More Thoughts on Being Asian American

I arrived to the U.S. from China/Hong Kong at the age of 7, speaking fluent Cantonese Chinese. Now, I can speak English fluently but have lost much of my Cantonese language fluency. When I first arrived, I found the categorization of Asian American very strange and counterintuitive. Why would I want to share my identity with a Japanese American, Korean American, etc? I have spent my entire life among Chinese people. Not only are these other Asian ethnic groups not my backyard neighbors but historically, tensions among many East Asian countries have not been the most stable. Furthermore, what connection can be tied between a Filipino American and an Indian American, a Hmong American and a Mongolian American?

However, after settling in the United States for a good number of years, I realize that not many Americans consider me as I considered myself: Chinese American. I have gradually come to acknowledge that Asian Americans get lumped as one group, as perpetual foreigners, regardless of their English proficiency or length of stay in America. It is this threat to my individuality (ironically enough) that makes me ever more proud of affiliating myself as Asian American. Many ethnic Asians, too, gradually come to form communities that stand in solidarity with one another to fight for civil liberties and social justice. By banding together, we can distill our individual strands of ethnic vitality.

Being Asian American yet having experiences with both cultures allows me to not tolerate linearity of association and perpetuating bias (David Pollock's, Third Culture Kids).