Asian American families across generations reflect on the ways they hold on to their cultures while finding a place in America.
DD Lee, who moved to the U.S. from China at age 12, sits with her daughter, Isabelle, at their home in Woodstock, Georgia. DD teaches Isabelle, who is biracial, to be proud of both parts of her heritage. “I tell her: who you are is not where you came from. Sure, you’re half Chinese, half American, but that doesn’t make up who you are. Who you are is how you treat people, how you behave, are you kind.”For most of my life, I hated my name.
“My American dream is for my children to grow up in a country where stereotypes and assumptions about gender and ethnicity are removed. My American dream realizes that race is a social construct designed to isolate and marginalize.” - Ruth McMullin, 46 I made everyone call me Elaine, I told this story like it was a big embarrassing joke, and when I turned 18, I changed my name legally. When I saw my name written on my college diploma, I hardly remembered there had ever been a different one. I was Elaine now, fully assimilated Chinese American, and no one could question where I’d come from.
“Belonging means, accepting people no matter what they look like, being in a community that cares and accepts you for you. It also means having a voice. In the end I have a family that cares.” - Kylie Wen, 11Debbie Iwasaki poses with her daughter, Kathryn, at her home in Duluth, Georgia. Kathryn is Chinese on her mother’s side and Japanese on her father’s.
“I’ve walked between two worlds: Having to balance the expectations of my cultural community while also confronting the realities of American society and its expectations of me as an Asian American,” he says. “Sometimes I haven’t felt like I’ve belonged to either.” “I use English with an accent, and I can't always express my thoughts correctly. People understand what I'm trying to say, but they say I don't know what you're talking about. I live every day in a country called the United States where there are people who speak to me like this. However, I work harder than others, pay my taxes honestly, and have opportunities that wouldn't be available to me if I lived in any other country. Because of this, I live my life with gratitude.
As a biracial child growing up in the Deep South at a time when there were very few kids like her, McMullin was picked on and felt like she didn’t belong to any group. Even today, she carries a photo of her mother as “street cred at Asian markets” because people don’t believe she’s of Vietnamese descent.
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