"Who am I?"
A mixed Asian American dilemma
A mixed Asian American dilemma
| Heidi M. Pascual* Publisher & Editor * 2006 Journalist of the Year for the State of Wisconsin (U.S.-SBA) |
To explore this touchy and very personal identity issue, the Association of Asian American Graduate Students (AAAGS) at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison presented the Second Annual Asian American Voices Symposium titled, “Mixed Race Asians: Why They
Matter to Asian America” on April 5 at the UW-Madison School of Law. Together with the Asian Pacific American Law Student
Association/South Asian Law Student Association, and the Asian American Studies Program, AAAGS conducted three concurrent sessions
on identity, health and activism, and capped the day with a great musical comedy and hip-hop performance by Kate Rigg and Lyris Hung
from New York, titled “Slanty Eyed Mama.”
Keynote
Dr. Michael Thornton, director of the Morgridge Center and professor of Afro-American Studies and Sociology at UW-Madison opened
the day’s symposium by issuing a message to his African American friends: “Stop claiming Barack Obama as one of yours; he’s not one of
yours,” Thornton said, drawing smiles, laughter and applause from his audience. “He’s one of ours! In case you haven’t checked, Obama is
half-Black, he’s half-White, he’s half-Asian … Perhaps he’s not half-Asian but his step-
father was Indonesian. He was raised partly in Indonesia, and most of his clothes are from Asia.” He then cited other celebrities,
particularly in the entertainment world who, more often than not, “wear their mixed racial status on their sleeves.”
Thornton then reviewed the Asian experience in America, from the first Filipino and Chinese workers who came to the U.S. in the
1700s and 1800s, the anti-miscegenation laws enacted soon thereafter that barred free Black slaves from marrying Whites (and later
included Asians in the prohibition especially during the anti-Asian movement), and the developments from the mid-1900s that changed
all that. He pointed to the Supreme Court decision of 1967 declaring anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, radically changing society’
s makeup. At that time, only 41 years ago, 38 states still prohibited non-Whites to marry Whites.
“In the past 40 years, we’ve moved from a primarily biracial society — Black and White — to a multiracial society including many
different racial groups,” Thornton said. This multiracial group is having a hard time having their voices heard; this is the main reason for
the day’s discussion, he said.
Identity Sessions
Session 1: “Identity: The Meaning of the Mixed Race Experience”
Facilitators: Michael Thornton (keynote speaker) and Lynet Uttal (UW-Madison associate professor and director, Asian American Studies
Program)
In this session, participants watched clips from Mikko Jokela‘s video, “Mixed Feelings.” Jokela is a University of California-Berkeley
student who interviewed mixed race students and a professor on how they feel about being mixed race. Thornton and Uttal responded to
the clips from their personal perspectives as African American/Japanese and Japanese/Russian/Jewish, respectively. Both their mothers
are Japanese immigrants. They talked about how context shapes how people make sense of their identity, how that changes over their
lives, how sometimes self-definition is reactive to how others see them and sometimes it’s about how they define themselves in a more
proactive way. They also talked about how it is important for parents of mixed-race kids to socialize their children to understand their
identities.
“I didn’t add my mother’s maiden name (Nishimura) as my middle name and decided to live with the ambiguity and let people figure
out my race based on our interactions rather than my name,” Uttal said. “I was upset when kids teased me and called me ‘Red China,’ not
because of the racism but because they didn’t know I was Japanese.”
In Thornton’s case, he and his sisters define themselves differently, even though they have the same mix. Growing up he was seen as
Black but resisted that. One day when he was in college, he woke up and realized he had to embrace his Japanese side as well, even
though others couldn’t see it. “My mother is Japanese,” he exclaimed as if he realized it for the first time in his life.
Session 2: “Identity: Theorizing Mixed Race in the Context of the U.S. Race System”
Facilitators: Aris Dutka (an Eastern European/Chinese law student at UW) and Lynet Uttal
In this session, Dutka and Uttal explained that when two mixed race people find each other, there is this excitement of feeling like you’
re not the only one of your kind in the world, even if you’re not of the same mix.
The participants had animated personal discussions which theorized about race in the United States. They posed some of the theoretical
questions that started the dialogues. The group asked: “Are mixed-race Asian Americans the same as Asian Americans?” Yes and no. Dutka
and Uttal came up with reasons for different answers. Other questions raised were: “Are mixed race Asian Americans seen in the same way
as other mixed
race people?” and “Are mixed-race Asian Americans viewed as honorary Whites or a minority group?” The participants agreed that
understanding takes a long process, that there is no absolute, categorical answer of yes or no to these questions. The audience actively
participated in these discussions.
Health Session
Panel: Shiva Bidar-Sielaff (director of Community Partnerships for UW Health Services) and Professor Joan Fujimura (professor of
Sociology)
In this session, two experts in the field of race and health facilitated a discussion addressing how race, ethnicity and mixed race affect
both scientific research and medical treatment.
Bidar-Sielaff shared her work experiences, initially explaining that a patient’s racial and ethnic data is often not collected at private
health facilities. She discussed how the practice of collecting racial data from patients can be controversial, but can nevertheless reveal
disparities in treatment based upon perceived race or ethnicity. She also shared stories about families who had negative health care
experiences because medical professionals had not taken adequate measures to ensure they fully understood the patient’s cultural and
ethnic background.
Professor Joan Fujimura began with a discussion of the debate of whether the concept of race should even be used in scientific medical
research. Some in the field argue that because race is a purely social construct, its use in scientific research is inappropriate, while others
argue that the correlations between race and disease/health are significant enough to continue its use and consideration in research. She
mentioned the recent marketing of BiDil, the first prescription medication approved for treatment of a
specific racial group.
Student participants were invited to share health-related experiences and ask questions of the panelists. The group discussed such
topics as differences between treatment based on perceived race versus self-identified race, how ethnic phenotypic ambiguity may affect
treatment, and how people of mixed race might effectively communicate with their health care professionals.
“Slanty Eyed Mama”
The event concluded with a great performance by Kate Rigg and Lyrus Hung, titled “Slanty Eyed Mama,” a comedy/musical hip hop
exploration of contemporary Asian American identity. Rigg’s lyrics and fierce rapping wonderfully complemented the beats and musical
genius of Lyris Hung. The duo’s sound was described as “fresh, aggressive and urban,” representing “the funky urban Asian woman … in the
language of hip hop and contemporary rap.” All in all, the Asian American Graduate Students Association’s Second Annual Asian
American Voices was a huge success. And probably without their knowing it, AAAGS has started a huge movement among Asian
Americans to start speaking up, loud and clear, so that their voices may be heard and their presence
may be felt.
(Lynet Uttal and UW-Madison law student Elizabeth “Peach” Momoko Soltis contributed to this article. The session on Activism will be
discussed in a future issue.)
University of Wisconsin-Madison presented the Second Annual Asian American Voices Symposium titled, “Mixed Race Asians: Why They
Matter to Asian America” on April 5 at the UW-Madison School of Law. Together with the Asian Pacific American Law Student
Association/South Asian Law Student Association, and the Asian American Studies Program, AAAGS conducted three concurrent sessions
on identity, health and activism, and capped the day with a great musical comedy and hip-hop performance by Kate Rigg and Lyris Hung
from New York, titled “Slanty Eyed Mama.”
Keynote
Dr. Michael Thornton, director of the Morgridge Center and professor of Afro-American Studies and Sociology at UW-Madison opened
the day’s symposium by issuing a message to his African American friends: “Stop claiming Barack Obama as one of yours; he’s not one of
yours,” Thornton said, drawing smiles, laughter and applause from his audience. “He’s one of ours! In case you haven’t checked, Obama is
half-Black, he’s half-White, he’s half-Asian … Perhaps he’s not half-Asian but his step-
father was Indonesian. He was raised partly in Indonesia, and most of his clothes are from Asia.” He then cited other celebrities,
particularly in the entertainment world who, more often than not, “wear their mixed racial status on their sleeves.”
Thornton then reviewed the Asian experience in America, from the first Filipino and Chinese workers who came to the U.S. in the
1700s and 1800s, the anti-miscegenation laws enacted soon thereafter that barred free Black slaves from marrying Whites (and later
included Asians in the prohibition especially during the anti-Asian movement), and the developments from the mid-1900s that changed
all that. He pointed to the Supreme Court decision of 1967 declaring anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, radically changing society’
s makeup. At that time, only 41 years ago, 38 states still prohibited non-Whites to marry Whites.
“In the past 40 years, we’ve moved from a primarily biracial society — Black and White — to a multiracial society including many
different racial groups,” Thornton said. This multiracial group is having a hard time having their voices heard; this is the main reason for
the day’s discussion, he said.
Identity Sessions
Session 1: “Identity: The Meaning of the Mixed Race Experience”
Facilitators: Michael Thornton (keynote speaker) and Lynet Uttal (UW-Madison associate professor and director, Asian American Studies
Program)
In this session, participants watched clips from Mikko Jokela‘s video, “Mixed Feelings.” Jokela is a University of California-Berkeley
student who interviewed mixed race students and a professor on how they feel about being mixed race. Thornton and Uttal responded to
the clips from their personal perspectives as African American/Japanese and Japanese/Russian/Jewish, respectively. Both their mothers
are Japanese immigrants. They talked about how context shapes how people make sense of their identity, how that changes over their
lives, how sometimes self-definition is reactive to how others see them and sometimes it’s about how they define themselves in a more
proactive way. They also talked about how it is important for parents of mixed-race kids to socialize their children to understand their
identities.
“I didn’t add my mother’s maiden name (Nishimura) as my middle name and decided to live with the ambiguity and let people figure
out my race based on our interactions rather than my name,” Uttal said. “I was upset when kids teased me and called me ‘Red China,’ not
because of the racism but because they didn’t know I was Japanese.”
In Thornton’s case, he and his sisters define themselves differently, even though they have the same mix. Growing up he was seen as
Black but resisted that. One day when he was in college, he woke up and realized he had to embrace his Japanese side as well, even
though others couldn’t see it. “My mother is Japanese,” he exclaimed as if he realized it for the first time in his life.
Session 2: “Identity: Theorizing Mixed Race in the Context of the U.S. Race System”
Facilitators: Aris Dutka (an Eastern European/Chinese law student at UW) and Lynet Uttal
In this session, Dutka and Uttal explained that when two mixed race people find each other, there is this excitement of feeling like you’
re not the only one of your kind in the world, even if you’re not of the same mix.
The participants had animated personal discussions which theorized about race in the United States. They posed some of the theoretical
questions that started the dialogues. The group asked: “Are mixed-race Asian Americans the same as Asian Americans?” Yes and no. Dutka
and Uttal came up with reasons for different answers. Other questions raised were: “Are mixed race Asian Americans seen in the same way
as other mixed
race people?” and “Are mixed-race Asian Americans viewed as honorary Whites or a minority group?” The participants agreed that
understanding takes a long process, that there is no absolute, categorical answer of yes or no to these questions. The audience actively
participated in these discussions.
Health Session
Panel: Shiva Bidar-Sielaff (director of Community Partnerships for UW Health Services) and Professor Joan Fujimura (professor of
Sociology)
In this session, two experts in the field of race and health facilitated a discussion addressing how race, ethnicity and mixed race affect
both scientific research and medical treatment.
Bidar-Sielaff shared her work experiences, initially explaining that a patient’s racial and ethnic data is often not collected at private
health facilities. She discussed how the practice of collecting racial data from patients can be controversial, but can nevertheless reveal
disparities in treatment based upon perceived race or ethnicity. She also shared stories about families who had negative health care
experiences because medical professionals had not taken adequate measures to ensure they fully understood the patient’s cultural and
ethnic background.
Professor Joan Fujimura began with a discussion of the debate of whether the concept of race should even be used in scientific medical
research. Some in the field argue that because race is a purely social construct, its use in scientific research is inappropriate, while others
argue that the correlations between race and disease/health are significant enough to continue its use and consideration in research. She
mentioned the recent marketing of BiDil, the first prescription medication approved for treatment of a
specific racial group.
Student participants were invited to share health-related experiences and ask questions of the panelists. The group discussed such
topics as differences between treatment based on perceived race versus self-identified race, how ethnic phenotypic ambiguity may affect
treatment, and how people of mixed race might effectively communicate with their health care professionals.
“Slanty Eyed Mama”
The event concluded with a great performance by Kate Rigg and Lyrus Hung, titled “Slanty Eyed Mama,” a comedy/musical hip hop
exploration of contemporary Asian American identity. Rigg’s lyrics and fierce rapping wonderfully complemented the beats and musical
genius of Lyris Hung. The duo’s sound was described as “fresh, aggressive and urban,” representing “the funky urban Asian woman … in the
language of hip hop and contemporary rap.” All in all, the Asian American Graduate Students Association’s Second Annual Asian
American Voices was a huge success. And probably without their knowing it, AAAGS has started a huge movement among Asian
Americans to start speaking up, loud and clear, so that their voices may be heard and their presence
may be felt.
(Lynet Uttal and UW-Madison law student Elizabeth “Peach” Momoko Soltis contributed to this article. The session on Activism will be
discussed in a future issue.)
(Clockwise from top left) The
2008 Symposium flyer greets
attendees at UW-Law School;
Lynet Uttal facilitated Identity
Sessions 1 &2; Michael
Thornton is the keynote
speaker and facilitated
Identity Session 1 with Uttal;
Law student Aris Dutka
facilitated Identity Session 2
with Uttal.
2008 Symposium flyer greets
attendees at UW-Law School;
Lynet Uttal facilitated Identity
Sessions 1 &2; Michael
Thornton is the keynote
speaker and facilitated
Identity Session 1 with Uttal;
Law student Aris Dutka
facilitated Identity Session 2
with Uttal.
by Heidi M. Pascual
The question “Who am I?” never entered the mind of an Asian immigrant
to the United States who arrived in the 1700s or when anti-miscegenation
laws (provisions that prohibited Asians from marrying Whites) were strictly
enforced (late 1800s-late 1960s). “I’m Asian” would be the only answer if ever
the question even came up. The succeeding generations of these Asian
immigrants, however, had to answer the question not only coming from
mainstream America, but especially from within the deepest recesses of their
soul.
Several political and demographic developments after World War II
contributed to the proliferation of mixed Asian Americans, including: the
1947 War Brides Act (allowing American soldiers to ‘bring home’ their brides
from war-torn countries); the 1965 immigration Act (allowing family members
of immigrants to ‘unify’ and professionals to fill labor gaps in certain fields);
the 1967 Supreme Court declaration that anti-miscegenation laws were
unconstitutional; and the 1988 Homecoming Act (allowing children of
soldiers and Vietnamese women in). In addition, the gains of the civil rights
movement in the ‘60s set the stage for increased interracial marriages within
the diverse American population.
At first glance, the racial-divide problem could have been easily solved
through interracial unions; but being “mixed” posed another issue, a question
primarily of being neither here nor there. The classification of the American
population according to race or ethnicity has been in existence for so long
that the question became inevitable. It has become increasingly inadequate
to be classified as “Asian American,” or worse, for those who were born or
grew up here, to be considered simply “American.”
The question “Who am I?” never entered the mind of an Asian immigrant
to the United States who arrived in the 1700s or when anti-miscegenation
laws (provisions that prohibited Asians from marrying Whites) were strictly
enforced (late 1800s-late 1960s). “I’m Asian” would be the only answer if ever
the question even came up. The succeeding generations of these Asian
immigrants, however, had to answer the question not only coming from
mainstream America, but especially from within the deepest recesses of their
soul.
Several political and demographic developments after World War II
contributed to the proliferation of mixed Asian Americans, including: the
1947 War Brides Act (allowing American soldiers to ‘bring home’ their brides
from war-torn countries); the 1965 immigration Act (allowing family members
of immigrants to ‘unify’ and professionals to fill labor gaps in certain fields);
the 1967 Supreme Court declaration that anti-miscegenation laws were
unconstitutional; and the 1988 Homecoming Act (allowing children of
soldiers and Vietnamese women in). In addition, the gains of the civil rights
movement in the ‘60s set the stage for increased interracial marriages within
the diverse American population.
At first glance, the racial-divide problem could have been easily solved
through interracial unions; but being “mixed” posed another issue, a question
primarily of being neither here nor there. The classification of the American
population according to race or ethnicity has been in existence for so long
that the question became inevitable. It has become increasingly inadequate
to be classified as “Asian American,” or worse, for those who were born or
grew up here, to be considered simply “American.”
