65 Asian, or American
When we speak English, others will know immediately that we’re not one of them. There’s just that little something, a slight variance on the tone, a touch of unfamiliarity that betrays our asian heritage. And yet, when we speak with those who grew up in the country our ancestors lived in, we are betrayed by our American mannerisms and behaviors. We don’t fit in either place. It can be a lonely, isolating experience. Whether Chinese, Vietnamese, or Filipino, or any of the other multitude of Asian identities, perhaps we all relate to one another in the search to fill the nagging sense of belonging, the perpetual void of diaspora. And perhaps, too, it is because of this that we’ve built new communities, and new “third cultures” that we define in our own terms. Because in the end, we all belong here.
