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Posts Tagged ‘racism’

Is 46.875 Percent Enough? or If I Could Sing…

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 'Merica, America, American, bigotry, Marc Anthony, racism, Real American, Sebastion de la Cruz, twitter on July 19, 2013| 8 Comments »

I was not born in the United States of America. I was born half way around the world in Nagoya, Japan. I am half-Japanese. I am 46.875% White – for those of you who inspired this post, that’s less than half…if you don’t understand the numbers, go back to the grade in elementary school when you stopped paying attention and try learning something for once – a lack of education is the only explanation I can come up with to explain the bigotry, the hate, the racism.

I have asked myself many times in life Am I White enough (or Asian enough)?

Generally it would be right before meeting a girlfriend’s parents. You see, I understood that both my parents’ and my grandparents’ generation came from a time when there was still great social unrest. When I was born in 1969 the Civil Rights’ Movement was in high gear; World War II had ended just 25 years earlier. Information traveled much more slowly then and so did change. My American grandfather (a Captain in World War II) forbade my father from coming home to Florida with his Japanese wife. My dad, ever the progressive called him after I was born and said, “I’m coming home with my wife and your first grandson.” When confronted with the reality of his adorable grandson, the barriers fell somewhat. Still, as a young adult, I was always conscious of the fact that the members of the generations that came before me may not be as accepting of a mixed-race person as those of my generation, and presumably those that came after.

Until recently, I have never asked myself if I was White enough to be considered a real American; but then there was the San Antonio Mariachi Kid thing

de la Cruz (click on the picture)

followed by the MLB All-Star Game Marc Anthony thing

Anthony – click on the picture

and I had to start to wonder…am I White enough to be considered American? Would White and Black America light up Twitter with words of hate if I sang the National Anthem for a game (assuming I could actually sing)? Did White and Black America wonder “who is that Nip throwing out a first pitch at Fenway?” when I threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game a few years back?

Did anyone ask, “who is that foreigner up there?”

Did they ask, “What has ‘Merica’s game come to?”

Yeah…click on the picture of de la Cruz to see the nasty tweets sent his way. They are not just from White America.

Both Sebastion de la Cruz and Marc Anthony are American citizens. They were BORN here in these supposedly United States; and yet these “real Americans” tweet away, calling them all kinds of awful names. I was NOT born here, but because my father is an American, I was deemed a citizen of the United States of America the moment I was born. I have been a proud American since the moment I drew in my first breath of air and that pride had never and still has not wavered…but I am only 46.875% White.

And now I wonder…am I White enough?

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I am HAPA

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged george zimmerman, HAPA, race, racial communities, racism, society, trayvon martin on July 17, 2013| 6 Comments »

I’ve been watching the post-Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman verdict drama unfold over the last few days. I’ve seen much of the African-American community absolutely flabbergasted that Zimmerman could be found innocent. I’ve seen much of the White community screaming and yelling that this trial was not about race, but about self-defense. I’ve seen posts on Facebook and Twitter and other social media supporting either Martin’s family or Zimmerman; demonizing one or the other.

If it weren’t so tragic; if a young man hadn’t lost his life; if another man hadn’t ruined his own life; if the underlying current of racism that still exists in this country wasn’t so clumsily exposed, I would find it all almost amusing – the media seems to.

I am not Trayvon Martin.

Nor am I George Zimmerman.

I am not African-American.

I am not White.

Nor am I Asian or Native American.

I have never had the privilege and comfort that White (Hispanic or otherwise), African-American or any other racial communities have long taken for granted – a true sense of community, of belonging, of “us”; one that goes to the very core of their being, of their identity.

I am a HAPA. You see, I am half-Japanese. My other half is mostly white with a sprinkling of Native American for good measure. I am both White and Asian, yet I am neither. I went to preschool, kindergarten and first grade in Japan – where I wasn’t nearly Japanese enough to be truly embraced into the culture or accepted by my peers. I finished my schooling in Miami and Seattle, where I wasn’t quite White enough to be part of that ethnic group either; again never truly fitting in with any of my peers.

All of my life I have never quite fit in to any group…except well, maybe my fraternity in college (we were truly the island of beer drinking misfit toys) but that is neither an ethnic nor racial group.

I’ve watched both Whites and African-Americans dig in their heels, point fingers, lay blame. If Zimmerman hadn’t… If Martin hadn’t… If only Zimmerman had… If only Martin had…

I’ve engaged some of the folks on both sides regarding the verdict. Nobody wants to listen to what the other has to say. They don’t want to know what they don’t know; they don’t want to understand what they don’t understand. They didn’t grow up in each other’s communities. They can’t possibly know the unfounded fear that each has of the other.

Now don’t get me wrong. A significant majority of my non African American friends seem to have fallen on the Trayvon Martin side of the argument, but even they seem unable to grasp what it means to be Black in America.

Jess recently wrote about finally understanding what a African American mother must goes through every time she sends her babies out into the world – the fear, the worry. I was somewhat surprised, in part, because growing up I felt like I was that baby no matter where I went. It didn’t matter if I was riding my bike through a White neighborhood, a Black neighborhood, a Latino one or an Asian one…no matter where I went, I was a stranger, I was different and therefore drew some underlying suspicion. The parents of the girls I dated were more often than not slightly uncomfortable at first, in part because they just were not sure “who” or “what” I was. Although I embraced the fact that I was half-Asian and half-White, publicly stating that I had the best of both worlds, internally I was constantly at sea, knowing that my ship could never dock permanently anywhere.

Ultimately though, I think my racial ambiguity has helped me develop the people skills I have to today. I was forced to figure out a way to connect with people without the luxury of either the unspoken racial connection I witness when two people of the same race meet or the racial recognition one has for someone of a distinctly different race.

My lack of race I think enables me to see the casual racism by both Whites and African Americans (and Asians for that matter) that others don’t see in themselves. This case exposed what still exists in this country – racial tensions that bubble beneath the surface, just low enough in some places that many people have learned or chosen to ignore it. We’ve come a long way in 60 years. We still have a long way to go.

My hope is that, as I have had to do all my life out of necessity, people will try to at least imagine walking in the shoes of someone who did not grow up in the same environment as themselves – imagine what it must be like when others assume you are a criminal; imagine what it is like when others assume you are a racist; imagine what it is like when others assume you are taking advantage of the system; imagine what it is like when others assume you are privileged.

We are more similar to each other than different; we all want personal happiness, we all want to see our parents live long and our children thrive. My hope is that people will recognize that these similarities should bond us together instead of letting our differences drive us apart. I envy the connection that people have to those within their own race, but I am grateful that my lack of race, my lack of belonging, my lack of “us” has forced me to simply see people for who they are.