Half Swedish, quarter Chinese, 1/8 Irish and 1/8 Scottish. This is Fred Jr Wah, the author of Diamond Grill. At the page 53 in the book, he mentioned that when he entered the elementary school, there was a form needed to be filled, and one of the empty block named as 'Racial original', and he wrote Canadian. The teacher, however, told him that he should be Chinese, and Canadian was not a racial identity, which made him confused. Racism is a concept that never works because it causes discrimination; for instance, according to the Diamond Grill, Chinese people were at the bottom of the Canadian society in the past several decades；also, it has profound negative influence on the freedom of making choices.
Racism always causes discrimination to some races. In Diamond Grill, Fred talks about his family history at the time near the first World War, a period in which Chinese people's position was at the bottom of the society. It seems that the only jobs they should have are cooks, waiters or waitresses, and cashiers in Chinese cafes. For example, Fred Jr has only quarter Chinese blood biologically. He does not look like Chinese, cannot speak Chinese, but he had be called Chink by his classmates for several years. In addition, to be a Chinese was also a shame thing, or a thing that may be laughed at. The example in Diamond Grill is how Fred Sr hided his language mistake during the speech in the Lions Club. When he was laughed by the audience due to saying "sloup" instead soup, he turned it into a joke, which included all the Chinese to hide his mistake. He expanded his own mistake to a national mistake. He was faking because he was not confident about his race, and he wanted to narrow the difference between the white and himself and wanted to be one of them.
Besides, racism, to some degree, prevents people from making their own choices freely, such as choosing what kind of job to do, and what kind of person to get married to.
