It was the
first day of school and a new student named
Suzuki, the son of a Japanese
businessman living in the
USA, entered the fourth grade.
The teacher
said, "Let's begin by reviewing some American
history.* Who said, 'Give me
Liberty, or give me Death'?"
She saw a sea of blank faces, except for
Suzuki, who had his
hand up. "Patrick Henry, 1775," he said.
"Very
good!* Who said 'Government of the people, by the
people, and for the people,
shall not perish from the earth'?"
Again, no response except from
Suzuki:"Abraham Lincoln,
1863?," said a tentative Suzuki.
The teacher
snapped at the room full of children, "Class,
you should be ashamed.* Suzuki,
who is new to our
country, knows more about its history* than you
do."
She heard a loud whisper: "Fuck the Japanese."
"Who said
that?", she demanded.
Suzuki put his hand up again. "Lee Iacocca, 1982,"
he
replied.
At that point, a student in the back said, "I'm gonna
puke."
The teacher glared at the class. "All right, who said
that?"
And again, Suzuki answers, "George Bush to the Japanese
Prime
Minister, 1991."
Now furious, another student yells, "Oh yeah? Suck
this!"
Suzuki jumps out of his chair waving his hand and shouts to
the
teacher, "Bill Clinton!* Bill Clinton!* To Monica Lewinsky, 1997!"
Now
with almost a mob hysteria taking over the classroom
someone said,"You little
shit! If you say anything else I will
personally have you
killed."
Suzuki frantically yells at the top of his voice:
"Gary
Condit to Chandra Levy, 2001!"