Everybody turns white when shot at
Bettie Wilkins, Roanoke, VA. I was born in 1940 and my parents were sharecroppers. My father was drafted in 1942 and came home in 1944...
Oh…you don’t sound Japanese-American.
Lyndon Narita, Novato, CA. After assisting a customer over the phone, they commented that my name, Lyndon, was a nice and uncommon name. They asked...
Japanese and American, not Japanese-American.
Aya Mimura Ann Arbor, MI Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
Who doesn’t have a little identity crisis?
Ben, Madison, WI. Every time I think about race, especially when I’m asked to indicate it, I feel three things: anxiety, resentment and shame. Anxiety:...
Afraid of Not Being “Asian” Enough
Gwyn, Chicago, IL. My Dad was born in Japan to a Caucasian Father and a Japanese mother. He moved to America with his father and...
Being Asian doesn’t mean I’m Chinese
Kay West Jordan, UT I get called Chinese all the time, and I have a lot of Chinese friends, but I am Japanese. Just because...
I don’t know if I’m white.
Lincoln Ozawa, Renton, WA. I asked my parents if they think I’m white and they couldn’t answer. Father is of Japanese & Hawaiian descent, mother...
Are you Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean or Japanese?
Tenzin Palmo, Fridley, MN. A question that get asks a lot to Asian people.
My kids DON’T have “fractured” identities!
Kelly C, Los Angeles, CA. My husband is Japanese and I look “white” though I don’t really know what I “am” because my father was...
Blackanese is not Black or Japanese.
Brian Murray, Seattle, WA. Growing up it was always hard to find my own identity because I came from a bi-racial background. I am half...
Filipinos are also Asians, just saying.
Joseph Salvador, Toronto, Canada. I’m a Filipino guy. And here in my city, the category of Asian is essentially narrowed down to Chinese, Japanese or...
“White” papers over background identity.
Catherine Kehl, Cleveland Heights. OH. When we divide ourselves into “us” and “other” we don’t only lose the other, we lose ourselves. I was twenty-seven...
What I am, not just “Asian”.
Alvin Vang, Fresno, CA. Well as you can see I am Asian but if you dont know what type of Asian I am you can’t...
I don’t know what I am.
Jordi A. Snell, The Netherlands. My mother is Dutch and my father is Moluccan (Melanesian I assume). I don’t exactly know what my father’s race...
“Where’re you from?” Up to you.
Ami Bogin, England. I get “where are you from?” so often (or the polite “Your accent’s different…” of the British, or the more rude “You...
I’m not a percentage of anything.
Chris Tanaka, Lake Grove, NY. I am a whole, white passing, Japanese, Native American, French Canadian person. I am not half of this or a...
No, where are you REALLY from?
Gerard Achilles Obnial, McAllen, TX. When I first worked in the hospital, it had always been routine that my patients would ask not for my...
Too yellow or not yellow enough
Jean Tokuda Irwin Salt Lake City Public Library “I’m Japanese-American with a Japanese mom and a father who was a GI.” The Japanese called children...
