North Texas 'Mob' Of 'Entitled Children' Mock Chinese-American Author Discussing His Literary Work

HIGHLAND PARK, TX — A celebrated Chinese-American author has taken to social media to write about being mocked by the children of entitlement and privilege, of the feelings that stirred within him when the pubescent progeny of wealth cheered when the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was invoked in conversation.

Except that this didn't occur in the pages of one of his novels. It happened to best-selling author Jamie Ford during a recent talk in Highland Park, an affluent Dallas enclave encompassing one of the richest school districts in the state, when he spoke Thursday to a gathering of freshmen and sophomores.

Bursting into the literary scene in 2009 with his debut novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Ford was the keynote speaker at the town's literary festival, as the Dallas Mornings News noted. Before heading to the book festival, he dropped by Highland Park High School to discuss his work and field questions from students.

The author describes on his personal website how the talk devolved when a group of students began mocking him during his talk — "a thousand students, trolling me," he wrote on Facebook — as teachers and a principal looked on.

The gathering began innocently enough, with some teens begin escorted out of the building for general rowdiness — a scene that could've been replicated at any assemblage of reading-averse teenagers in the throes of typical teenage angst and rebellion. One the rowdiest of the rowdy were removed, things seemed to have calmed down, Ford noted.

"I managed to end my talk on a bittersweet note about the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans and nationals, about how if we forget that bit of history, we are diminished as a people," he wrote. "I got my point across and in that brief moment your impoliteness was forgiven and all was well. I thanked you, for not clapping and cheering the Japanese internment."

But moments after his internally assimilated relief, it happened: "Then you clapped and cheered the Japanese internment," Ford wrote. "You couldn't resist. That showed me more about you than I wanted to know."

The author grew reflective after the incident, recalling all the visits he's made to schools in trying to spread love of the written word, to remind students of the ugly chapters in our nation's history and to urge the adoption of tactics of resistance when xenophobia cyclically still rears its ugly head in conveying how the past is often prologue.

But in Highland Park, such attempts were met with derision. The scene reminded how despite all the social progress that's been made, the ugly underbelly of society still pulsates with life and continues to regenerate.

"After visiting more than 100 schools, from inner-city schools in New York, the kind with clear backpacks and metal detectors, to elite international baccalaureate high schools, including one where the previous year's guest speaker was Justin Bieber — I've finally had a school visit ... go sideways," Ford wrote. "I'm looking at you, Highland Park High School, and I'm confused."

But at the end of the day, Ford — whose great-grandfather emigrated from China and toiled in Nevada's borax mines to provide for his family — also took comfort in having stood firm that day: "Despite the 1000 to 1 odds, I wasn't about to be run off the stage by a bunch [of] entitled children who had decided I was just another mark to be bullied," he wrote.

In taking inventory of the experience, Ford drew a comparison from 2015, when Highland Park High School grad Levi Pettit was videotaped with University of Oklahoma fraternity brothers leading a racist cheer that included the N-word.

"In coming to Highland Park High School, I thought that was an anomaly by an immature alum, a racially insensitive apple in a barrel of healthy fruit," Ford wrote. "But now I'm not so sure."

As is the custom and protocol when such incidents emerge — when such anachronistic outbursts emerge from deep within some souls and rise to the surface — the school was compelled to issue a standard statement: "Unfortunately, the behavior of some of our students during this year's keynote presentation was not at the standard that we expect. We value the current and past authors who make this event possible, and we will work with our students to improve as a result of this experience."

Yet for Ford, the experience is not that easily shaken off: "But there it is, your applause still ringing in my ears," he wrote.

Academically, Highland Park High School has been ranked towards the top among Texas high schools, by one reckoning ranked 7th best in the entire state. The richness of its education is mirrored by the wealth of its denizens, with median income in 2000 at $149,389 and the median income for a family was $200,001.

For makes reference to this privilege in his post-talk reflections: "Yes, you’re in a lovely community, a monoculture of wealth and charm in north Dallas. And congrats on winning the most recent 5A state football championship. That’s almost as impressive—to me anyway—as your 100% graduation rate."

For some of the less fortunate growing up in the Dallas area — East Dallas, say, where the average market price of a home is around $244,000, about $958,000 lower than the $1.2 million average in Highland Park — a favorite activity of families is to drive through Highland Park to gaze in wonder at the majestic homes.

With memories of those youthful visits still vivid in having slowly taken in the architectural grandeur of Highland Park homes, it's still difficult to conceive that something might be amiss within their environs that can't easily be fixed with spackle and paint.

>>> Photo credit: José Luis Zaragoza Guerrero via WikiMedia Commons