I just wanted to put this here. It's edited from a bunch of comments I wrote on a friend's blog. In short, he was wondering if Asians hate Asian Americans, based on his own experiences in Japan as a Japanese American (they consider his lack of perfect fluency in Japanese a source of shame) and the skepticism and occasional hostility apparently some Chinese feel towards Gary Locke (he's apparently been called a "traitor", a "guy who has forgotten his ancestors", and my favorite, "a fake foreign devil who cannot even speak Chinese"). I ended up spewing a bunch of crap that I shall now try to present as a standalone essay. Wish me luck.
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Dear Koji,
We are, ultimately, Americans. That's all there really is to it. On a questionnaire, if we could only tick one of two boxes, "Asian" or "American"... we'd be delusional to pick "Asian". It's confusing and difficult enough for us, living here, dealing with all that perpetual foreigner or model minority shit, to establish a strong sense of identity. And certainly, there are nuances and such that could/should be fleshed out at some point. But, for the sake of this argument, the bottom line is... we're Americans, plain and simple.
So it follows that anybody who thinks of us as being traitors to anything that's not America or American is just ignorant/misinformed. We literally cannot be traitors to Taiwan or Japan or whatever because we cannot betray that to which we are not of a party. Our first obligation is to our own country, our own civics, politics, language/culture/current events, etc. They forget that they have no right to criticize our Japanese/Chinese just as we have no right to criticize their English. Try that next time: if they make fun of your Japanese, just rag on their Engrish.
If they're confused because we look like them, they're as stupid as, say, a tea-partier thinking Obama is actually a secret Kenyan Muslim OR a Kenyan Muslim thinking Obama's a traitor. It's just plain dumb, and we should either rectify their attitude or just pay no attention to them.
On another note, I find that the more nationalistic a country or a person is, the more likely s/he'd be antagonistic towards ASAM's. Obviously they don't understand us and what we are, but more importantly, they don't understand America, they have kind of a culturally solipsistic view of the world, and on some level I think some of them even want to "repossess" us in the name of their native country. Mainland Chinese are uber-nationalistic these days, so to hear them talk about Locke this way is no surprise. Shit, I've been dealing with their "repossessive" attitudes towards Taiwan and all Taiwanese for years. There are also plenty of laid-back, globe-trotter-type Chinese/Japanese/Asians who are open to other cultures and perspectives and such. They tend to be far less nationalistic, and, no surprise, much more accepting and willing to understand ASAMs.
[another commenter points out that she legitimately feels 50/50 and that self-identification depends on the individual]
You're right, it does ultimately depend on how we as individuals define ourselves. Being a Third Culture Kid and having myself morphed from self-identifying as Taiwanese, to being on the fence, to being American first and foremost today, I respect and totally understand how there are folks like you who still need to flesh things out for themselves. But ultimately, I think that these folks are just in limbo: one cannot live ambivalently for one's entire life. I also think that the definition of self cannot be a purely conscious endeavor: the suburban white teenager may *think* he's black, but everybody knows (including himself, deep down inside) that he's really white. Similarly, the Taiwanese that lives in the US, marries in the US, raises kids, retires, and dies in the US while only ever "visiting" Taiwan *may* choose to think that he lives in limbo, but in reality, he has long since become American... he just doesn't want to admit it to himself, for one reason or another. Actions, after all, speak much louder than words.
So yeah, given that people in the middle 1) live in a relatively temporary state of being, and 2) compose only a very small portion of the population at large, I'd say that for the sake of argument... all people belong to one country or another.
There is another factor at play which I barely touched upon earlier that I think doesn't get nearly enough consideration, and that is the understanding of America itself, the very concept of America. It's so vague, it's taken for granted by Americans, and it's completely misunderstood by non-Americans. It is as distinct as it is in flux. And even as we have become a country that takes less and less of the world's tired and poor, without a doubt we have been and still continue to be the number one melting pot. Few countries in the world are as multi-cultural as ours; no country is to the same degree. You can be as culturally Japanese as you want here and *still* be American. It's amazing. This is part of what makes it hard for everybody to define what we immigrants to this country are: the cab driver with broken English that prays to Mecca five times a day and eats more chickpeas than beef... is he or isn't he American? I say, as long as he lives here, wants to be here, and truly loves this country, who can deny him his American-ness? On the other hand, if he lived in Japan or Taiwan or China, neither him nor his children would ever be accepted as one of theirs.
So yeah, basically... it's confusing for us because our "motherland" cultures are very exclusive while the American "culture" is extraordinarily inclusive. You can be anything and still be American... you can't be anything and still be Japanese/Chinese. Does it make it harder for us to be Asian, and MUCH easier for us to be American? Yes. It's the one country in the world where, as long as you have a passport, anyone can claim to belong here and no one can legitimately dispute that fact.
I know that my example of the Muslim American represents an idealistic vision of what it means to be American. But that is in itself so significant! How crazy is it, that that is our idealistic view of what it means to be American? I remember in college (I minored in Japanese Studies) once, a TA hosted a discussion on what it means to be Japanese. I advocated that self-identification is key. He, some hippy-long-haired white dude*, then asked the class how people in Japan would react if he walked around asserting himself as Japanese on the streets of Tokyo, speaking Japanese, understanding Japan, being white. The class laughed at the image and dismissed me and my idea. All of this is not to say that Japan is particularly racist or xenophobic, because the same situation would probably be the case in Taiwan or India or Germany or whatever, but rather that America is truly extraordinary, and that our ideals can even be considered unnatural, running contrary to the grain of human sociological tendencies.
Anyway, so yeah. Mandarin is my mother tongue. I prefer chopsticks when I eat salads. I grew up in Taiwan, and shit, my skin is yellow. But noone here would ever question my American-ness. And so after almost three decades of searching and hand-wringing and ridiculously self-absorbed angst, there is no doubt in my mind; since I live here now and plan to keep living here and I've got a blue passport, I am American.
*I loved that TA. Best TA ever.
========================================
Dear Koji,
We are, ultimately, Americans. That's all there really is to it. On a questionnaire, if we could only tick one of two boxes, "Asian" or "American"... we'd be delusional to pick "Asian". It's confusing and difficult enough for us, living here, dealing with all that perpetual foreigner or model minority shit, to establish a strong sense of identity. And certainly, there are nuances and such that could/should be fleshed out at some point. But, for the sake of this argument, the bottom line is... we're Americans, plain and simple.
So it follows that anybody who thinks of us as being traitors to anything that's not America or American is just ignorant/misinformed. We literally cannot be traitors to Taiwan or Japan or whatever because we cannot betray that to which we are not of a party. Our first obligation is to our own country, our own civics, politics, language/culture/current events, etc. They forget that they have no right to criticize our Japanese/Chinese just as we have no right to criticize their English. Try that next time: if they make fun of your Japanese, just rag on their Engrish.
If they're confused because we look like them, they're as stupid as, say, a tea-partier thinking Obama is actually a secret Kenyan Muslim OR a Kenyan Muslim thinking Obama's a traitor. It's just plain dumb, and we should either rectify their attitude or just pay no attention to them.
On another note, I find that the more nationalistic a country or a person is, the more likely s/he'd be antagonistic towards ASAM's. Obviously they don't understand us and what we are, but more importantly, they don't understand America, they have kind of a culturally solipsistic view of the world, and on some level I think some of them even want to "repossess" us in the name of their native country. Mainland Chinese are uber-nationalistic these days, so to hear them talk about Locke this way is no surprise. Shit, I've been dealing with their "repossessive" attitudes towards Taiwan and all Taiwanese for years. There are also plenty of laid-back, globe-trotter-type Chinese/Japanese/Asians who are open to other cultures and perspectives and such. They tend to be far less nationalistic, and, no surprise, much more accepting and willing to understand ASAMs.
[another commenter points out that she legitimately feels 50/50 and that self-identification depends on the individual]
You're right, it does ultimately depend on how we as individuals define ourselves. Being a Third Culture Kid and having myself morphed from self-identifying as Taiwanese, to being on the fence, to being American first and foremost today, I respect and totally understand how there are folks like you who still need to flesh things out for themselves. But ultimately, I think that these folks are just in limbo: one cannot live ambivalently for one's entire life. I also think that the definition of self cannot be a purely conscious endeavor: the suburban white teenager may *think* he's black, but everybody knows (including himself, deep down inside) that he's really white. Similarly, the Taiwanese that lives in the US, marries in the US, raises kids, retires, and dies in the US while only ever "visiting" Taiwan *may* choose to think that he lives in limbo, but in reality, he has long since become American... he just doesn't want to admit it to himself, for one reason or another. Actions, after all, speak much louder than words.
So yeah, given that people in the middle 1) live in a relatively temporary state of being, and 2) compose only a very small portion of the population at large, I'd say that for the sake of argument... all people belong to one country or another.
There is another factor at play which I barely touched upon earlier that I think doesn't get nearly enough consideration, and that is the understanding of America itself, the very concept of America. It's so vague, it's taken for granted by Americans, and it's completely misunderstood by non-Americans. It is as distinct as it is in flux. And even as we have become a country that takes less and less of the world's tired and poor, without a doubt we have been and still continue to be the number one melting pot. Few countries in the world are as multi-cultural as ours; no country is to the same degree. You can be as culturally Japanese as you want here and *still* be American. It's amazing. This is part of what makes it hard for everybody to define what we immigrants to this country are: the cab driver with broken English that prays to Mecca five times a day and eats more chickpeas than beef... is he or isn't he American? I say, as long as he lives here, wants to be here, and truly loves this country, who can deny him his American-ness? On the other hand, if he lived in Japan or Taiwan or China, neither him nor his children would ever be accepted as one of theirs.
So yeah, basically... it's confusing for us because our "motherland" cultures are very exclusive while the American "culture" is extraordinarily inclusive. You can be anything and still be American... you can't be anything and still be Japanese/Chinese. Does it make it harder for us to be Asian, and MUCH easier for us to be American? Yes. It's the one country in the world where, as long as you have a passport, anyone can claim to belong here and no one can legitimately dispute that fact.
I know that my example of the Muslim American represents an idealistic vision of what it means to be American. But that is in itself so significant! How crazy is it, that that is our idealistic view of what it means to be American? I remember in college (I minored in Japanese Studies) once, a TA hosted a discussion on what it means to be Japanese. I advocated that self-identification is key. He, some hippy-long-haired white dude*, then asked the class how people in Japan would react if he walked around asserting himself as Japanese on the streets of Tokyo, speaking Japanese, understanding Japan, being white. The class laughed at the image and dismissed me and my idea. All of this is not to say that Japan is particularly racist or xenophobic, because the same situation would probably be the case in Taiwan or India or Germany or whatever, but rather that America is truly extraordinary, and that our ideals can even be considered unnatural, running contrary to the grain of human sociological tendencies.
Anyway, so yeah. Mandarin is my mother tongue. I prefer chopsticks when I eat salads. I grew up in Taiwan, and shit, my skin is yellow. But noone here would ever question my American-ness. And so after almost three decades of searching and hand-wringing and ridiculously self-absorbed angst, there is no doubt in my mind; since I live here now and plan to keep living here and I've got a blue passport, I am American.
*I loved that TA. Best TA ever.
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