Charles Melton: My classmates made fun of me about the Korean dishes my mother cooked

The increasing number of hate crimes against the Asian community, especially in the United States, has mobilized many celebrities in favor of the #StopAsianHate movement.

Among these is also ours Reggie of Riverdale, Charles Melton, that given her Korean origins she wanted to tell her experience with racism and discrimination in an open letter for Variety.

The issue, as he said, involved his family long before he was born: in fact, his mother, a young Korean girl, and his father, an American soldier who served in the Asian country, had to fight against harsh criticism and prejudice. , finding himself repeatedly defending his union from malicious and discriminatory comments.

The actor spent his childhood with his two sisters around the world, in various military bases, before settling permanently in the United States. “I’ve never thought about it before – he wrote in the article – but the memories related to that period are not beautiful: my mother was constantly treated as a stranger and I have always felt, given my father’s work, a proud US citizen, almost completely erasing my Asian origins ».

And, in fact, he said he was ashamed or embarrassed when this part came out. “No one at school ever taught me anything about my cultural background, about the history of Asians in America, so it just didn’t exist for me. When my classmates made fun of me about the Korean dishes my mother cooked, I was ashamed».

A sensation that has accompanied him for a long time: first during high school, when I did nothing but “chase the American dream”, and later when he started acting. “I never said anything, in fact I was ignorant of all the aggressions or systemic racism that affected my people. I have been silent for fear of retaliation and, now, I cannot help but wonder how much my behavior has contributed to creating the situation we live in now ».

A path of self-awareness that led him to come to terms with his own cultural background and to finally be “proud to be Korean”. For the actor, a new phase in his life begins: one in which he wants to use his popularity and his work to tell “inclusive and representative stories” and to be truly supportive of the Asian community.

Telling one’s mistakes publicly must not have been easy, as well as understanding how much weight one’s origins have, but Charles Melton has shown that looking ahead is possible and, now, the #stopasianhate movement can count on a new voice that, given its audience, can be decisive.