Anonymous | nationality: Australian | ethnicity: Cambodian/Vietnamese/Chinese
“Yellow”.
When yellow first comes to mind I usually think aboutthe bright
warmness of the colour. I know yellow is often relatedto east asians
but asian have a wide variety of tones that are farfrom yellow.
Yellow for me personally is tbh frustrating when referringto asians
since it feels like they only refer to lighter skinand not the rest of Asia
since not all of us are pale or look like Korean,chinese or japanese.
“Asian”.
Usually by how intact we are to our cultural heritage.I don't think you
necessarily stop being asian just forget a part ofyou identity whether
not being educated enough about your heritage or aftera few or one
generation your mother tongue disappears.
Ethnicity|part1.
I'm half Vietnamese and half Cambodian with Chinesedescent.
Ethnicity|part2.
I chose to describe my ethnicity like this because I don't know if I am
actually Cambodian due to my Dad's side being ethnicallychinese but
they assimilated for so long in Cambodia we identifyas Cambodian.
Sometimes even I forget I am chinese often I justsay I am Cambodian
Vietnamese because when I do say I am Chinese theyassume I speak
mandarins or they think I have Covid-19.
Differ from Asian stereotype(s).
I Definitely differ from the smart asian child stereotypethe most but
because I do violin, tutoring after school and don'ttalk much they
automatically assume you must be good at math andscience. When I'm
struggling just to pass and all they say is "oh, butyou're asian."
Generally it is true but for me I feel ashamed attimes that I'm not good
at math since it's so expected that I do well. OftenI would be jealous of
the white girls that got easier work because theystruggled but don't
study or try at all because they don't have the sameoversimplified
image.
A theoretical space without racism.
More open and accepting if policies like the whiteAustralian policy
didn't exist, borders would be more lax and even refugee'swon't be
turned away, My parents would be able to have friendsof the same
race in their youth and not experience racist commentsthat would be
eventually normalised for them, they wouldn't haveto worry about
getting a citizenship or get deported from their homes,people that are
biracial don't have to worry about being not enoughof the other side,
Children wouldn't be failed because of their raceor how "poorly they
speak english" and maybe the massaxres of indigenouscultures could
have survived from colonisation.
To someone.
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