*sigh* The problem is that even though I like to think of myself as an American, and there are times where I genuinely forget that I'm Chinese, I'm still not. Maybe if I were further removed instead of being second generation. But no matter how much of my Chinese I've lost (and I've lost a lot), or how much I surround myself with white people (I never lived amongst enough Asian people to have much Asian friends until college), the fact that I'm Chinese just looms over me. So it's always been me as an American first and then Chinese because I'm undeniably not white, and then Asian because Chinese people are Asian.
But, now that I think about it, I don't think Americans have much of an idea of the Asian subcontinent. As in, if you stopped an American on the street in America and asked them which countries are part of the Asian subcontinent, I doubt they would be able to tell you any. I wonder if that's because of the English influence?
Wait, are people from New Zealand Pacific Islanders? I had no idea. I've always lumped them in with Australia... I can't say I've ever made an actual Pacific Islander, but I've always thought they would be the Samoans, Fijians...and that's basically the extent of my knowledge of countries in the Pacific Islands...
Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't just be easier for us to all just intermarry and interbreed and all be multiracial so everybody is everything so it's so much harder to be so insular. But then I know I'll just lament the loss of our racial identity and our ethnic culture... Here, there are people who very strongly identify as American simply because even though they were Polish or Turkish or whatever, it's all been lost by their generation and all they know is American. Is that supposed to be sad? Or ultimately a good thing? I seriously have no idea.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2012-06-24 09:06 am (UTC)But, now that I think about it, I don't think Americans have much of an idea of the Asian subcontinent. As in, if you stopped an American on the street in America and asked them which countries are part of the Asian subcontinent, I doubt they would be able to tell you any. I wonder if that's because of the English influence?
Wait, are people from New Zealand Pacific Islanders? I had no idea. I've always lumped them in with Australia... I can't say I've ever made an actual Pacific Islander, but I've always thought they would be the Samoans, Fijians...and that's basically the extent of my knowledge of countries in the Pacific Islands...
Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't just be easier for us to all just intermarry and interbreed and all be multiracial so everybody is everything so it's so much harder to be so insular. But then I know I'll just lament the loss of our racial identity and our ethnic culture... Here, there are people who very strongly identify as American simply because even though they were Polish or Turkish or whatever, it's all been lost by their generation and all they know is American. Is that supposed to be sad? Or ultimately a good thing? I seriously have no idea.