Early consciousness of identity

Early consciousness of identity Finding parallels through art Refusing to use a Chinese name to identify as Asian American The Hapa Project Perceptions of uniqueness Defusing myths through The Hapa Project Difficulty responding to the question "What are you?" Lessons learned from The Hapa Project Differing responses by gender to the Hapa Project Identity as a conscious ongoing process Japanese Americans are more aware of their Hapa identity Hapa as his primary identity Discomfort at being labeled by others International dimensions of hapa identity Issues of identity outside of America Imposing identity upon others Changing fortunes of "identity art" The right to say who you are Defining the term "Hapa"

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I became conscious pretty early, because I grew up in Covina, about a half hour from here. And my family, besides my father who’s English/Irish descent from New York, my family is entirely Chinese, from China. My brother and my sisters are all full-blooded Chinese from China, as are all of my cousins, so I was the only Hapa kid in the entire family. So to me I was always the white kid, I was like the one American kid who didn’t speak Chinese and so forth.

And I think when I was five years old I went to kindergarten for the first day and this was at the time a really white area. And to come in and realize, like, “Whoa, you’re not fitting in here at all, you’re like the only brown kid in the whole school.” That’s when I realized that these things really make a big difference to people.

Date: May 3, 2006
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Jim Bower
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

hapa identity multi racial