What Does It Mean to Take Back Your Narrative?

As AASA celebrates Asian American Awareness month with the theme, ‘A New Chapter,’ we all have a chance to ponder what this new chapter entails. I think it’s an opportunity to take back our story. Rather than being a side character, forever doomed to the periphery, it’s a chance for Asian Americans to stake their claim as the hero in the American story.

The ‘Model Minority’ stereotype and the ‘Perpetual Foreigner’ myth have forced Asian Americans into a box, where we are static characters with predictable futures- medicine, law, engineering; constrained by a very rigid understanding of capability- always upper-middle but never the best.

It’s time we took back our narrative and molded it for ourselves. And if we stand together and write this story, systemic and entrenched bigotry and ignorance will no longer have the power to define us.

But only if we stand together and fight. 

It’s true that we’ve come a long way. The chapters past tell a story of mighty struggle and incredible victories. We have defeated our captors that brought us here in indentured servitude. We have overcome racial bans on immigration. We have fought for and obtained the right to citizenship.

But we must not grow apathetic or comfortable. Not when Sikh Americans/South Asians are subjected to violent hate crimes. Not when we are denied admission to the best universities because it would threaten the Caucasian majorities these institutions have long maintained. Not when we’re passed over again and again for lead roles in entertainment, corporations, and public service.

Instead, it’s time to be angry.

It’s time to join together to change the system from within. It’s time to peacefully but firmly express outrage against injustices experienced by any community of color. 

It’s time to rise.

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Please join AASA for the celebration of Asian American Awareness Month. 

You can participate in our social campaign, and share how you’re taking back your narrative with the hashtag #I’mTheHero

We also have a number of other events to build solidarity within our community, while showcasing the diverse and dynamic nature of our community:

 1.       Southeast Regional Conference for Asian American Leaders; March 18-20, Student Center

2.       Art Show: Submissions Accepted until banquet

3.       Field Day; Saturday April 2^nd, 2016 from 2-5 pm, SAC Fields #3

4.       Spring Banquet; Tuesday April 5^th, 2016 from 7 to 9 pm, Student Success Center President’s Suite B

My Story

I want to start of this blog by telling a story. A story of my own journey in the United States.

I am an immigrant. I came to the United States in 1999, at the young age of 4. Despite the vast ocean between Thailand and the United States, my initial introduction to the states was not overwhelming. San Francisco was teaming with other Asian immigrants just like my family, and so I settled in naturally to life in Red Wood City, surrounded by people, who for the most part, looked like me.

Then on September 11, 2001, everything changed. From that day on, people around us began to look at me and my family differently. Like we were mistaken if we thought we belonged here. Like there was no space for our dirty brown skin.

I was too young to understand what was happening then. But as the years went by, people’s stares, off-hand remarks, and intentional remarks began to build in my mind. I began to feel like a foreigner in my own home. I began to feel ashamed of my Indian heritage.

This shame followed me for a long time. I even thought it was justified. I was just an immigrant, so new, so unversed in the ways of whiteness. The way people treated us at airports, or stared at my dad at grocery stores- it felt like being Indian was a crime. I could not fight my skin, though with a tube of ‘fair and lovely,’ in hand, I cannot say I did not try. So, I began distance myself from the more social manifestations of my culture like going to the temple, learning about Diwali, etc.

It was a destructive effort. I was rejecting myself. A lot of us fear being rejected by others, but imagine how much worse it is to reject yourself. To be so embarrassed about being you, that you put all your efforts into being someone else. To say the least, I wasted a great deal of my adolescence in a losing fight with insecurity, inconfidence, and depression. 

It took me long time to overcome these feelings of inferiority and self-hate. It took a lot of soul searching. A lot of moving forward just to be pulled back to square one.

However, as time passed, I realized that ‘Whiteness’ does not equal ‘Americanness.’ I was finally able to embrace my heritage without feeling foreign. In fact, today I can tell you that my Indian heritage is a testament to my claim to the American story. A story of immigrants. From African slaves who toiled to build the agricultural empire of the south to Filipino farmers who developed the first flavors of New Orleans. From Hispanic families that cultivated the new west, to Chinese migrant workers, who connected this nation’s coasts with rail. My story is just beginning but that does not make my claim to it any less valid.

Many Asian Americans suffer from these same feelings of foreignness. We try to reconcile our heritage with notions of whiteness that are often superimposed on the American identity. However, our efforts will never be successful, because only embracing our entirety can give us a sense of belonging. I am an Asian American. 100% Asian 100% American.

Asian American Awareness Month

From March 23 to April 10, GT AASA will be hosting a series of events for Asian American Awareness Month. A list of events is provided below. Please be sure to share your thoughts as the month progresses!

1. #IWillBeSocial Campaign March 23-37 from 11-2PM on Skiles Walkway
2. Adoption Forum March 28th from 11-3PM in KLAUS 1456
3. Professional Panel March 31st 7-9PM Student Success Center President Suite A
4. Coffee House April 3rd 1-10PM Under the Couch
5. International Experience Panel April 7th from 6-7PM SC320
6. Banquet April 9th from 6-9PM Student Success Center Festival Level