Becoming American Becoming Ethnic

Triple Identity: My Experience as an Immigrant in America

Puwat Charukamnoetkanok (SUNY Binghamton 1990) Triple Identity: My Experience as an Immigrant in America "A rlmerica is the land ofopportunity." Is this a myth or reality ? I came to America four years ago with a faith that I would find opportunity here. However, I realize a reality: racism exists and most people will not easily accept immigrants. In the spring of 1990, I took a course, "Immigration and Ethnicityin the UnitedStates," inwhich I learned that I am not alone. Many immigrants encountered similar barriers. My grandparents are also immigrants, and I have learned about their experiences. In this essay, I compare the experiences ofmy paternal grandparents with my own experiences. In 1937 my grandfather, whom I call Ar-kong, came to Thailand from Ch'eng-Hai in Teochiu state (in southern China). He was thirteen years old. His mother brought him to meet his father, who was attracted by the economic opportunity of Thailand and had left China to open a jewelry store in Nakornrajsima (my birthplace, northeast of Bangkok). Greatgrandfather had a second wife who was Thai, which was not an uncommon phenomenon for there were many benefits. Because he was far from home, she was his companion. The marriage also served economic purposes ; she could speak Thai, which was good for business. However, the two wives were like oil and water, which put the family under pressure. For this reason, Ar-kong developed a keen sense ofself-reliance and independence . He married my grandmother, Ar-ma, the daughter of a rice mill owner. The bridegroom and the bride were eighteen and seventeen years old, respectively. When Ar-kong was twenty-five years old, he opened his own jewelry store, which has been in business ever since. Puwat Charukamnoetkanok's grandparents, Ar-Kong and Ar-Ma, in China, ca 1993. 219 Triple Identity Chinese and Thai are technically the same race. Thai people are believed to have migrated from the southern part of China hundreds ofyears ago. However, Thailand and its cultures were also influenced by India and ancient Cambodia, thereby distinguishing Chinese and Thai both physically and culturally. This resulted in ethnic prejudice. "The Thai consider the Chinese uncouth because they are often loud and raucous in public, because they are noisy eaters, and have other food habits which the Thai deem very undesirable."l This uneasiness would not have led to extensive prejudice had it not been exacerbated by the Thais' apprehension ofeconomic competition from the Chinese. The majority ofThai people are engaged in agriculture, and they blame Chinese middlemen for low crop prices and high prices in stores. However, this rationalization is belied by the fact that there are many merchants who are not Chinese, and fluctuations ofprices depend on many other factors, not just the Chinese merchants. Anti-Chinese sentiment reached its pinnacle during World War II, when all aliens (the majority were Chinese) were forced to evacuate the big cities and relocate to the countryside. Soon after their marriage, my grandparents had to move to Bou Yai (a small town near Nakornrajsima). It is interesting to note the similarity of this development and the evacuation of the Japanese from the West Coast of the United States during the same period. National security was the official reason in both cases, but I believe that the desire to undermine the economic prosperity ofthe evacuees was the real intention. However, the two practices were by no means equivalent; the Chinese in Thailand suffered much less from this experience . They were not subjected to incarceration and could move their businesses with them. Ar-kong helped his father run a new store in Bou Yai, but the business was not as good because there were fewer customers. The evacuation lasted for four years, and during this period my father was born. Then the family moved back to Nakornrajsima. My grandparents ignored the prejudice they faced. They worked hard, hoping that when they became established economically people would accept them for who they really were-kind, generous, and peaceful persons. I believe they have succeeded. Ar-kong and Ar-ma also tried their best to assimilate. They sent my father and his brothers and sister to Thai schools, and the children only learned Chinese in the evening. Ar-kong and Ar-ma learned to speak Thai. Ar-ma worked especially hard in her endeavor to learn Thai. Night after night, she would learn how to read, write, and...