My culture will not allow me to speak upon the shame I caused. You will not know who I am unless you are immediate family of mine or one of my few friends. For the last 21 years, I’ve been buried or incarcerated by the State of Texas. I am a Vietnamese native, raised up in the dirty south-Houston-for most of my life. I was told that in Spanish, the word Chino meant Chinese, which I am not. It’s not my real name, but a name given to me and a few hundred like me in the Texas prison system.
We always want to “save face,” so as it is, I am reluctant to share my story because I don’t want to be condemned.īy the way, my name is Chino. It wasn’t that our parents or relatives told us not to speak about these things, but more of an unspoken rule in an Asian culture. From the look on my dad’s face, I knew this was not to be spoken of. When our neighbor asked us where our rabbits were, my brother blurted out that my dad had eaten them. Coming home from school one day, I found my dad and his buddies dining on them. Please understand that it’s a very difficult thing for me to voice.Īs an Asian, I was taught at an early age to never speak about the bad things or the pain or the suffering in our families and loved ones. I struggle to share my voice, my experiences, and my perspective of things. Since it’s also her birthday coming up, I do this as my gift to her.
From the day I met her, instead of running away, she ran toward me. My best friend Thao is one of those people. I realized through life’s tragedies or tough times, without fail, the people who are there are the ones that truly loved me. It’s ingrained in me now to do what is asked of me by the people I care about. The only reason I am writing this is that I was inspired by one person who believed I can. Never would I have guessed in a million years that these impulses of mine would change the course of my life forever. I dropped out of high school in the ninth grade, due to the fact that I couldn’t sit in a classroom while my friends were out there joyriding in someone else’s car. As a matter of fact, I have very little education. I sit here now, hesitant to write this since I am no writer and do not claim to be one.
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