The Kite Runner And First They Killed My Father

One thing that all the books we’ve studied in this year's honors world history course have one thing in common. The stories have focused on race relations. In The Kite Runner, it touched on the relationship between the Sunni and the Shia people. Charlotte had centered around the persecution of Jewish people during World War II. The Harlem Hellfighters focused on the discrimination that African American men faced in the military during World War II. First They Killed My Father portrayed the racism from Cambodians against Vietnamese people and those who appeared east asian. Out of these books, the one that influenced my perception of racism the most was First They Killed My Father.

First They Killed My Father’s story focuses on Loung, a five-year-old

“[Kim] says the Khmer Rouge government views science, technology, and anything mechanical as evil and therefore must be destroyed. [...] These devices have been imported from foreign countries and thus are contaminated. Imports have been defined as evil because they allowed forgien countries a way to invade Cambodia, not just physically but also culturally. So now these goods are abolished, Only trucks are allowed to operate, to relocate people and carry weapons to silence any voices of dissent against the Angkar.” (58) This quote is from Loung, who reiterates an explanation given to her by her older brother about the Khmer Rouge. This piece of text shows us the deep division that the Khmer Rouge has with other countries and

Loung and her sister end up at an all-girls camp where they preach pro-Khmer Rouge propaganda and anti-Youn messages. At her new camp, Loung gets bullied relentlessly because of her race. “The children despise me and consider me inferior because of my light skin. When I walk by them, my ears ring from their cruel words and their spit eats through my skin like acid. They throw mud at me, claiming it will darken my ugly white skin. Other times, they stick their legs out and trip me, causing me to fall and scrape my knees. Met Bong always turns the other way.” (145) The propaganda that the girls chant every day demonizes the “Youns”. The Youns are the Vietnamese enemies of Cambodia. The members of the camp associate light skin with Youns, and as a result are racist to anybody who appears east