Andan | nationality: Swedish | ethnicity: Chinese
“Yellow”.
Yellow is a colour that has always given me a warmcomforting feeling,
almost like a hug. It makes me think about sunsetsand golden hours.
Yellow for me has never been associated as somethingnegative,
however I have always wondered why my skin colouris considered to
be "yellow" while my friends skin colour considersto be “white". "It's
because you’re/i'm asian". Okay, but I have friendswho are asian that
have even whiter skin than people who are consideredto be white,
how come my asian friends are still considered tobe yellow?
Some of these thoughts popped up when I tried to putyellow together
with ethnicity and identity.
“Asian”.
I had a really hard time trying to express myselfin this question so
please feel free to change some sentences that mightseem confusing
etc.
Hmm, what defines being asian...? I guess someone whois born in Asia
or have a genetic connection to someone who originsfrom Asia.
I don’t really think you can choose being asian, it’ssomething you are
when you are born and you can’t really stop beingasian. I don’t think
you can start being asian either, since it’s somethingyou are born into.
Since I live in Sweden, I’m not really surroundedby asian people. When
I grew up, most of my friends were white so I wasused to see only
white people around me. It might sound crazy but becauseof this I
would sometimes forget that I was asian because Igot so used to
people looking a certain way. So later when I wouldsee myself in the
mirror, I would feel surprised because I forget whatI looked like, I
forgot that I was asian.
I think that’s why when I see someone who is asianI feel some kind of
connection to them, even if they are a complete stranger,because they
look like me. I thought, maybe they have experiencedthe same things
as me, the feeling of feeling left out or different,and also knowing that
you can’t really hide it nor change it.
I don’t think that this is something that only bringsasians together but
the feeling of feeling left out, and hearing otherpeople experiencing
the same things as you have, I think that brings peopletogether.
People experiencing the same things as you have becauseof you
ethnicity, sexuality etc. It makes people feel connectedand might make
them relies that what you are feeling is not weirdor strange. It’s
normal.
Ethnicity|part1.
Embracing and growth.
Ethnicity|part2.
14