Dispelling ignorance and fear
Pricing actuary Tom Le shares his story during Asian American and Pacific Islander month
Tom Le shares his journey with racism and how he's promoting understanding in his community and at work.
I was born during the Vietnam War in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, in South East Asia with a population of about 150,000 people at the
time. When asked what my ethnicity is, the mathematician inside of me responds with 5/8 Chinese and 3/8 Vietnamese.
I have vivid memories from when I was five years old when I witnessed a motorcyclist throw a handmade grenade into a car ahead of us. In a flash, the car was engulfed in flames. As my father swerved around the wreckage, I stared in horror as the images of flames were burned into my mind.
My father worked for the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane, so we were able to be evacuated and sought refuge in the United States. Unknown to me, we were leaving one type of war for another — one with very different rules of engagement.
Read the rest of Tom's story on the on the ideas sharing site, Medium.
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