America is truly a great country and immigrants have literally built it from the days of the Wild West to the early 19th century when scores from Ireland and Europe came to America in search of a new life. However, even as Americans are warm and welcoming, there is a section of society as in every country who is bigoted and prejudiced towards a fellow human being. Recently one such incident of discrimination involving an American of Vietnamese origin.
An incident involving Vietnamese immigrant Minh Huynh went viral recently when his daughter tweeted about how he faced discrimination from an HR manager who insulted him in his application. It was the rudest reply ever to an applicant.
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Minh Huynh possessed the experience for a job he decided to apply to. But! Unfortunately not only was Minh rejected he got told of very rudely by HR manager Bruce Peterson who emailed a shocking note back to Minh.
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Minh emailed Peterson regarding the job saying “Talk about appointment available, Monday.” to which he got this dirty reply “Let me tell you now, if you no speak English, I will send you home.” So apparently for some people, they possess the god given right to insult others just because one doesn’t speak English.
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Peterson is such a dope, English is a language and if Minh cannot speak it well, can you speak his language?? Why is it for some that having a mastery over English is regarded as something superior in comparison to the world’s languages?
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This annoyed Huynh’s daughter Emily who uploaded the email exchange on twitter. The aggression angered many and sparked of a viral debate. The twitter community stood in solidarity with Minh but the email is a stark reminder of the ugly face of discrimination that is rampant among so called educated people like Peterson.
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Given the fact that if you are living in North America, you need to speak and learn English to get by and communicate but, you shouldn’t be discriminated because of it. Peterson’s response was unnecessary and showed a lack of character as well as professionalism. It could well have degraded Minh and destroyed the man’s confidence in attempting to apply for other jobs.
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In a message to NextShark, Emily said that her father was not offended by the comment in the same manner many immigrants are wont to do because they don’t realize the context and severity of such remarks. Emily was disgusted by the comment which proves how companies are accustomed to using micro-aggressions which is becoming a cause for concern as to the future treatment of citizens and borders on discrimination.
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“My dad told me that he isn’t that ‘hurt’ by it, but there’s a big stigma around Asian immigrant parents that deal with this all the time. They brush it off because they don’t understand the depth of the situation. People always use micro aggressions with or without knowing they do which is a big concern when it comes to the treatment of future citizens. I’m just disgusted,” Huynh said.
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The nasty email of Peterson has opened up a debate at the right time where most immigrants in the US are being targeted and discriminated against. This is an unfortunate development that is steadily growing in recent years.
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Peterson’s company also received a lot of negative publicity which did not go well with the establishment who promptly sacked Peterson from his post. They wanted to make a point that they do not tolerate discrimination of any kind.
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What’s most heartwarming is the fact that Emily and her father received a heartwarming response from twitter and several businessmen also offered him a job. That was truly a beautiful gesture to show that all is not lost and America is still a great nation as the right sort of people also exist.
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Emily has also updated the community on Twitter that her father has not harbored any grudges and though they had enough reason to press charges for discrimination, they chose not to confront Peterson.
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To improve himself, minh has started a notebook which Emily shared on twitter. He teaches himself several keywords often used when applying for a job. It goes to show who was the better man here.
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