Asian Americans speak out, what exactly is an asian american?

[fromthatown]

Originally Posted by MJ1331L

its a form of identity.

in its most rawest form, its a person of asian decent raised in america, that continues to carry on asian traditions.

it's a great way to keep 'traditions' alive, and keep cultures together and connected all over the world.

/THREAD for me, but some people that are too Americanized will disagree. They'll say why carry on Asian traditions, when I was born and raisedin America??? You can't knock them for that either.

 

[fromthatown]

Originally Posted by BgL2687

ElijahDukes...why you got to call them FOBs though? It's a degrading term.

ding,ding,ding

 

[niketalker23]

Originally Posted by LDJ

This is a segway to the thread of "is this racist" Dirty intrigued me with the statement i must change people perception. So i ask this not as racist but out of sheer ignorancce and unawareness.

What exactly is an asian american? I ask this as in ok a person thats of asian decent living in american, obviously. But what does that consist of, from a cultural aspect? I mean like african americans have distinct cultural contributions in america that differentiate them from "africans" ie...
Certain styles in fashio, music; hip-hop, rock and roll, country, jazz. Certain slang lingo etc. As well as spanish americans, white americans.

Im asking a lady friend right now, and she says karate, kung-fu flicks, chinese food. But im like none of those where created by asian americans. They werent made popular by asian americans either. They are things created started by asians true, but asians from asia, not ones from america.

So I ask what is the identity of asian americans. Outside of the stereotypes of they do nails, being cheap, breath stinks,make good ice tea, cant drive, good at math, etc?

Out of all the asians ive befriended and encountered, most culturally, identify themselves with there native culture, white culture if the grew up around whites, or blacks etc culture if they grew up/raised around blacks etc...

spanish-americans? as in spain?

 

[fenixconnexion.]

Originally Posted by FromThaTown

Originally Posted by BgL2687

ElijahDukes...why you got to call them FOBs though? It's a degrading term.

ding,ding,ding

so many asians i know using it, including my pops and other family members/friends. it's just engrained in my vocab, i dont use it to degrade

 

[ASE]

Is it that you guys lack reading comprehension skills or just choose to talk about whatever you feel like?

Originally Posted by ThorrocksJs

Well since the majority of Asians know where they come from due to language , beliefs , and traditions you all are lucky to have a place to call home and a traceable ancestory, unlike us Black People we have been completely stripped of our individual heritage and all we have is bits and pieces of the history of a whole continent full of unique and vastly different tribes , and nations. So we had to make our own culture up as we survived and whatever could be retained through word of mouth became apart of our culture.

This answers your question op.

 

[fromthatown]

Originally Posted by ElijahDukes

Originally Posted by FromThaTown

Originally Posted by BgL2687

ElijahDukes...why you got to call them FOBs though? It's a degrading term.

ding,ding,ding

so many asians i know using it, including my pops and other family members/friends. it's just engrained in my vocab, i dont use it to degrade

just cause alot of people use it, doesn't mean it's not degrading.

 

[fenixconnexion.]

Originally Posted by FromThaTown

Originally Posted by ElijahDukes

Originally Posted by FromThaTown

Originally Posted by BgL2687

ElijahDukes...why you got to call them FOBs though? It's a degrading term.

ding,ding,ding

so many asians i know using it, including my pops and other family members/friends. it's just engrained in my vocab, i dont use it to degrade

just cause alot of people use it, doesn't mean it's not degrading.

*sigh i'm done arguing. why do i use it? because it's part of my vocab. okay maybe it's degrading, but i dont mean it to be. end of story

 

[ldj]

Originally Posted by Aze201

Is it that you guys lack reading comprehension skills or just choose to talk about whatever you feel like?

Originally Posted by ThorrocksJs

Well since the majority of Asians know where they come from due to language , beliefs , and traditions you all are lucky to have a place to call home and a traceable ancestory, unlike us Black People we have been completely stripped of our individual heritage and all we have is bits and pieces of the history of a whole continent full of unique and vastly different tribes , and nations. So we had to make our own culture up as we survived and whatever could be retained through word of mouth became apart of our culture.

This answers your question op.

Not really what it did was explain why african americans created a culture of they own(which i already knew). And it established that african americans havecreated trends etc staples that became apart of the overall culture of america.

It also showed that many asians identity is based off their origin culture or they assimilate into whatever race of ppl they are in company of.

 

[fromthatown]

LDJ wrote:

---

Originally Posted by Aze201

Is it that you guys lack reading comprehension skills or just choose to talk about whatever you feel like?

Originally Posted by ThorrocksJs

Well since the majority of Asians know where they come from due to language , beliefs , and traditions you all are lucky to have a place to call home and a traceable ancestory, unlike us Black People we have been completely stripped of our individual heritage and all we have is bits and pieces of the history of a whole continent full of unique and vastly different tribes , and nations. So we had to make our own culture up as we survived and whatever could be retained through word of mouth became apart of our culture.

This answers your question op.

Not really what it did was explain why african americans created a culture of they own(which i already knew). And it established that african americans have created trends etc staples that became apart of the overall culture of america.

It also showed that many asians identity is based off their origin culture or they assimilate into whatever race of ppl they are in company of.
why is it, the New Year's parade is a spectacle every year for people to go "WOW, that's a DRAGON, and a fat man that looks likeBUDDHA, is fanning the dragon for good luck????!!!!!!" Bruh that's been around for decades. Why can't that be part of American Culture? Why isChinatown still foreign to people, where tourist take pictures to show their neighbors they've been there???? You can go to "Small Italy", andpeople don't take pictures and make it like it's some foreign joint. It's because Asians in America are still consider part of the EAST. WhatAmerica need to realize is, we are America.

 

[kuhui]

i think the problem here is the white man. they dont know
with that said. asian folk, black folk, all up and down the spectrum %*$ folk all have this 'thing' that each person can relate to.
there exists a sense of untold camaraderie amongst colored folk (non-white) people.
as a korean american, if i see another korean american, i can assume certain things: hes been exposed to chapaghetti, probably has similar taste in food, iwould feel at home at their home
all the other things such as preference in music, dress are affected by variables OUTSIDE of the household.
black folk too, if i meet a brotha, then i can assume: most likely some cocoa butter in the house, usually some fam in the south, probably has similar taste infood, i would feel at home in their house

a lot of this is reflected in inter-familial relationships
i feel as though white people really dont have a grasp on this certain type of love for their brothers (in the broadest sense) because white people come fromso many different cultural backgrounds and their collective xenophobia to make america work together as a machine
consider the difference between the way white kids are brought up and non white kids are brought up.
what i mean to say is, raise your hand if yo %*$ got beat when you @@*@++ up as a child.
chances are, if you got some pigment in your skin, traditionally youd have been exposed to such things. whereas if a white kid got beat, hes been taught thathe can call police, or in the least, mouth off to his parents.

mad generalizations in this one, i probably contradicted myself, holla back fosho tho, an interesting topic

 

[hella handsome]

umm.. i thought an asian american is an asian person born in america...
you cant make it any other way. cultural interests, music, etc etc doesnt mean %$%! in this case...
sure you can bring up those arguments in another type of discussion like "how to asian americans growing up differ from regular asians in asia"


its common sense how literal it is lol

an asian is someone who is born in asia, and an asian american is an asian born in america.


a good topic to argue in class, but the literal answer isnt hard to realize.
(sorry if im not answering the question of the topic. im playing ps3 and surfing NT so i didnt read through the entire thread.)

 

[ldj]

Originally Posted by FromThaTown

Originally Posted by LDJ

Originally Posted by Aze201

Is it that you guys lack reading comprehension skills or just choose to talk about whatever you feel like?

Originally Posted by ThorrocksJs

Well since the majority of Asians know where they come from due to language , beliefs , and traditions you all are lucky to have a place to call home and a traceable ancestory, unlike us Black People we have been completely stripped of our individual heritage and all we have is bits and pieces of the history of a whole continent full of unique and vastly different tribes , and nations. So we had to make our own culture up as we survived and whatever could be retained through word of mouth became apart of our culture.

This answers your question op.

Not really what it did was explain why african americans created a culture of they own(which i already knew). And it established that african americans have created trends etc staples that became apart of the overall culture of america.

It also showed that many asians identity is based off their origin culture or they assimilate into whatever race of ppl they are in company of.

why is it, the New Year's parade is a spectacle every year for people to go "WOW, that's a DRAGON, and a fat man that looks like BUDDHA, is fanning the dragon for good luck????!!!!!!" Bruh that's been around for decades. Why can't that be part of American Culture? Why is Chinatown still foreign to people, where tourist take pictures to show their neighbors they've been there???? You can go to "Small Italy", and people don't take pictures and make it like it's some foreign joint. It's because Asians in America are still consider part of the EAST. What America need to realize is, we are America.

Everything you stated is apart of american culture, but none of which is a trend or culture started with asians from america. All those things areapart of asian culture in general. Thats like saying if they made a float of pyramids, tombs etc. That isnt apart of african american culture, thats apart ofafrican culture.

No i never said or tried to imply asians arent amercians. What i was asking is what are unique distinctions about asians who are born raised in america? Andhow has that change/added the the fabric of america?

All that was listed was things created/trends by asians as a race, non american asians. Like i said martial arts isnt a trend/culture created by asianamericans, it was created started by asians non americans.

That would be like if americans got into the head dressing,clothing etc of africans, and african americans said we started/created this. That would be a falsestatement, because it wasnt created started by africans in america/ rather it was created/started by africans non american.

Like hip hop is synomnomous with african americans, not africans as a race. Sayings like naw, fenta, yander etc, are lingo associated with white americans, notnon american whites(originally from europe)

 

[notoriouspat]

ok im not gonna read past the 2nd page, but this sounds like a homework question to me...just sayin

 

[fromthatown]

LDJ wrote:

---

Originally Posted by FromThaTown

Originally Posted by LDJ

Originally Posted by Aze201

Is it that you guys lack reading comprehension skills or just choose to talk about whatever you feel like?

Originally Posted by ThorrocksJs

Well since the majority of Asians know where they come from due to language , beliefs , and traditions you all are lucky to have a place to call home and a traceable ancestory, unlike us Black People we have been completely stripped of our individual heritage and all we have is bits and pieces of the history of a whole continent full of unique and vastly different tribes , and nations. So we had to make our own culture up as we survived and whatever could be retained through word of mouth became apart of our culture.

This answers your question op.

Not really what it did was explain why african americans created a culture of they own(which i already knew). And it established that african americans have created trends etc staples that became apart of the overall culture of america.

It also showed that many asians identity is based off their origin culture or they assimilate into whatever race of ppl they are in company of.

why is it, the New Year's parade is a spectacle every year for people to go "WOW, that's a DRAGON, and a fat man that looks like BUDDHA, is fanning the dragon for good luck????!!!!!!" Bruh that's been around for decades. Why can't that be part of American Culture? Why is Chinatown still foreign to people, where tourist take pictures to show their neighbors they've been there???? You can go to "Small Italy", and people don't take pictures and make it like it's some foreign joint. It's because Asians in America are still consider part of the EAST. What America need to realize is, we are America.

Everything you stated is apart of american culture, but none of which is a trend or culture started with asians from america. All those things are apart of asian culture in general. Thats like saying if they made a float of pyramids, tombs etc. That isnt apart of african american culture, thats apart of african culture.

No i never said or tried to imply asians arent amercians. What i was asking is what are unique distinctions about asians who are born raised in america? And how has that change/added the the fabric of america?

All that was listed was things created/trends by asians as a race, non american asians. Like i said martial arts isnt a trend/culture created by asian americans, it was created started by asians non americans.

That would be like if americans got into the head dressing,clothing etc of africans, and african americans said we started/created this. That would be a false statement, because it wasnt created started by africans in america/ rather it was created/started by africans non american.

Like hip hop is synomnomous with african americans, not africans as a race. Sayings like naw, fenta, yander etc, are lingo associated with white americans, not non american whites(originally from europe)



You are basically saying Asian- Americans have no input of adding to America. Do you see, that you're making my point for me? You'resaying me, as an Asian-American, has no identity, but I ask you where did I come from???? Of course my Asian ancestors made those trends and tradition, butit's still not accepted in American traditions. Those traditions don't need to be enhanced or tweeked. You don't see Americans taking a weekvacation for the Chinese/Vietnamese New Years, right??? Well, that's what I do when the New Year comes around. That's my input for American culture,it's been around, passed around, but I know Americans ain't ready for that. Tell Americans to take off a week, no work, no nothing, but partyinghardcore for a whole week. You can say,"none of which is a trend or culture started with Asians from America.", but that doesn't matter, it'swho I am, and I don't have to take it to the forefront of America, because you have already looked at me as a foreigner. Why should I try to make that weekoff celebration, American culture??? It's not like, you will see the rational in it, right? And it's something that I hold dear to my heart. We gotcultures and celebration as Asian-Americans, believe me.

 

[nktran001]

ABC

 

[itsgettinhot]

Good topic.

One thing that is important to note is that the majority of Asians have not been in America as long as other races. You'd be hard pressed to find a 1st or2nd generation African-American, but where i'm from (Oakland, Smokin'

) it's difficult to find a person of Asian descent that hasparents born here.

A *****-American culture is formed after generations of a people living half in/half out of American society. (Ex, a social enclave such as a Chinatown) Without some degree of isolation, there is no foreseeable way for people of a certain race to create their own social mannerisms.

I know a good amount of people that were born in America but spent their whole lives in Chinatown or a similar social enclave. There is definitely distincttrends in their styles and mannerisms that are different from typical mainstream American culture. Understand though that people raised like this are theminority.

The majority of Asian people I know were raised like most anybody else. Now because they are usually very close to their culture in terms of generation, theywill still maintain certain aspects of it. (Religion, language, certain beliefs, etc.) Make no mistake though, these people are raised in the same America asalmost anybody else. The majority of their time will be spent with their friends who will also have been raised in America.

In short, a widely recognized Asian-American style doesn't exist because there is no way for one to manifest and quite frankly, there is no need for one.

 

[luckyp90]

Originally Posted by Aze201

Is it that you guys lack reading comprehension skills or just choose to talk about whatever you feel like?

Originally Posted by ThorrocksJs

Well since the majority of Asians know where they come from due to language , beliefs , and traditions you all are lucky to have a place to call home and a traceable ancestory, unlike us Black People we have been completely stripped of our individual heritage and all we have is bits and pieces of the history of a whole continent full of unique and vastly different tribes , and nations. So we had to make our own culture up as we survived and whatever could be retained through word of mouth became apart of our culture.

This answers your question op.

What the hell are you talking about?

Do YOU lack readingcomprehension? Most peoples answers have related to the question, more so then that response.
He's asking what Asian American's created in terms of culture thats unique to Asian-Americans.

My opinion is that Asian-Americans are really underrepresented in America. Out of White,Black,Hispanic/Latino,Asian im pretty sure Asians make up the lowestpercentage of Americas population by far. So there is less Asian dominated neighborhoods then there are Black or White. So its harder for these race specificthings your asking for to be created. And I dont really understand what type of culture you expect Asian Americans to make in a "short" amount oftime thats going to be completely separate from Asian culture? I mean the only thing i could see popping up in a short amount of time would result in just ahuge stereotype being created. Like what do you believe Hispanic American culture is? Lowriders and wearing the top button of your shirt? Is this what you oryour friend see Hispanic-Americans as? Why isnt it American culture with Hispanic influence?
By the way your friend sounds extremely racist and ignorant "Ur just a slant-eyed white person with black ppl clotheson, white ppl words comming out ur mouth."

 

[acidicality]

ABC

there's a big difference between asians from asia and asian-americans. I'm an ABC, or more like ABT (i'm taiwanese lol), but anyway there'sdefinitely a difference between asians more here and asians overseas. just like african-americans in the US and africans living in africa. we were raiseddifferently, we lived differently, etc.
for example, i worked over the summer in taiwan, and i definitely didn't feel like i fit in too much despite the fact i was taiwanese as well. not only wasmy mandarin not so good, but also it was obvious i had to get used to the culture and the norms. it's a bit different.

 

[soleaddict34]

What I'm getting from reading the OP's posts is that he insinuates that Asians have not made any contributions to the "American Identity".Whereas some aspects of black culture has undoubtedly influence certain aspects of American trends in areas such as music and clothing it in no way encompassesall of what we view as being "American".

You ask "what exactly is an Asian American?" As some have stated, the term "Asian American" is just a phrase to categorize a large group ofvery different cultural groups.

Define to me what it is to be American and then I'll tell you what exactly an Asian American is.

 

[mytmouse76]

Originally Posted by FromThaTown

Originally Posted by kix4kix

That's why asians are so loved by white people.

you saying that's why Asians are loved by white people, Kix? Because they are proud of their heritage? I'm trying to follow you homeboy.

i think i see what he's saying...asians are seen as the 'model minority' cuz they sorta just assimilate and don't do much to stand out...

 

[fromthatown]

Originally Posted by mytmouse76

Originally Posted by FromThaTown

Originally Posted by kix4kix

That's why asians are so loved by white people.

you saying that's why Asians are loved by white people, Kix? Because they are proud of their heritage? I'm trying to follow you homeboy.

i think i see what he's saying...asians are seen as the 'model minority' cuz they sorta just assimilate and don't do much to stand out...

Yeah, I know that stereotype, that's why I use it to my advantage

,but I was posting because Kix posted after some dude talking about being proud of his heritage. I know black folks love me too. That's why, I said, as anAsian American, I'm in the middle. I hear the most honest sides of racism, including from my own race ,because whites accept me for the "modelminority" and blacks accept me for my upbringing with them. They let me know their frustrations, and trust me, I'm glad Dave Chappelle can make uslaugh all about it.

 

[bananaboy2601]

Asian-American is a person of Asian decent born in America. We represent 5% of the American population and are showed accordingly in the media.

 

[sixzerofour]

Good topic

Most of the asians born in america are first generation, meaning that their parents imigrated and raised their children here. We're a relatively new subculture and have yet to really make our mark.
The closest definition of an Asian-American i can think of is someone of asian decent who is an American citizen who merges the culture of their native asianculture with the culture of america. It sounds stupidly simple, but the mixing of cultures in itself has become the culture. It's thousands of years ofasian culture with an american twist. It's difficult to pinpoint a clear cut definition of the American-Asian culture because there are too many differentasian cultures. Chinese-americans, Korean-americans, filipino-americans... etc are all going to be different and it is ignorant to put them all into onecategory. It is especially difficult for Asian-ameriacns to have our own culture when the american media exploits asians like no other in all forms of media. Imean can anyone name a movie with a positive role for an asian amercian, who was NOT doing some form of martial art?.... I can wait.
This poem by Alvin Lau really puts things into perspective.

 

[18key]

Originally Posted by sixzerofour

It is especially difficult for Asian-ameriacns to have our own culture when the american media exploits asians like no other in all forms of media. I mean can anyone name a movie with a positive role for an asian amercian, who was NOT doing some form of martial art?.... I can wait.

I had a somewhat lengthy post touching on this subject that you typed up (that I got lazy about and didn't feel like finishing), and how itlimits us to a certain amount of culture we can make for ourselves. The Hollywood issue that I chose to single out was a big point in my post, and how wearen't portrayed as anything but martial-arts experts. Whether the person is a good guy or bad guy in the movie, they all know and exercise their martialarts mastery to save the day... or ruin it. Depending on the role.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li are the most recognizable Asians in American cinema, and with them being the only representatives of Asian culture in America throughthe most widely accessed form of media, white Americans lose a lot of insight as to who Asians really are.

 

[dirtylicious]

Here's the thing that hasn't been said yet...
there is no singular Asian American identity..

when you refer to of Asians.. you're referring to people from many many countries....all with very distinct and different cultures.

Chinese
Japanese
Filipino
Laos
Thai
Indonesia
Vietnam
Taiwan
North &South Korea

and that's just the East Asian countries....
The cultures and traditions from those countries are as distinct from each other as those of Germans and Italians, or French to Norwegian, or Mexican to PuertoRican, etc

How can i respect acknowledge a group of ppl for there culture originality, identity when all there is negative stereotypes, and then the identity that they have is just copied borrowed, of someone elses.

Don't mistake society's interpretation of cultural identity with that of actual cultural identity.
Your friend's lack of ability to explain what "Asian-ness" is no more a representative example than an you being asked what culture black cultureis.

As far as your premise that Asian culture is just borrowed piece of other people's cultures, I'd say you're dead wrong.
The youth of today "borrow" and learn from what they see. That's not just Asians, but everyone -- Blacks, Whites, Latino. Just b/c youdon't see a culture, does not mean that there isn't one

Even with that said though, and assuming your premise is even remotely correct why does there have to be originality in order for you to respect it?
The fact that there is on

I ask you this in rebuttal. What is the Black-American culture? Can you define it, or do you just know what it is?
Same goes for the Latino Culutre?.. what is it?, what defines it?

OP I understand your curiosity but I fail to see how it applies to only Asian Americans. The primary example you used compared Asian Americans to African Americans and how African Americans have their own separate culture from Africa. There isn't really a division between Asian American and native Asian culture, but I don't really see a division in other foreign cultures and their American counterparts either. Are we only talking about Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics now? What's Indian American, Jewish American, Italian American (don't say pizza lmao), etc culture? Why does there need to be a separation between me as an Asian American and my native Asian culture? That's just the way it is.
well put


So, what I can say about my own identity -- I am an Asian American, more specifically ½ Chinsese ½ Filipino. I take what culture and tradition my parents havetaught me, incorporated that with what growing up in America has taught me, and forged my own individual identity.

I shouldn't have to define and identify every single thing about my own culture just for you or anyone else to "respect" it, and quite frankly, Idon't want or need your respect, if you fail to realize that.