Today is Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King’s Day, my favorite day of the year that I can once again
contemplate on the life of faith, love, and sacrifice of this great nation’s
icon, who with an almost prophetic voice echoed hope and dream for us.
Dream of Coming to America
Right around 1963, the
height of the Civil Right struggle, I was in another side of the globe, a
teenage high school student in Bangkok Thailand. I dreamed of coming to the US after reading magazines while visiting
the library of the US Trade Center, where my uncle worked. Apart from trade news, I enjoyed
looking at beautiful pictures such as pictures of beauty pageants like Miss
America at Atlantic City, and Cotton Queen in a park somewhere. Then there was music that made me
dreamed of coming to the U.S.
It was at American Alumni Association (AUA) auditorium in
Bangkok that I heard the song “We Shall Overcome” for the first time from a
group of Negro Spirituals Chorale group. The lead singer with his eyes
sparkling in the spotlight made a great impression on me. That was one of the first inspirations
for me to come to America, land of liberty, so I thought. Although it was
the time of Civil Right movement, I didn’t know it. I didn’t know that
the US had people in poverty, and who suffered prejudices.
With the dream, I seek to apply, take exams, both essay and
interview, and won a scholarship from American Field Service (AFS) Exchange
Program to come to America. It was
an adventure and fun for a teenager who never traveled away from home further
than a few hundreds miles. About
60 or 70 of us from all parts of Thailand traveled in the Air India chartered
plane, and our first stop was New York.
First Stop New York and Baltimore Suburb
We were in New York in a hotel close to the AFS head quarter and
the UN building. My general
observation was that there were a lot of black kitchen and cafeteria workers but
not administrative office staff. They
were pretty friendly to us.
After a couple of weeks of orientation in New York, my fellow
Thai exchange students were all picked up or transported to different part of
the U.S. I was the last one left
because of stomachache. My host
family from a Baltimore suburb came to pick me up after the doctor cleared me
that I was well enough for a yearlong adventure. The host family was a middle class of German descent, with
American dad working in Bethlehem Steel Company, where the majority of people
there worked. My American Mom
worked part-time in a junior high cafeteria. The whole family came to pick me up and drove me from New
York to a Baltimore suburb.
I was treated like a princess there at the high school that
sponsored me. Now come to think of
it, the school committee for the exchange program was treating me like the
princess in William Wyler’s movie “Roman Holiday” starred Audrey Hepburn and
Gregory Peck. They scheduled me to
give speech about Thailand and perform Thai classical dance and music in clubs
such as Rotary Club, Optimist Club, junior high school, and etc. Sometimes there were people from other
regions that came to pick me up to attend functions. There were times that I had the opportunities to stay with
Jewish American families, both well to do and not so well to do. I noticed a little, but not too blatant
negative comments from my host family and the temporary guest hosts about each
other.
I gained a few close friends from both senior and junior
classes: Carol, who dreamingly promised with me that we would find ways to go
to work for United Nations one day; and Susan, who took me to eat Pizza which I
enjoyed so much. Later on when
some one interviewed me and asked what my favorite American food was, I said it
was pizza!
A Rigional Gathering of Exchange Students in Baltimore Area
Boys and Dates!
When I was in Thailand, dating was not in my vocabularies. I had been in government temple girl
school before matriculating into the pre-university school. Even in the pre-university school,
since I was in Liberal Arts, there were only 5 or 6 boys in the class. It was a culture shock to see boy friends
and girl friends kissed in the public here.
In America, I learned that in high school, if a girl didn’t have a boy
friend, then she was not popular.
There was some pressure being a girl at the time. Fortunately, I survived the popularity
test and had a very fine boy dating me.
He was a gentleman, six foot four tall, a manager of the school
band. On weekends, he would drive
me in a convertible (borrowed from his sister) to his Christian Scientist
family farmhouse about over 30 miles from our school. He also took me to “Peter, Paul, and Mary” Concert in
Baltimore. I just loved Mary when
she sang, “If I have hammer”, and shook her blond hair backward. It was good time all year round with
Richard taking me to places and school dances after the basketball games on
Friday nights. For the senior prom,
there was no doubt that he would be my date. There was a picture with me wearing blue gown with the hip
hairstyle at the time~ “The Bee Hive”.
Unfortunately, for some reasons, my photo shoot with Richard was lost.
Senior Prom Date-School Band Manager
Then there was a black student in junior class who was in the
same chorus class as I. Joe was
Vice President of junior class, and was in school gymnastic team. I think there were only a handful of
black students at the time, and Joe was the cute one, who wore three-piece suit
and carried brief case to school.
On Christmas, he came and handed to me a box of Christmas gift that all
the girls in the Chorus class looked on with slight envy. I think the way he came and brought the
gift of sparkling diamond-like brooch to me was quite dramatic, and that caused
all the ooh and aahh in the class.
Like a pro diplomat, I thanked him and took the gift calmly instead of
screaming with excitement. I must
admit I felt so special.
Joe did another charming thing, he asked me to be his junior
ball date. I didn’t know it was
such a big deal, but the school took the matter up in the foreign exchange
student program committee. I asked
my American parents why, but they could not find a good reason. They greatly enjoyed music from Louise
Armstrong but were talking about the story of history of slavery and etc, but a
reasonable explanation for not allowing me to go to junior prom with Joe was
not forthcoming. Fortunately, the school
agreed to let us go to the ball and I had a great time. There was an adventurous story about
the trip with Joe, a novice driver, to the after-prom dinner place, but I will
leave it for some other time.
Needless to say, interracial marriage at the time was rare. There was a movie called “Guess Who’s
Coming to Dinner?”, starred Sydney Poitier, that explained the sentiments of
the time.
Fast forward, the taboo against inter-racial marriage and dating
for the most part is the thing of the past. We see more mixed racial families nowadays.
Although discrimination and bigotry in several forms still
exist, but the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior have opened doors of
opportunity to many of us including myself. In early 90’s, I was fortunate to be part of “Affirmative
Action Advisory Committee” at work.
This afforded opportunities for me to attend executive level committee
meetings and conferences, and participate in decision-making process in
activities such as contractors selection.
There are more works to do to provide equal opportunities in employment,
housing, and economic development, but we have come so far and closer toward the “dream”.
I am grateful for the leadership, faith, love, and sacrifice that Dr.
King had made. America is a better
place because of such a selfless leader.
I salute you, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King!!!
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