FOE Family First Chapter 6: White People Discriminated Against
Tommy sat in the driver's seat, but instead of starting the car, he rubbed his face and lit a cigarette, lost in thought.
To be honest, he actually didn't have any means to make a lot of money at the moment. The idea of selling doctor's certificates and prescription drugs was something he came up with based on his memories of his previous life due to economic pressure. It was a marginal business that could make a little money but would not strictly violate US law.
This was all thanks to his unlucky girlfriend in his previous life who insisted on taking him shopping and caused him to be shot. She had a grandfather who came to Boston, USA from South Bay in 1974 to study abroad. The old man had proudly boasted to him many times about his experience of making his first pot of gold when he first came to the United States.
Now Tommy could only pray that the old man's boasting was mostly true, because his hope of making some money to support his family depended entirely on him.
After reminiscing again and again, Tommy started the car and drove along the interstate highway to Boston, the largest city in New England.
Boston is not far from Providence, only one hundred kilometers away. At ten-thirty in the morning, Tommy had already arrived at Chinatown in downtown Boston. However, compared with the quaint Chinatown of his previous life, the Boston Chinatown in 1982 looked like an old and dilapidated urban village.
The surrounding traditional British buildings, which have been preserved for hundreds of years and are regularly and properly maintained, are in sharp contrast to the dilapidated Chinatown. The Chinese or Asian gathering places deriving from Chinatown are dirty and messy, with walls covered with advertising papers or graffiti, and Asian faces walking on the streets in a hurry.
After parking the car in a space, Tommy looked around at the familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings with some emotion.
Although the street looked a bit run-down and messy, the large number of Asian faces and familiar Chinese language around him made Tommy feel very close to them. However, every time he wanted to get closer and listen to the conversations between pedestrians or shop owners, the owners or pedestrians would quickly stop talking, put on a humble smile, bow slightly to him, look nervous, and ask in English:
"Sir, do you need a Chinese like me to help you with anything?"
Tommy could understand why Chinese or Asian people would quickly reveal their nationality when they saw a white person like him. They were worried that he would cause trouble for them, beat them up in the street, or even brutally kill them.
Today, many American blue-collar workers or lower-class white people are extremely hostile to Asians. To be more precise, they hate Japanese people, but they cannot tell the difference in appearance between Asians.
Japan's economic boom took away American business. A large number of Japanese cars landed in the United States. American domestic automobile companies cut production lines one after another, causing many blue-collar workers to lose their jobs. As a result, anti-Japanese sentiment swept through major industrial cities across the United States. Just two months ago, a group of Detroit auto workers beat a Chinese worker to death simply because they mistook him for a Japanese.
Even after the murderers learned that they had hit the wrong person, they showed no remorse. When facing reporters, they even joked that it was the poor man's fault because he looked too much like a Japanese and could participate in an imitation show.
As for the punishment? The leaders were sentenced to probation and fined $3,000, while the other workers involved were not affected at all.
Even the $3,000 fine was paid by the union and the car company, and the murderer was not asked to pay.
Just like yesterday afternoon, when the Chinese laundry where Tommy worked part-time was smashed up by his father and his men, the local union was even secretly fanning the flames, hoping to stir up a stir.
This of course encouraged the arrogance of white blue-collar workers in the United States against Asians. Subsequently, in cities such as Boston, Detroit, and Cleveland, restaurants run by Asians were smashed and Japanese cars were often smashed. There were also many cases of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipinos being beaten by white people after being mistaken for their identities.
Many Asians who thought they had stepped out of the Asian life circle and integrated into American life, after being taught a lesson by the white man, immediately retreated into their familiar environment and huddled together for warmth, recognizing the cruel reality: although they hold American identity cards of the same color, they are still fundamentally different from their white masters.
Nowadays, Asian Americans in Boston feel nervous when they see white people. They quickly reveal their identities and distance themselves from Koreans. Some Koreans even claim to be Chinese or Vietnamese when they are in trouble to avoid being beaten. Refusing to pretend to be Korean is the only stubbornness of Koreans in the United States.
Tommy did not walk into the Chinatown with the words "天下为公" (The World Belongs to the Public) inscribed on it, but went to an English-style building on the side of the street where a bilingual sign hung: Chinatown Asian Medical Center.
This was his destination in Boston.
Pushing open the door of the medical center, the front desk medical assistant who looked like a Korean woman was sitting at her seat reading a newspaper. When she looked up and saw a white man walking in, she quickly stood up and smiled:
"Sir, how can I help you?"
"Dr. Chen Furen, I want to see him. I want him to help me check my condition." Tommy walked to the front of the stage with a stern face, put his hands on the table to increase his momentum, and spoke in a bad tone .
The woman was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect a young white man to come to the Asian Medical Center to see a doctor. She was a little confused and wanted to explain: "Are you here for a consultation? Sir, this is for Asian people..."
"So, I encountered racial discrimination in a medical center in the United States? Miss, are you discriminating against white people? Fuck your mother! Because I am not Asian, I am going to die here without getting any treatment? Do you want a white person like me to teach you what racial discrimination is?" Tommy's eyes were fierce, and he imitated the vulgar tone of an Irish drunkard, questioning with a string of swear words containing a lot of F.
The woman waved her hands repeatedly, and quickly defended herself in a tone that seemed about to burst into tears: "No! No! Sir, of course not, I'm just doing routine work... OK, I'll help you contact Doctor Chen."
The woman picked up the front desk phone, dialed a number, explained the situation very quickly, then forced a smile at Tommy, motioned for him to follow her, and personally took Tommy to an office on the second floor of the medical center.
Tommy breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the Chinese doctor standing waiting at the door. Although the man was only about 27 or 28 years old, he could vaguely recognize his face; he was the grandfather of his girlfriend in his previous life.
"Sir, please come in." Chen Furen led Tommy into his office, then sent the receptionist away and closed the office door.
After Tommy sat down, Chen Furen asked with a smile: "Sir, how can I help you?"
Tommy took out the paper filled with information from his jacket pocket and handed it to Chen Furen: "Doctor, I need twenty medical certificates."
Chen Furen had just taken the paper and had not had time to open it. When he heard Tommy's words, his hands trembled and the paper fell on the table. He looked at Tommy and said in a trembling voice: "Sir, what are you talking about..."
"Listen, Asian guy, I know that the most profitable business of this Asian medical center is to help wealthy Asian students to issue doctor's certificates so that they can have enough vacation time to go to New York and San Francisco to live a life of luxury. You sell them for fifteen to thirty dollars each, and I'm only prepared to pay you five dollars each." Tommy Hawke narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke in a slow voice.
Chen Furen picked up the paper in surprise, then looked at Tommy with an embarrassed expression. He opened his mouth several times to speak, but was worried that he would be retaliated against by the tall white man in front of him if he refused.
"Or, I will call the police, and then countless wealthy Asian international students will be punished by their universities. I promise to let them know that the reason they were punished by the school was simply because you did not issue me 20 medical certificates." Tommy Hawke said in a cold tone: "I think those international students with the same skin color as you will line up to greet you, and be very, very friendly."
Chen Furen's forehead was covered with sweat. He wiped it with a tissue, then slammed the table hard and cursed in Chinese:
"Damn! I told you to keep it a secret. Don't let any white people hear about this!"
