Asian community opens up to Osborn grad

Maichou Lor vividly remembers the rejections from black children during her playground days on Detroit's east side.

"Go back to your country, you Chinese!" they would say.

She was no more Chinese than her would-be playmates, but it didn't make any difference.

Born in Thailand, Lor moved to Detroit with her parents when she was 3 and spoke little English during those early, culturally shocking years. As a member of the Hmong (also Mong) people, who originated in Asia and now represent about 270,000 residents of the United States, Lor began a difficult growth process that included respecting her family's traditional ways, while becoming "Americanized" in her new country.

"I kinda got bullied around a little bit," Lor, now 17, said with a good-natured chuckle.

Today, she chuckles and smiles often, but then, it was a gradual process as she began learning English and dealt with the ignorance of her schoolmates and neighborhood peers.

By the time she was 9, Lor found the courage to approach a new group of black children, inviting herself into their closed circle.

"I told them, 'I'm not Chinese anymore,' and I started telling them about my culture," she said. "They actually listened, and asked 'What is Hmong?' They started opening up to me, so I started opening up to them."

With the support of a Skillman Foundation grant, Lor and fellow members of the Detroit Asian Youth Project (DAY) have been opening up to each other and the community throughout 2007. The program, which pairs young Asians like Lor with college-aged, Asian mentors, enables them to explore history, hidden talents and engage in philanthropic efforts. The members meet weekly at St. Raymond's Church in Detroit during the school year and three times a week during the summer.

"We learn about self-confidence, promoting other youth to do better in Detroit, and also we do a lot of community service," said Lor, who has worked two years in the project.

Lor is one of about 20 members and mentors who participate in the program. The group recently visited the Freedom House in Detroit, where the youths interviewed facilitators at the refugee housing and resource network for a planned documentary.

Not only has she made new friends in the program and within the local Asian community, but Lor became popular with the black students at Osborn High School, where she recently graduated with a 3.97 grade average. She plans to attend the University of Detroit Mercy, where she'll study nursing on a full-tuition scholarship.

Her difficult experience as a newcomer to the United States, combined with her journey of personal growth and exploration -- academically and socially through the DAY program -- helped influence Lor's valedictorian speech.

"We have waited for this day, but this only the first step towards success," she told Osborn's commencement audience. "We all have made the right decisions to stay, be brave, dream big."

Lor said her commitment to pursuing all of her goals will largely be influenced by opportunities provided through Skillman and DAY.

Lor offers her thanks to the Foundation.

Then she laughs that happy laugh again.

--By Eddie B. Allen Jr., a Detroit-based freelance journalist