Riley,
Salem, OR
Being Chinese and the only POC in an entirely white family has been incredibly harmful to my self-worth and cultural and ethnic identity. In no way am I saying I am not grateful for what opportunities I have been given. However, in their efforts to make sure I never felt “different,” my parents unknowingly sent me through an identity crisis to say the least. When I was younger, I wanted so badly to be white and rejected anything related to Chinese culture because it seemed to “foreign” to me at the time. My internalized racism was strong, especially living in predominately white communities. There was so few BIPOC in my spaces growing up that it led me to make generalizations about all members of a particular race from a young age. I’ve had to unlearn so much and am still combating harmful ideologies, trying to actively become anti-racist.
