I’m Chinese, female, and a minority – at least, in America I am. Often I can’t go places my friends go. I get in trouble when I do something wrong. I haven’t seen movies or TV shows because I can’t go to the theater and we don’t own a television. I don’t know the latest trends. I care about my grades too much. I blame it all on the fact that I’m the stereotypical Chinese person. I’m a nerd with strict parents, and I’m socially unaware.

At times this is true. However, I feel like I deserve a pass because in America, I am not a very large slice of the population pie. I like being able to explain things away with a simple “I’m Asian.”

In a country with an, at times, unaccepting south, I think others let me get away with simple things like social oddness with obligatory passivity. Maybe I don’t have time to chase after every trend because I’m busy preparing my cure for cancer or writing my speech for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The racist jokes that are apparently not supposed to be taken seriously actually can be offensive, especially when it happens everyday. Ever since first grade, I’ve been an outsider and have been made fun of. People who think Chinese people speak like, “ching-chong-chang” are uninformed, uncultured and rude.

I don’t make fun of the English language’s weird rules, Arabic’s odd writing, Spanish’s silly symbols, or any other person’s language. It’s just how they talk. Maybe some people believe that they are actually funny, but trust me, they’re not.

With all the crap that gets thrown at me everyday, I don’t see why I can’t get away with minor trifles. Being a minority should have some perks. It’s hard enough having to deal with all the annoying jerks that think they are funny. I’m not asking much, all I want is a handy excuse that I can use when I don’t know what (insert the next newest “thing” here) is.