In The Wednesday Wars, why do the other kids make rude remarks about Mai Thi?

Mai Thi is subjected to rude remarks and other cruelties
because the country is suffering from the effects of the War in Vietnam, and Mai Thi is
a Vietnamese refugee. She is a victim of scapegoating; because she looks like the enemy,
people associate her with them, and unfairly take out their anger and grief on her.
Scapegoating, and racial profiling, are, sadly, common reactions in times of war,
as people in their pain tend to stereotype and not see the individual as separate from
the group. In Wednesday Wars, as the news from Vietnam grows
increasingly grim, refugees like Mai Thi are persecuted because of their resemblance to
the enemy.

War is a terrible thing, and as people suffer
losses beyond comprehension, even normally compassionate and clear-thinking individuals
can be driven to try to alleviate their torment by lashing out at those who look like
the ones who are hurting them. When Mrs. Bigio's husband is killed in Vietnam and his
funeral is held at St. Adelbert's, the Catholic Relief Agency, which houses Vietnamese
refugees like Mai Thi, is vandalized, and at Christmas, a time which is heartrending
difficult for Mrs. Bigio, who must endure the holidays for the first time without her
husband, uncharacteristically lashes out at Mai Thi, telling
her,

"You
shouldn't even be here, sitting like a queen in a refugee home while American boys are
sitting in swamps on Christmas Day. They're the ones who should be here. Not
you."

Mrs. Bigio is above all
a good-hearted and loving person, however, and tries to make amends as soon as she
realizes what she has done in her grief. When Mai Thi reacts courageously when the rats
Sycorax and Caliban get loose in the classroom, she is again subject to cruel comments
relating to her ethnicity and using rats as food, and
told,

"Why
don't you go back home where you can find
some?"

Mrs. Bigio, now once
again able to see Mai Thi as the innocent child she is, cooks a Vietnamese delicacy
that she can share with her class, to promote appreciation of her culture and
reestablish harmony and understanding in a time of pain.