Would White Supremacists Treat A Vietnamese Foreigner The Way I Was Treated?
One late afternoon in March, 2024, while I was resting in my dorm bed at the Melody Boutique Hostel in Hoi An, Vietnam, I heard some highly amplified singing that seemed to be happening very close to the hostel.
Curiousity got the best of me so I got up to investigate where the music was coming from. I followed the music that lead to a garage of a residence instead of to a restaurant or bar as I expected.
The garage entrance was mostly petitioned off except for a small opening that I poked my head thru to see what was going on.
A young Asian women immediately spotted my face and walked up greeting me with a smile.
In her broken English she said,” Come eat. We have plenty of food. Drink some beer and sing some Karaoke with us.”
I gladly obliged and followed her to
a seat at the far end of a long table abundant with a various assortment Vietnamese dishes.
The young woman filled a plastic glass with ice and poured some beer into it from a warm can of Saigonese Lager. Everytime my glass was empty, she or one of her family members filled it up again.
I asked what the occasion was.
She answered that she and her family just do this from time to time. It wasn’t to celebrate anyone’s birthday or a holiday. It was just to get together and have fun.
The woman sitting to my right put a bowl in front of me and started filling it up with a little of everything that was on the table.
It was all so delicious that I gobbled it down in spite of not being at all hungry. Every time I finished my food she would generously fill it up again. After the third fill up, I had to tell her I was too full and couldn’t eat another bite.
The family members all took turns singing to their favorite Vietnamese hits. Many of the songs had beautiful and catchy melodies.
When they handed the mic to me, I chose one of my favorite party tunes, “Pontoon” by “Little Big Town”
After I finished, they all graciously applauded although I didn’t feel like I did the best rendition of it.
So there I was a complete stranger welcomed by the local people who didn’t know if I was just visiting or if I had come to live there.
They didn’t discriminate against me because my skin color wasn’t like theirs, or that I came from a culture where Christianity, a religion far different from their Buddhism, is mostly practiced.
They didn’t scold me to either speak Vietnamese or get out of their country.
What a better world we have when people embrace diversity instead of fearing others just because they look or act differently.
Thanks for reading.
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