Sara Cronquist
Sara Cronquist is a biracial Filipino and White woman. And through a YouTube video, she describes how she spent the majority of her life living with her mother and not knowing much about her Filipino family or culture. Her father’s side of the family is devoutly Catholic and would often send Christmas cards containing Bible verses. As Cronquist showed several photos of her and her little sister, she recalled the hurtful jokes and comments from strangers and classmates. There were moments when strangers would ask her mother if she and her sister were adopted or encountered racist jokes and stereotypes. Being disconnected from your cultural heritage can lead you to question who you are and wonder where you belong. Cronquist believes her racial background has given her a sense of strength and power because she can overcome the challenges and aim for success.
Watch her full story here.
Kristen Wong
In a personal essay about her experiences growing up in a single-parent household with her Chinese mother, Wong reflects on her racial identity questioned as a multicultural person. She grew up closely connected to her Chinese culture by speaking Toisanese with her grandmother, went to the Chinese grocery stores, and tore apart chicken feet at dim sum. At the same time, she felt like she was “appropriating” her own culture. Wong often felt like she doesn’t belong to her racial group. After a while, Wong felt like she was losing aspects of her Chinese culture. Since her family was transitioning to a ‘traditional’ American household, she lost aspects of her culture like talking about her history, sharing photos of her family, and speaking Cantonese. Another reason she felt like she was “appropriating” her culture is because of her appearance. One of her main arguments is that when you are multicultural, monoracial people feel like they can pick your identity for you by discrediting experiences based on appearance. Cronquist focuses on how important it is for multicultural people to choose their own identities. Appearance does play a role in racial identity, but race is a social construct. It can used as a tool for oppression and violence.
Redrawing Color Boundaries in America
What are some aspects of interracial marriages among Asian Americans?
Some aspects like factors behind spousal preference or rejecting your ethnic background. Chong provides an article that examines what interracial marriages mean for racial/ethnic “boundary crossers” and what they signify about assimilation, racial/ethnic identity, and redrawing of color boundaries in America. Assimilation refers to adopting the language and culture of a dominant social group or nation. It could lead to forgetting your original language and culture or not associating with it anymore. Some Asian Americans in this article struggled with racial/ethnic identity that later turned into relief when they began raising mixed-race children. It creates a reexamination or rediscovering of their own cultural identities and their children’s own. It leads to them wanting to teach their children more about their own (the parents) cultural heritage and ethnic identity to gain more awareness about their background (the children) and protect them against potential racism and exclusion.
“I think I’m so American that in our marriage, there aren’t too many things that come up. You know, I don’t go to Korean church, I can’t speak Korean. But it’s funny because at my kids’ school, they do a lot of ethnic share days where you can volunteer to bring an ethnic dish or things like that. So I now actually find myself reaching deeper down to find my culture and heritage in the hopes of bringing it out to my children.”
This quote from above came from Monica, a Korean American who in the past struggled with her Korean heritage and appearance. After having biracial children, she finds herself reengaging with Korean culture as a necessity for her children to understand her ethnic background.
“Maybe they [her kids] will have more of an appreciation for the crazy things that my parents do, and my grandparents too. I think it’s always good for them to have exposure to different languages and to know where their family came from, so if they do get teased, they’ll be able to appreciate some of the things that are unique about them.”
This quote from above came from Kira, a Chinese American that wants to pass her down her Chinese culture to her biracial children. Kira views herself as “highly” assimilated, but knows about the importance of ethnic pride from her parents. Her children was teased in school, the students pulled their eyes horizontally to make them narrow. Incidents like this confirmed to her the necessity of teaching her children about their cultural heritage.