i have a close friend, who is of chinese origin, but was born and brought up in jamaica, which is predominantly black.
the chinese i know, mostly from hong kong or mainland china, are often small in stature and avoid physical confrontation - an attitude pretty much similar to myself in my younger years.
this jamaican chinese friend used to get teased everyday in his younger years - 'dog eater' being the kindest of the taunts.
so, his dad, unlike mine, put him in a health club and very soon he started building his physique. along with it came confidence and also the latent aggressive instincts, which i think, our brahmin parents do the utmost to snuff out in their sons, especially the first born.
very soon my chinese friend felt confident, not to avoid, but to confront his taunters. something about the way his new found personality, perhaps the way he carried himself, almost immediately caused the taunts to stop.
deterrence through confidence which comes through physical growth and a srong body, i think, goes a long way, to win respect from sections of society, to whom, these are the manifestations of manhood.
some years ago, this chinese jamaican, along with a few other non whites, were walking in a park, when we saw a bunch of boisterous white teenagers marking their names on a tree.
it is a situation, where even the whites would turn and go the other way. but my friend, walked upto them, gave a lecture about the respect for public property.
while we waited with baited breath for our friend to get bashed, to our surprise, the teenagers, kept quiet, mumbled something and slunk away.
it does not matter who you are, if you have the confident bearings and a physique to back it up. it provides the best deterrence against any aggression.
to sum up, i think, our parents, in addition to encouraging book learning, would do well, to join our youth in group sports or body building to boost their confidence.
i don't think anybody from our community should take s**t from any riff raff meekly. there are ways to build deterrence, without being overtly aggressive, but sufficient to discourage any bully.
thank you.