Originally written November 6, 2006
In the coming days I will have to defend myself for being a white man in Hong Kong.
In a meeting before the entire student body, we will discuss and vote on the constitution I solely drafted and the proposed amendments to it, by which we will then form the first student government of the law school. In decades to come, the students that follow my pointed words of guidance, they will know the political mastermind of his time schemed his way through the law school, fought off challenges to his authority by students and faculty alike, and brought upon the institution the foundation for the traditions and direction of the student body for all time.
They will sing songs in the pubs about the American cowboy for decades to come.
They come for salvation, they come seeking purpose. They will find me waiting for them. Like a monkey shot off into space, with flare and passion, with no thought of making it back home.
A woman here that thinks she’s Chinese thug life, proposed an amendment to allow only those that speak English and either Cantonese or Mandarin to run for an officer position in the government. She has called this a “representative” quality to the law society. Her proposal excludes only one person in the entire law school…the one white man…the one responsible for bringing it all together. And this will be my response, in defense of who I am, standing before three hundred of my students Friday evening…
“I have a dream,...that one day all my men will be treated equally. That the color of my skin, my ethnicity, the language that I was born into will someday not be held against me when we ask what I can offer, what I can provide to my fellow law students. You were taught English and Chinese together, I was never afforded that luxury. I learned to speak English. And while I barely have a grasp on that language, that is who I am.
“You and me, darling, we were friends. We run in the same clique, we’ve been out drinking and living it up in Hong Kong clubs together. But today, you sit here before our school and say to them this white man isn’t good enough to have any position. Sure I created the constitution, organized the meeting, brought all of you here today, but no, because I cannot speak you’re words I’m not good enough. Chu fei wo si le, mei mei (over my dead body, little sister).
“You call this a ‘representative’ provision, I call you a racist. The westerners are coming, whether you want them here or not. Look at the law schools in the states, there are more kids studying to be lawyers than there are in practice. We’re coming out of the woodwork…we’re the modern day clergy. Eventually, the juris doctor will not be enough for a lawyer, they will be forced to specialize, and there is nothing more enticing to a man of great delusion as a specialization in Chinese investment law. The Americans will follow me here, and in time this law school will take on a much paler complexion.
“Everyone in this law school knows who I am and the effort I have put into creating this organization. Who the hell are you? If you still want to exclude me from its founding, zhen ta ma yao ming zhu yi (watch your back, I'll be waiting).
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