Casumlong, Herrera - Learning Outcome

Our Little Cafe ASITAHRNEASVCAIIRSRMUESNIESOS T SWtoEpBAEsLiOaNnGHaHtEeRE STOP ASIAN HATE A STORY ABOUT RACISM TO ASIAN IMMIGRANTS Euri Herrera and Stephanie Casumlong 8 - Hooke

It was a morning summer day in the United States, and the sounds of wind and birds chirping could be heard. Akio and Areum were opening up and setting up their café for the day. They cleaned the tables, prepared everything they needed. In their café, they selled drinks and food such as tea, coffee, and bread; the common things they sell at most cafés. But they also selled something that was not commonly selled in usual cafés. They selled mochi, a Japanese rice cake with filling in them. They also had various asian drinks, like boba tea. When it was one in the afternoon, and they had a few customers. One angry costumer went and confronted the people making the food. \"Your Asian food sucks, your stupid food made of flour” they said, gagging afterwards. 1

“Just go back to your country and go back to eating cats and dogs” he said while rolling his eyes at them. \"I NEED A REFUND! THE FOODS I ORDERED AREN'T EVEN GOOD\" he added. The barista told him that he would be unable to get a refund and to kindly lower his voice as there are also other people in the cafe. Suddenly, he started screaming at the barista “YOU STUPID ASIANS ARE THE CAUSE OF THE CORONAVIRUS! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE, YOU ASIANS ARE A DISGRACE!\" the person said discourteous. Then the person mocked them and pulled his eyes back, imitating the \"asian eyes”. The couple told him to stop and immediately called a security guard to kick him out of the store. This was something that they'd experience atleast twice a day, so they weren't surprised. But, they were so tired of it, and wanted to do something about it. 2

After a couple of weeks, once again they experienced the same thing. A group of teenage Americans suddenly entered the shop and started discriminating their race and mocking their language. \"i am so 'baka', 'baka'. Isn't that 'stupid' in Japanese? I love learning it its sooo fun!\", they said sarcastically. “Saranghae 'unnie', 'oppar' I am so cute!” they said, making finger hearts and laughing afterwards. Akio then started asking them politely if they can stop since it was very disrespectful to their language, but they still wouldn't leave. “YOU ASIANS DON'T BELONG HERE! GO BACK TO YOUR BAT EATING CHINA COUNTRY!” one teen shouted loudly at them, and saying “ching chong” as to offend them. A regular customer, Venus who'd always overhear these, finally decided to stand up for once. “Leave them alone! They did nothing to you. Just go back and eat your stupid unseasoned plain food!” the customer 3

confronted the person. The teenagers started laughing and one of them said \"Ours is unseasoned? THEIR FOOD IS LITERALLY JUST FLOUR AND DOUGH! What are you gonna do about it?\". \"If you really hate it then just leave this café and go to another one. First of all, their food and drinks are better than anything you'll ever make.” Venus proudly said. “And if you don't stop,” the customer took out their phone and put the police number in, “I'm going to call the police on you.” they said with a fake smile. The teenagers was taken aback and started to back away. The rest started to flee like rats and only one person was left behind in the shop. She said, \"Fine, we'll stop. Just don't call the cops on us\" she said in a scared tone. Venus asked what a girl like her was doing with a bunch of teenagers like them. But the 4

girl just ran away and left. “You didn't have to do that, it was fine” Aiko said. “Well, it needed to be stopped. You guys have to actually stop them and probably hire some more mature guards, ones that care for people of colour” The customer said. “Thank you. We will soon. Thank you for your help.” Areum took a box of their mochi's and handed it to the customer. “For your kindness, and although it's not necessary, we'd like to give this to you for free. Areum said anHdopsmeiyleodu ewnajorymliyt, Vaetnutsh.\"e regular customer, Venus. What they didn't know was that the building owner was watching everything that happened the whole time. He approached the couple and said \"I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I never knew that our locals could be so harsh\" said the building owner feeling woeful. \"It's not a problem, those kind of people are jerks and all they want is attention. It would be better not to give them any\", said Akio. When they went on 5

the internet after a few hours when they finished closing their shop, they saw that someone had recorded the fight and uploaded it on social media. The video was going viral and had more than 20k+ views within 2 hours. By the time it was night, the video had been uploaded everywhere on the news. The couple had thought that they were saying unkind things to them, but it turned out to be that the comment section was mad at the teenagers. The next day, a line of costumers came in and they were all wanting to buy from their shop. In no time, their cafe had grown big and famous. 5

One day, they heard that the previous building owner has resigned since he was tired. They wondered who the new building owner would be and whether he was nice The next morning, when Akio was opening up their shop he saw a cardboard sign on top of the door handles that read, \"LEAVE THIS PLACE, ASIANS DON'T DESERVE TO BE HERE\". Akio brushed it off because he thought it was some immature attention seeker. Later in the afternoon, the new building owner went in their store for inspection and kept judging everything. Akio tried to tell him about the cardboard sign he found this morning but the building owner ignored him and pretended like he didn't hear anything. He then asked a barista what type of foods they sell because he said that they smelled awful. A barista then stated a list of things 6

The building owner then said \"What type of foods are those? I bet it tastes terrible!\" he said annoyed. The barista just looked and didn't reply. The few months went as normal, they selled food and still got some rude customers. One day, the building manager sent a letter about him closing down the shop because Asian foods aren't as good as any other and that they got too many complains of getting corona after eating the food. \"Huh? Corona? How is that even possible?\", Areum said confused. \"I don't know but I'll go and have a talk with him now\" Akio replied. As Akio went to the building owner's office, he felt frustrated and mad since this was his and his wife's dream and it could not be taken down after their cafe had just been successful. \"Come in\" the building owner said. Akio started talking about the letter and asking about it and why it had to be closed. \"Didn't you read it? I don't have to explain it again. I plan on shutting your café down in 3 months\" 7

Akio tried reasoning out with him but he would still disagree. \"But it's unfair! We didn't do anything. Our kitchen is always clean, and it's impossible to get the virus from our food. Is this all some sick joke?\", Akio said in an annoyed voice. \"If you're just going to talk about your café here, then it would be best you leave because I'm not going to change my mind\" said the building owner. Akio left angrily and when he reached the café he told everything that happened to Areum. She bursted into tears. \"All our hard work...you're saying it's nothing? The amount of rudeness and racism we had to go through....they were all for NOTHING?!\" said Areum. \"We should try doing something\" she added. After 2 months of trying to stop the building owner from taking their café down, he still wouldn't budge. Their last hope was to share their social media to atleast get some help, so they did. One day a teenage girl came into their shop and 8

said, \"I heard your shop is closing soon\". \"Mhm\" said the barista. The girl then asked \"Is it possible if I can be able to meet Akio and Areum?\". \"Why?\", the barista replied. \"I have something important to tell them\", said the girl. Akio then went out with Areum, \"We're here, what do you need help with?\", said Akio. The girl asked to talk to them privately. \"I know you might not remember me but I was that same teenage girl from before who the customer asked and I just ran because I got scared\". \"I knew you looked familiar!\", replied Areum. \"My name's Maxine, I've heard your cafe was closing down and I would like to help. I want to make up for all the terrible things my friends have done to you\", said Maxine. \"Thank you so much\" replied the couple. Maxine then explained that she would start a website or a petition for people to sign and donate if they want to support them. The couple agreed and made the website. The website then reached more than 500k signs within 10 9

weeks thanks to the amount of followers that Maxine's Instagram had. The building owner was then fired for what he did and the café was saved thanks to Maxine's help. The couple couldn't thank her enough for what she did and they were very grateful. After that, Maxine became a regular customer to their shop and the couple were really happy about it. As the cafe grew and grew, they were able to spread different cafes around the state and were able to afford their own building for each. They both became successful and well know café owners since then and had lived a great and enjoyable life. 10

Freytag's Triangle 4 35 12 67 1. Exposition - A morning summer day in united states. In Aiko and Areum's small Asian cafe. They we're setting up to open their shop. 2. Initial Incident - One angry costumer started to attack them because they didn't like the food. 3. Rising action - When the American teenagers came in and made a scene in the café 4. Climax - When they heard that their café was going to be closed without a reasonable reason when it was their whole dream to make one. 5. Falling action - the teenage girl, Maxine being in their aid and helping them prevent the café from shutting down. 6. Resolution - The website made enough petitions and signs so the cafe was allowed to stay back up and work the same as before. 7. Denouement - The couple were able to make more branches around the state and was able to make their own building and live successfully. (P.S. The sign found on the top of their board was 11 actually done by the Building Owner)