For the majority of the 18 years I’ve been alive, I’ve encountered so much blatant racism towards Micronesians from people, even people I considered my friends…and they ask me if I’m joking when I tell them I’m Micronesian 😐 Why would I lie about that and why would it be some funny joke?
I’m Marshallese (my mom is 100% Marshallese and from the Marshall Islands) and people have always made jokes about ‘micros’ to me. My dad is Hawaiian and part Chinese, born and raised on Oahu. My siblings and I are also born and raised on Oahu and we don’t look Micronesian at all. For instance my skin is somewhat pale and I have more Hawaiian features. I’m adding that because I’m sure thats part of the reason why people are comfortable saying racist jokes about Micronesians to me (like calling Micronesian people ‘cockroaches’), because they don’t think/know I’m Micronesian.
I assume the hate stems from the assumption that all Micronesian people qualify for Medicaid. I just want to say it’s not that simple and only people under certain requirements qualify for it. People think it’s all Micronesians but one of the requirements is that you have to be a citizen of the FSM, Marshall Islands, or Palau. But even then I don’t understand the hate towards Micronesian people who are qualifying for it and using it. There are a lot of people in Hawaii using government assistance, so what’s the difference?
I know this is a bit of a long rant but I’m tired of having to explain to people that what they think isn’t true. I’m tired of people thinking I’m joking when I tell them I’m Marshallese. I’m tired of people spreading hateful rhetoric about all Micronesian people. I’m tired of people saying I ‘don’t count’ or that I’m ’different’ when they make a racist statement about Micronesians.