Personal Narrative: My Asian American Identity Crisis

As an Asian American, I frequently get questioned about what kind of Asian I am. When I answer, I get mixed results. Most people who ask me that question like to assume that that I am Japanese or Korean since I love anime and listen to Korean pop. However, I am a Chinese American and I am proud of it.

Racism has grown over the many years. The world needs to be more like Longtown and just collide with all types of races. There are plenty of people in the world who are of mixed descendents it's not their fault that they are like that. I bet that with what has been happening to these people they would rather not be mixed. Longtown is the total opposite of Maycomb, Alabama from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird were a man named Tom Robertson gets accused of raping a girl because of the color that he is. In the article ohio towns hold rare history:Races mix freely for nearly 200 years

In “The Greatest Journey” by James Shreeve, he talks about how we all share the same ancestors and we all come from Africa. He says that it all started in Africa about 200,000 years ago. These people who lived in Africa years ago started to leave the area and expand to Eurasia and Australia. As they were migrating to other places, they were able to adjust to the new environment. This is when everybody started to change because of weather, food, and other factors of environment that affected these people. But even though they separated and reproduced themselves, they were still connected by the same ancestor. As Shreeve states; “Generations later, finding that same mutation, or marker, in two people’s DNA indicates that they share the same ancestor”

This really goes without saying in our society however, it serves as a constant reminder in our everyday lives. Race is one of the earliest social characteristics to which children are aware of despite the child’s cultural group (Woods 101). Although they don’t attach meaning to the differences amid other racial groups children become aware of race even at the ages of two or three years. This fact speaks to how we could be unware of the bias we hold within. Strong identification with an underrepresented, oppressed group may result in increased awareness of discrimination and feelings of powerlessness, which would lead to more negative developmental outcomes (Woods 105). It became a little more apparent why I preferred African American despite my humanistic perspective. Even though I believe in equality for all, the way I was socialized to notice these contrasts in racial

Being a Vietnamese-American, especially in a predominantly white community, has been a hardship that I’ve faced.

I grew up in a two-parent household with my parents being married before they had children. My father has always been the one that provides finically, while my mother was the one who took care of my siblings and I throughout my childhood. Being that both of my parents were born in Mexico, I consider myself Mexican American. I am proud to be Mexican American. Culture plays a huge role in shaping your identity. A person’s beliefs and morals are made up by culture and remain throughout your entire life. Culture is what made you the person you are today and also determines who or what you choose to associate yourself with. My identity would not exist if it were not for my own culture and the values I have carried from it along the years.

Growing up there were many time where things would happen but I was too young to realize it or even know what was happening. As time went passed thing got better and less noticeable but that is when things normally take a turn for the worse. But most people when looking at me would say he is African American but in reality yes I am partly African American but I am also mixed with Nicaraguan, Italian and Jamaican. So growing up I did not fit in with thee Hispanic kids because I could not speak Spanish and they could so I was always grouped with all the other African American kids. Being placed under a specific group just because the color of my skin and because of the people that I know does not mean that if they do something I am right there

The myth of the melting pot of diverse people in the US seems to sound easy and fancy, however, the truth is that people here only gather some particular areas. In the article “People Like Us” by David Brooks, the author says that although the United Stated is the diverse country, Americans do not seem to care about diversity. This is because they do not embrace diversity and would not associate with people who are unlike them. Mr. Brook mentions that the white people, Africa-Americans and other people of various races live separately in their areas based on their income levels and interests. As Mr. Brook’s statement, I believe that there are much talks about the issue of diversity in America, however, diversity has not been taken seriously because Americans

There are many things that influence how one portrays or performs race. Race is something that cannot be easily, psychically changed, but it is such an important part of one’s identity and can be manipulated based on ever changing surrounding forces. People perform race even within their specified “race” because of the influences of other races around themselves.

When filling out surveys or job applications, all Asians must check off the “Asian American” box regardless of national origin or place of birth, forcing a single classification on an extremely diverse group. This aggregated approach to understanding Asian American is not new, it has been present since the us versus them Occident-Orient approach that powered racism against early Asian immigrants. With the increasing presence of second and third generation Asian Americans, it is time to redefine what it means to be Asian American and to discover a new manner of framing the Asian American experience as unified yet diverse. The best approach to emphasize diversity is through stressing the national, socio-economic and gender differences within the Asian American

My auto-ethnographic paper will be grounded on a conflict that I have with myself, that has unfortunately been ingrained in my brain since I stepped foot at this institution. I identify as a Canadian born Chinese student, contentedly graduating this year at the University of British Columbia. I often question my positionality in this community as an asian at a predominantly white school that is on the traditional territories of the Aboriginal peoples. I sometimes get apprehensive or uncomfortable, I sometimes feel as if it is too complicated to talk to my white sorority sisters about and I know the conflict I have is also a conflict for many people of color. However, being a GRSJ student has allowed me to explore this in my own comfort in

There are people all over the world who have come to America to seek a greater life. With America having the largest immigrant population compared to other countries, there are always people migrating into the country. People all over the world may be coming here to pursue their own dreams or to escape persecution. The immigrant population has increased so much, that about one-third of U.S. population are now people of color. But with the immigrant population at such a high percentage compared to previous years, there is still a lack of recognition. There is a lack of representation in everything from politics to film. From classic Hollywood films to movies being produced now, there is lack of color. If someone of color were to be casted, they would only play as a character that are based off stereotypes. There are a films that try to move away from stereotypes, but in Hollywood films they usually tend not to. In Chan is Missing, the actors

America is a country filled with multiple ethnicities and cultures; this is due to increase in immigrants. The majority of settlers want to move into United States because of the political and economic conflict back in their country. They are hunger for opportunities and American dreams. As a result, America is considered to be one of the country that occupied with multiple races. At the earlier time, however, minorities—such as Asians—were not welcome into the country. The Anglo Saxon were scared that they will lose their power to the minorities. Anglo Saxon greed for power is what trigger the two most important issues that Asian American face and encounter, which is Anti-immigration laws that cause damage to Asian community and “second generation

Race and nation, a stem of racialization, illustrates a congruent way of history repeating itself. We must ask ourselves some questions; what is race, what does race influence, does distinguishing race have a negative outlook, should we be separated by race, and finally, can races come together and be seen as equal? Poems from “Undoing Border Imperialism”, bring interpretations to how race is seen. We have been this “neoliberalism” society that has seen national identities come subject to racialization. Where hierarchy exists among races and separation comes to fruition because of debacles in political views, culture, colour, and differences in where they grew up. Those fortunate enough to live amongst these hierarchy races, foreigners, struggle in finding a belonging. Factors along the lines of crime, broken families, and poverty have made displacement a real label for those who are legally denied of permanent

I am a white ally. People say that it’s a bad thing, but how is supporting a cause bad? That is exactly what I was thinking when I went to my very first sit-in. I had attended many meetings about what our next move will be, but I’ve never actually done something, only because of the fear of what would happen to me and my family. I’ve finally mustered up enough courage to attend to one.