‘Aren’t I American’? How parents empower kids who face hate.
When Phyllis Myung’s daughter was in kindergarten, she came home from school and asked, “Aren’t I American?” after a classmate disputed her nationality based on her Asian features.
Ever since then, Ms. Myung and her daughter, now a seventh grader, have spoken regularly about race and identity.
“We had that conversation a lot earlier than I was expecting,” says Ms. Myung, from Bolton, Massachusetts.
Their discussions lately often have been about the rise in violence against Asian Americans. “If something does happen to us while on the street out and about, I want her to feel prepared,” says Ms. Myung. “I want her to feel that she has power to be able to handle these things.”
With schools enmeshed in culture wars over race, and with a national focus on a surge in hate crimes, more conversations like these have been happening between parents and children from
