Not to justify my existence in this world.
Not to keep the races separate within me.
Not to be responsible for people's discomfort with my physical ambiguity.
Not to justify my ethnic legitimacy.
I HAVE THE RIGHT...
To identify myself differently than strangers expect me to identify.
from the Bill of Rights for Racially Mixed People by Maria P.P. Root
How dare you.
That's right, I said it, and I'll say it again. How dare you. What makes you think that you have the right, having just met me, to comment on my heritage, to back me into a corner, to make me feel confused by your anger at my ambiguity, and as though I have to justify myself to you. I am what I am, and it is none of your business what I am unless I choose to share it with you, and no matter what you think I am, I will still be what I am.
When did we decide that those who are so removed from us get to make the decisions about how we define ourselves? We didn't. We are not a monolith.
When you ask me what I am, when you tell me I don't look Asian, when you disdain something central to my identity, when you tell me how you want to have mixed babies because they're prettier - let me tell you something, motherfucker, it pisses me off. I was not put on this earth for you to objectify me, mystify me, vilify me, classify me; I will classify myself and rectify the misconception that my identity is dependent upon your reception of me.
I am first-generation and I am Pinay. Being the daughter of a white American as well does not suddenly short circuit these components to my personality. Neither do I have an "Asian self" and a "white self"; I am me, myself, and I, every minute of every day.
That's right, I said it, and I'll say it again. How dare you. What makes you think that you have the right, having just met me, to comment on my heritage, to back me into a corner, to make me feel confused by your anger at my ambiguity, and as though I have to justify myself to you. I am what I am, and it is none of your business what I am unless I choose to share it with you, and no matter what you think I am, I will still be what I am.
When did we decide that those who are so removed from us get to make the decisions about how we define ourselves? We didn't. We are not a monolith.
When you ask me what I am, when you tell me I don't look Asian, when you disdain something central to my identity, when you tell me how you want to have mixed babies because they're prettier - let me tell you something, motherfucker, it pisses me off. I was not put on this earth for you to objectify me, mystify me, vilify me, classify me; I will classify myself and rectify the misconception that my identity is dependent upon your reception of me.
I am first-generation and I am Pinay. Being the daughter of a white American as well does not suddenly short circuit these components to my personality. Neither do I have an "Asian self" and a "white self"; I am me, myself, and I, every minute of every day.
