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Paul Vu

Professor Rodrick

English 115

25 October 2018

Being Asian American

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of identity is, “the distinguishing character

or personality of an individual”(Identity) or what makes a person unique. The identity of a

person is affected and molded by the space that surrounds them. This space essentially being the

people that a person meets in life or how society views them. Asian Americans like myself, faces

numerous stereotypes that unfortunately paints them in a bad light. Stereotypes like how all

Asians are gifted in math, horrible drivers, and pronounces L sounds as Rs. They are also caught

in a situation where there is a clash between Asian and American culture. Asian Americans’

identity is immensely impacted by the space that they reside in because society tends to target

those who do not fit the norm.

Racial profiling is the most horrific experience that can occur to any person of color.

This hits home for me because unfortunately, this has happened to me in the past. Back in my

Freshman year of high school, I found myself walking into the first day of my algebra class. I

had failed algebra the year prior so I had to retake the class again. Upon sitting down at a desk, I

had noticed a group of three Hispanic teens that perplexed that I was sitting near them. They

asked why was I not sitting at the student tutor desk in the corner. I replied back, that I was a

student like them and they laughed at me. I remembered being so confused at what was funny

until one of the boys said, “That’s funny, I thought all Asians are supposed to be gifted at math”,

this sentence echoed in my mind and I recalled feeling so disgusted that they had judged me
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based on my ethnicity. I think that I was affected deeply by this comment because I believed in

them as I was the only Asian in my class and most of my Asian friends were either at the normal

or advanced level of mathematics. Of course being a young I wanted to snap back at the group

with a snarky comment of my own. In the speech Power Anywhere Where There are People,

Fred Hampton states, “you don't fight racism with racism. We're gonna fight racism with

solidarity”(Hampton). This quote exactly what happened after the harsh comment because at

first, I wanted to yell out a racist comment about his Hispanic descent. Instead, I decided to

approach the group at the end of the class and asked them if they wanted to study together,

seeing that they also were struggling with the lesson. This first-hand experience of racial

profiling just comes to show that Asian Americans are affected by the prejudices of the space

around them.

Asian Americans face a unique problem as Asian and American culture often conflict

with each other. For example, food is a major part of any culture and in the video Identity: Being

Asian American, Alison an Asian American teen shares some of the stories of her Western and

Asian cultures clashing. In one of these stories, she recalls asking her Grandma to pack her

seaweed in her lunch because she just loves how nutritious they are. When lunchtime came and

she took out her seaweed, Alison states that everyone’s reaction was “The Fuck?”. Alison’s story

is just one of many examples of how American culture view weird Asian food. When in fact, the

weird Asian food is just viewed as normal food back in Asia. How would a young Asian

American react, if they find out that they are the odd one in the bunch just because they brought

in food that they enjoyed at home. They would most likely stop eating that kind of food just to fit

in with the crowd. Essentially, they are suppressing a part of their culture or identity, due to how

American culture looks down on what they think is weird.

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Language is a key factor to a person’s Identity, it will affect who befriend and even what

types of food you eat. An Asian American often speaks two languages and they are English and

their perspective language of their homeland. In the eyes of many, speaking two languages is a

blessing but to some Asian Americans, it’s burden. Often enough Asian Americans develop an

accent in both languages and they are called out on them. A famous example of this would be

how the Chinese mispronounce the Ls as Rs while speaking English. In the Video, The Asian

Identity Crisis, Mike spoke about how he is a Chinese American that was raised in the midwest

and sometimes as punishment his parents would send him to China. He then continues to explain

that in China, people had called him a “lao wai” or a “Non-Asian Foreigner”(Wall) and he later

explains that they called him this due to his accent. He further explains that he felt that he was

Chinese but the people at China labeled him as American.

Asian Americans have been affected by the space that they reside in. They have been

affected by racial stereotypes and what is expected of them. American culture has looked down

on them for the weird foods that they eat and isolated for the imperfect English that they speak.

Even in their home countries they are singled out and labeled as a different person. The space or

society that surrounds Asian-Americans is a major factor in developing their identities.

Work Cited
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Anzaldua, Gloria. “How to Tame a Wild Tongue .” The Norton Reader: an Anthology of

Nonfiction, by Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al., 14th ed., W.W. Norton & Company, 2017, pp.

471–480.

Hampton , Fred. “History Is a Weapon.” Power Anywhere Where There's People,

www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/fhamptonspeech.html. Accessed 23 Oct. 2018.

“Identity.” Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/identity., n.d.

Web. Accessed 22 Oct. 2018.

Likealison, director. Identity: Being Asian American. YouTube, YouTube, 8 July 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnbZAqLXIsQ. Accessed 23 Oct. 2018.

Wall, Off the Great, director. The Asian Identity Crisis . YouTube, YouTube, 14 May

2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tl0xxmqwuc&index=2&list=RDTnbZAqLXIsQ. Accessed

23 Oct. 2018.