Racism

Although children often assume they will be protected by their parents, Leong presents a situation in which she felt the need to protect her father. Can you identify with Leong's feelings? Have you ever felt particularly angry or defensive on behalf of a parent? In your journal, explore why and what happened as a result.

• Yes, I can identify with Leong's feelings of wanting to protect her parents. To expand, I would sometimes feel this when any member of my family is criticized unfairly just because of certain situations or circumstances that they cannot control. This feeling usually comes because of the sense of pride of knowing these "insiders" who you interact with everyday. Also, it is quite easy to become hostile with the strangers, the "outsiders", who criticize who or what you are proud of and what you believe in.
• On the other hand, the only time where I have felt particularly angry or defensive on behalf of my parents is when they do not know how to defend for themselves, since my parents are aggressive and witty when the situation calls for it. I remember once, when my father had faced problems with his work due to several work relationships, I was very angry when the other party shamelessly blamed everything on my parents and even tried to disrupt our family, in more ways than one. Though I wasn't able to do anything, I was still able to "defend" my parents by giving advice and criticizing them.