Everyone who grew up in Chinese mainland was taught that "China is too weak and China is not strong enough, so China people are discriminated against overseas". There were many overseas Chinese in Indonesia in my grandparents' generation, and I have heard many stories of discrimination and exclusion of Chinese in Indonesia since I was a child. I have been an "overseas Chinese" for more than ten years. In the western environment of respecting human rights and freedom of speech, I gradually understand what dignity is, and I feel that I live a dignified life like other Americans. Based on my personal experience, I gradually came to a conclusion that the so-called "only when China is strong, China people will have dignity" is a wrong conclusion drawn by the older generation of intellectuals in China. Let's look at the history of Chinese in the United States to see where the dignity of overseas Chinese comes from. China people immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. At that time, the United States was building the Trans-American Railway and lacked construction workers, so it recruited a large number of migrant workers from the rural areas of China and Guangdong. Most of the earliest Chinese immigrants in the United States were poor farmers from Guangdong, China. These early immigrants from China suffered from discrimination in the United States: migrant workers from China contributed a lot to the construction of the western railway in the United States. In the final stage of western railway construction, 90% of the railway builders were made up of migrant workers from China, but their white foreman pushed the migrant workers from China out of the camera when taking photos after the completion of the railway, so they were ashamed to take photos with migrant workers from China, and China people did not get formal words of thanks and praise at the railway completion ceremony. Discrimination against Chinese at that time was not limited to these superficial discrimination. Many discriminations are clearly stipulated by law: China men are not allowed to immigrate their wives and children to the United States, and China people are not allowed to own land and real estate. 1882, the US Congress passed a special law prohibiting immigrants from China, and China people could not become American citizens. These China people are discriminated against in the United States, but they still choose to stay in the United States. Even a large number of China people still try to come to the United States through various illegal channels. Why? Because it's better to be discriminated against in America than in China. These poor peasants have no position in China, and neither do they. In America, they have at least the basic dignity of food and clothing. From the end of 19 to the middle of the 20th century, not only Chinese but also other Asians, including Japanese, Filipinos, Indians and Koreans, were discriminated against by legal provisions in the United States. Discrimination against Asians in the United States is largely racial and cultural discrimination, not based on whether your country of origin is strong or not. For example, Ireland was a very poor country until the mid-20th century, but Irish immigrants were never discriminated against by law like Asians. Another example of racial discrimination is that Japanese people were all sent to concentration camps because they came from hostile countries in World War II, but German immigrants and Italian immigrants who also came from hostile countries did not have the same experience. China people can't get American citizenship, so the law that they can't own land and real estate didn't loosen until the mid-1940s, but only a few China people are allowed to become American citizens every year. The explicit discrimination against Asians in American law was completely abolished in the mid-1960s with the development of American civil rights movement. Although the United States today still discriminates against ethnic minorities (non-whites) more or less invisibly, at least legally, no matter what race you are or which country you come from, everyone has equal rights. As a new immigrant from China who came to the United States in 1990s, I take it for granted that I have equal rights with others. When I learned about the unequal treatment of early Chinese immigrants in the United States, I couldn't help sighing that I was born in a much better era than early Chinese immigrants. From a penniless international student, with my own talent and diligence, after several years of struggle, I earned a salary higher than the average wage in the United States, and I can buy a house and realize the American dream. Now, as an ordinary American, I live a middle-class life with the same dignity and freedom as other Americans. Of course, I also have happiness and troubles. Who should I thank for this? First of all, I should thank the American people for their efforts to strive for equality for all. These Americans include the leaders of the African-American civil rights movement and all those who fight for equal rights for American minorities, whether they are Chinese, other Asians, other ethnic minorities, or white Americans who have a sense of justice and support the civil rights movement of ethnic minorities. Today, the equal rights that I take for granted are realized through their unremitting efforts. Secondly, I want to thank my parents for training me to be an honest, hardworking and self-respecting person. Third, I want to thank myself. I will not feel inferior because I come from a country that is still poor and backward, nor because I come from a country that has always said no to the West. I understand that human dignity did not fall from the sky, nor was it given by the government or that group, but was earned by the people themselves. Racial discrimination is certainly one of the reasons why early Chinese were discriminated against in the United States, but those Chinese have no status in China and do not know how to fight for personal dignity. I realize that my dignity comes from my own behavior, my own personality, not from which group I belong to. Those who rely on groups to increase their dignity, like gangsters who consolidate their position by joining gangs, have no place in modern society. I don't forget to respect others' self-esteem. The principle of my daily life action is "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you". I dare to say no to words and deeds that don't respect me, even words and deeds that don't mean to offend my dignity, so that the other party knows that I have offended me. I don't force everyone to like me, because like it or not is beyond people's control, but I ask everyone to respect me, because this is the minimum criterion for being a man. I believe that a good society is not established by the government or any other organization, but created by everyone's efforts. I believe that everyone has the obligation to strongly support good behaviors and loudly condemn injustice, even if good behaviors don't directly help you or bad phenomena don't directly hurt you, because if you and I don't support good behaviors today and turn a blind eye to injustice, there will be fewer and fewer good behaviors and bad phenomena in society tomorrow, and one day you and I will both be victims. I won the respect of my friends, colleagues and neighbors with my own behavior and personality, and also contributed to changing the prejudice of Americans against China people. I am not a living Lei Feng. When I did all this, I didn't have the ambition to win glory for China people, but when I was fighting for my dignity as a human being, I was actually fighting for the dignity of China people. Although the United States today has made great progress in racial equality than a century ago, intangible discrimination still exists more or less. To eliminate these discrimination, we need the efforts of every minority people. Those who do not strive for dignity by their own efforts, but hope to rely on the strength of their country of origin to obtain dignity will not be respected in western society. Look at the black people in the United States, from slaves more than a century ago and second-class citizens more than half a century ago to having a black president now, not because of the rise of any African country, but because of the unremitting efforts of the American people themselves for equality and freedom. For black Americans, having a black president does not mean that you will be respected as a black person from now on. To get rid of prejudice, African-Americans need every African-American to continue his efforts. If there are three or four criminals in ten blacks, or criminal sympathizers, or irresponsible parents, the reputation of blacks as a group will not be much better. Similarly, for China people, if five out of ten China people can't tell right from wrong, love * * but oppose democracy and freedom, and have no sense of civic responsibility, China people as a group will not get much respect. Obama can be elected president of the United States, which shows that although the reputation of black people as a group in the United States is not very good, as long as you are a respectable person, Americans will respect you no matter which group you belong to. The fact is that in today's America, no one can be respected because of belonging to a certain race or coming from a certain country. Everyone should win respect through his own behavior and personality. For example, although the United States is still dominated by whites, most of them are in charge from the top government to the management of private enterprises, from the entertainment circle to the news media, but this does not mean that as long as whites are naturally respected in the United States, whites should win respect with their talents and personality. Some white people in America are regarded as white trash by other Americans. Although they come from the great United States, they are still not respected in society.