A powerful graduation speech from an Asian-American school valedictorian in a predominantly white town has the student hoping her message reaches others.
Saranac Lake High School Class of 2020 valedictorian Francine Newman shared her experiences with racism, how it affected her view on her culture, her family and herself. She talked about how her finally opening up has allowed her to love the very things, the important things, that she had grown to despise.
“I know there's not a lot of diversity in the area, and I know that no one has intended to hurt me with what they say,” Newman said during her seven-minute speech. “There's a lack of education and understanding. It is not the fault of anyone living here.
“Knowing that and growing up knowing this did not make any of it hurt any less.”
It wasn't a speech Newman felt comfortable sharing, but it was her story and she felt she needed to tell it.
“Chase and I were named ‘fortune cookie’ and ‘egg roll’ by the older kids. It was funny. It really is. It also created a defining line between us and the rest of the normal kids,” Newman said during the speech.
“I, honestly, had not truly addressed it until recently, just because race isn't something that is overly discussed where I live, just because it is mostly a white town and I felt guilty I think, bringing it up,” she told Spectrum News about her speech.
During the speech, Newman said that what she experienced “seems so insignificant now,” but noted that as a second grader, she cried openly.
“One of my intents was to make it so the kids who are going into school now, going into elementary now, will just see that it is something that can be addressed and can be talked about,” she said about her speech.
Newman's experiences, which involved not only classmates, but also adults and teachers, shaped a hate of her appearance and her entire culture. She said that even a small part of her resented her mother for being Asian.
“Ignorance is bliss only for those who did not realize the utter shame I carried over a part of myself I would never be able to change,” she said during the speech.
Newman says that, even after graduation, she and her friends are still learning – as are adults in her life.
“I think that it's all just going to be little steps to creating all parts of the bigger picture here,” she said.
She was able to express pride in her speech, too – in her accomplishments, her looks, her heritage, and her mother, Ara.
“It's about moving people forward with better communication and appropriate language,” Ara said. “I think there's always progress to be made. I'm just so crazy proud of her, because she said something that needed to be said.”
Francine is headed to Middlebury (Vt.) College in the fall, and plans to explore the larger Chinese culture there as much as she can.