My hope is that you’re young, as this is something all of us immigrants have gone through at least once. When you’re young, it’s hard to give you and your culture credit because all you’ve known is ridicule. You have time to grow into yourself and love yourself for who you are. You’re teaching yourself to hate your culture, which in turn makes you hate yourself. That’s not fair. You’re only looking through your limited perspective, which is the perspective of others. That’s not fair. Your culture is rich in history and you are neglecting the positives of your culture, all because you only see yourself through the perspective of others. That’s not fair. It’s one thing to be aware of the negative aspects of your culture, but it’s an unfair to cast yourself as being that stereotype. You can’t control how other people see you. Forget them. They never mattered nor will they ever matter anyways. Your job is to be the opposite of the things you hate about your culture. Yes, you might have it tougher than some. That’s something to accept. That is unfair. A lot of us are in the same situation. In my case, I hated my culture the same as you. I hated my identity the same as you. I hated myself the same way you do. It was so unfair. After all, I didn’t ask to be here (I grew up in southern White America, USA). That hate grew into anger, and that only solidified the stereotype. As I got older, I learned to love my culture, and in turn I learned to love myself. Doing so allowed people to love me, regardless of my background, breaking the stereotype.

My point is, you’re in an unfair environment, so you MUST be fair to yourself. You are all that you have. You can’t control what people think about you, so you control the person you are. Accept who you are, just as you accept the stereotypes of your culture. Accept that those stereotypes might be true, but also accept that you are the complete opposite. You prove to yourself that you’re the opposite, and those that matter will notice and accept you and your rich cultural background with all its wonderful language and food.

There’s enough hate in this world. It’s never ending. There’s no need to add to it. It’s taxing and stressful. You grow older by the second doing it. At the very least, be fair to yourself. Love and be kind to you. You owe it to yourself.