Racism is still a real problem in American culture.
One of the central themes in this autobiography is simply that, although our culture has made promising strides in terms of racism, it still remains a problem. Racism will always exist, but that's not what Wu is concerned with; his first goal is to remind his audience that regardless of how they feel toward racism on a personal level, the real experience he had with American culture as an Asian man was filled with racially motivated bullying, hate speech, slurs, and mistreatment. In California, it was especially bad, he reports. The point is that racism is still alive and well, and we should continue talking about what it means to celebrate diversity in America.
There are many kinds of racism.
Racism has always been a part of American history. Before America had its independence, there was slavery. Racism against black people has (and continues to be) a delicate issue, but Wu's point is simply that racism against black people gets treated uniquely in our culture. Ultimately his point in writing this book is to explain to the reader that as an Asian, he was the victim of plenty of racism, every place he lived, at every age. Part of it is people not knowing how to treat those who are different than them, but partially, Wu feels it is because the culture treats racism as a thing only between white people and black people. Wu sees it differently, as an Asian man.
Harmony and diversity.
Ultimately, it isn't Wu's intention to get credit for his suffering, but rather, he wants to be a voice who reminds others that we should honor each other deeply. Because each person only exists in one cultural and ethnic reality, it is often very difficult for people to remember that every human being is important, and every human race is equal. Wu notices throughout the book that racism tends to be a product of closed-mindedness and solipsism. By remembering empathy, he feels we can (and should) push past our temptation to mistreat those who are different than us.
