Serena Owusu | 20 | she/her | nationality: British| ethnicity: Ghanaian/Thai
“Yellow”.
When I think of yellow I think of it the same waypeople say ‘black’ -
though it’s a lot bitter. I only like those who areEast Asian referring to
ourselves as yellow. But even then it only speaksof oriental Asians, and
even I don’t really call myself yellow because onthe outside people
just see black skin and assume I’m fully African.
Though my dad sings black and yellow to my sisterand I to make us
laugh - considering that’s the ‘colours’ we’re madeup of.
“Asian”.
That’s a difficult question considering the diasporaof our ancestors. But
for me - but I think a lot of it is to do with upbringingand a person’s
experience.
We can’t really say ‘you’re not Asian if you’re notraised with Asian
culture’ because I know a lot of second gen immigrantswho were
raised here and are clearly Asian but don’t know theirculture like that.
But because they are externally Asian they experiencea lot of prejudice
Asian people live with in the western world.
I think what brings the Asian community together isa sharing of
experiences and we have as Asians - whether it’s culturespecific or
about being Asian in the west.
Ethnicity|part1.
I was insecure for a while being mixed. I usuallysay ‘blasian’ as a joke
but it’s hard finding a work to describe it.
I don’t look Asian to most, people look at my blackskin and assume I’m
just black.
But I don’t know my Ghanaian culture well at all comparedto Thai
culture because the way my parents raised us.
Then there’s another thing - my mum is Thai and Chinesebut her
father died before she was born so she only refersto herself as Thai.
And I’ve adopted that too as we don’t know our Chinesefamily - I don’t
see the point of claiming a culture that I’ve neverexperienced and
don’t relate to. It’s different to the lack of Ghanaianculture I have
because the blackness of my skin will always be aprominent part of
my identity due to the anti-blackness of the world.
I think even if I had zero Ghanaian culture I’d feelthe same.
Despite my insecurities though I’m blessed with beautifulmemories of
an intersectionality within our house.
My mum especially loves to learn about my dad’s cultureand he loves
to show her. It’s harder for him to feel the samebecause of his
experience with anti-blackness and my mum’s familybut, I can see his
eyes light up when he watches us interact with mymum’s culture.
A similar way to how he looks when we interact withhis own culture.
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