Pearl Tan Quotes

I'm Australian. I'm assimilated. I was born here - how ocker do I have to be?

My family brought me up to be very assimilated and accepting of everyone. But I do get frustrated when I see other Asians who behave in a way that reflects a stereotype.

My friends often say I'm the most racist person they know against Asians. And it's sort of like, "If I make the joke first, then I have the power and I'm holding the cards and you're not going to put me down for that."

Sometimes I feel embarrassed because I'll tell the kids if someone is driving really slow or cutting in, I'll say "Bloody Asian drivers." But I feel justified in saying it because I'm Asian.

I guess racism is sort of like a form of discrimination but it's just that you classify people in different colours and different races. I think everyone is born with an inherent, the inherence to discriminate.

I came from a war-torn country and I was a victim of that racism because within tribes, within political lines, people were fighting. The first thing that I like to fight is racism because I know what it means, how it destroys the fabric of my society, of my wellbeing.

I see racism as a cancer. It is a cancer growing in us. Unless we stop it, it vegetates and grows bigger which hurts every one of us.