Godlike nonsense being thrown at you...
October 24, 2006
From Gene Luen Yang, artist and writer of American Born Chinese, the first graphic novel to be nominated for the National Book Award:
"I think the Asian American community right now is in the midst of defining itself. For a while I think we were all trying to be white. Then there was a period of time when we were trying to be black. And now we're finally coming up with something that's truly our own."
I think that statement works on both the general level of all Asian Americans and also (although many of us hate to admit it) on a personal level. I mean, I remember my hip-hop period (freshman year in high school), back when Ice Cube was more political and not known for being in movies (he really could have been Chuck D’s contemporary). Then I started listening to the Cure. How one goes from street level rap to new wave/Goth, I will never know.
I never went through a period where I despised being Asian, living in Southern California, I always had access to Asian things if I ever wanted be it people, food or entertainment. But you could say I was pretty white-washed for a brown (not yellow, I am not sick) person. Yes, I am a coconut.
Am I proud of being a coconut? No, but I am not ashamed of it either, it was just the way I was raised as the Asian identity was never forced upon me. I have dated more Caucasian women than Asian women (and maybe one or two Hispanic women). I like to think there was some conscious thought into that as it bugged me that plenty of the Asian guys I went to school with would only date Asian girls. How they found Asian girls, I will also never know as a majority that I knew tended to only date white/African-American guys.
Anyway, the whole Asian Pride thing never really came to my mind until I met Ritzel Ngo, who was the first person I knew who really advocated the issue in a genuine manner and not like she was reading the reasons behind her advocating from a script (and who was also not part of FASA, who were always a bit pretentious and even xenophobic, at least some of the members that I knew; Char, if you are reading this- you were the exception). Where Ritzel is now, I do not know as we lost touch after I left CSUN (I think she is a high powered lawyer somewhere, probably DC). But she made me see that events like the Filipino Independence Day event at church was not just a day when we ate pansit, palabok or chocolate meat (never tell a white guy what that stuff really is) and whatever, but also a good reflection as to where it is we came from and that it is something that you could feel proud to have as part of your cultural resume (PS: I consider Holly Asian American as well as she was raised in Hong Kong and integrated herself into the local society rather than be segregated like expats there tend to do).
I am starting to sound like the guy in that movie The Debut- go see it, it was a decent movie and especially nice to see the flat nosed, cha-cha dancing ones get some respect and representation on the big screen. But what the movie did not get is the last portion of Gene Luen Yang’s statement that began this entry. He is right that the Asian American community is discovering that very definition of that term. The Asian and the American- not quite an amalgam of the two and not finding the middle ground between the two, in a way something that is neither and yes, at the same time is exactly that. Confusing? Maybe.
Like the white guys and the black guys, the Asian term that is placed on us is a bit of a misnomer. Not all white guys are of a Germanic background just like not all black guys are descended from the same areas of Africa. I am Filipino (and some of us do not think of us as Asian but as Pacific Islander- I agree to a point but one of my grandfathers was half Chinese and the other grandfather was half Japanese, so I proudly stick the Asian bit to referring to who I am). I am different from someone who came from Laos (although we could look alike).
Where was I? Oh, yeah- Asian Americans come to a background that stretches a lot of the world- almost two thirds of the world especially if you include the Pacific Islands like some people (like me) do. But we all ended up here in this country where at one time we all tried to be white, then tried to be black, then rediscovered where we came from was not Europe or Africa but Asia (also, we were never ashamed that is where we came from, we just forgot) and put that part into our identities and became something new.
Asian American.
Just like what Gene Luen Yang was saying. Read his book too if you get the chance, he deserves the nomination.
Oh, and Ramadan is apparently over. Salamat, Hari Raya!
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.myspace.com/catterpillarboy
http://catterpillarboy.blogspot.com/
From Gene Luen Yang, artist and writer of American Born Chinese, the first graphic novel to be nominated for the National Book Award:
"I think the Asian American community right now is in the midst of defining itself. For a while I think we were all trying to be white. Then there was a period of time when we were trying to be black. And now we're finally coming up with something that's truly our own."
I think that statement works on both the general level of all Asian Americans and also (although many of us hate to admit it) on a personal level. I mean, I remember my hip-hop period (freshman year in high school), back when Ice Cube was more political and not known for being in movies (he really could have been Chuck D’s contemporary). Then I started listening to the Cure. How one goes from street level rap to new wave/Goth, I will never know.
I never went through a period where I despised being Asian, living in Southern California, I always had access to Asian things if I ever wanted be it people, food or entertainment. But you could say I was pretty white-washed for a brown (not yellow, I am not sick) person. Yes, I am a coconut.
Am I proud of being a coconut? No, but I am not ashamed of it either, it was just the way I was raised as the Asian identity was never forced upon me. I have dated more Caucasian women than Asian women (and maybe one or two Hispanic women). I like to think there was some conscious thought into that as it bugged me that plenty of the Asian guys I went to school with would only date Asian girls. How they found Asian girls, I will also never know as a majority that I knew tended to only date white/African-American guys.
Anyway, the whole Asian Pride thing never really came to my mind until I met Ritzel Ngo, who was the first person I knew who really advocated the issue in a genuine manner and not like she was reading the reasons behind her advocating from a script (and who was also not part of FASA, who were always a bit pretentious and even xenophobic, at least some of the members that I knew; Char, if you are reading this- you were the exception). Where Ritzel is now, I do not know as we lost touch after I left CSUN (I think she is a high powered lawyer somewhere, probably DC). But she made me see that events like the Filipino Independence Day event at church was not just a day when we ate pansit, palabok or chocolate meat (never tell a white guy what that stuff really is) and whatever, but also a good reflection as to where it is we came from and that it is something that you could feel proud to have as part of your cultural resume (PS: I consider Holly Asian American as well as she was raised in Hong Kong and integrated herself into the local society rather than be segregated like expats there tend to do).
I am starting to sound like the guy in that movie The Debut- go see it, it was a decent movie and especially nice to see the flat nosed, cha-cha dancing ones get some respect and representation on the big screen. But what the movie did not get is the last portion of Gene Luen Yang’s statement that began this entry. He is right that the Asian American community is discovering that very definition of that term. The Asian and the American- not quite an amalgam of the two and not finding the middle ground between the two, in a way something that is neither and yes, at the same time is exactly that. Confusing? Maybe.
Like the white guys and the black guys, the Asian term that is placed on us is a bit of a misnomer. Not all white guys are of a Germanic background just like not all black guys are descended from the same areas of Africa. I am Filipino (and some of us do not think of us as Asian but as Pacific Islander- I agree to a point but one of my grandfathers was half Chinese and the other grandfather was half Japanese, so I proudly stick the Asian bit to referring to who I am). I am different from someone who came from Laos (although we could look alike).
Where was I? Oh, yeah- Asian Americans come to a background that stretches a lot of the world- almost two thirds of the world especially if you include the Pacific Islands like some people (like me) do. But we all ended up here in this country where at one time we all tried to be white, then tried to be black, then rediscovered where we came from was not Europe or Africa but Asia (also, we were never ashamed that is where we came from, we just forgot) and put that part into our identities and became something new.
Asian American.
Just like what Gene Luen Yang was saying. Read his book too if you get the chance, he deserves the nomination.
Oh, and Ramadan is apparently over. Salamat, Hari Raya!
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.myspace.com/catterpillarboy
http://catterpillarboy.blogspot.com/
posted by Catterpillarboy at 4:03 AM
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