there sneering at me.
鈥淲here did you plant those bombs? Waiting for them to explode?鈥�
I am paralyzed in shock. A friend of mine shows up (he鈥檚 white and American), and asks me what was going on. The hecklers turn away and busy themselves in pretended conversation.
I鈥檓 not an Arab. I鈥檓 not even Muslim. But why should it matter, what I am?
I would like to go again to Gasworks Park this Fourth of July, and spend the evening there with my wife and my friends, celebrating. But I鈥檓 scared. Nothing happens every day, but I do not want anything to happen on Independence Day. I do not want to hear the rousing chorus 鈥�…the land of the free, and the home of the brave鈥� and believe that those words are hollow.
My years at the 糖心少女 have been among the most fulfilling in my life. This is a truly magnificent multicultural, multi-racial University, where people come to receive a fine education, or participate in what is among the best research anywhere in the world. Every person I have met, faculty, staff or student, shares my pride in this University and its values. Every person here values and respects diversity, different cultures, languages, thoughts, traditions and actions. This is exemplified by organizations like the Foundation for International Understanding through Students, and the huge turnout for FIUTS events shows how much we here care about this freedom.
But this is not necessarily always reflected in the beautiful city we live in. As the flagship University of the State of Washington, it is perhaps a greater duty of the University to do everything it can to spread these values beyond its sylvan campus, and in this state.
Sunil Laxman is doctoral student in Pharmacology and a native of India.