Asian Heritage Month for "Other" Asians

Reflections on Asian Heritage Month as a Mixed-Race Asian Canadian

Dedicated to my brother and sister.

My brother and I didn't end up learning Chinese at this school. My non-Chinese speaking caucasian, Jewish mother was told that Cantonese would be too hard to learn if we didn't speak it at home. This was a valid point, Chinese really is a HARD language to learn. But, as a small child, language was a significant cultural border to be crossed, it was the key to belonging that existed just out of my reach. Without language I was just another 鬼妹 or "little ghost sister". The term comes from the word GwaiLo 鬼佬 or "ghost person", usually translated into English as foreign devil.

As mixed kids in Toronto the 80s and 90s, my siblings and I grew up as "ghost" aka "foreign devil" children, not really belonging anywhere in particular except at home. In the outside world we were defined by what race we looked like. From time to time we were perceived as belonging to other ethnicities, and put in the awkward position of navigating the perceptions and biases people had towards cultures that were also completely foreign to us. Within Chinese culture, we were playfully but poignantly referred to as "ghost children", we were outsiders, a diluted, less authentic version of the real thing.

Over the years it has been satisfying to see Toronto and urban Canada become more diverse and more accepting of people who come from different backgrounds. In our multicultural society - should you CHOOSE to interact with people from diverse backgrounds - the assumptions you might make based on physical appearance alone will surely and quickly fade. You simply cannot define people based just on what they look like to you. They don't define a race, and race does not define them.

As a mixed-race, second generation Canadian, it has been especially gratifying to see people of Asian descent in Canada open their hearts to new definitions of what it means to be Asian here. We are now generations deep. We have witnessed what our children have become and we see what they are becoming. We are blossoming beyond our communities. We do not need to be defined by how recently we immigrated, how fluently we speak our native languages or how strictly we adhere to tradition. We have so many choices. Our history may be shared, but our futures are limitless.

This month I came across Blasian social media influencers who renounce being 50% anything. They say they are 100% Black and 100% Asian. Mind blowing idea! Why didn't we think of that?

I wanted to share this concept with the other mixed kids out there, and the parents of mixed kids, and the future parents of mixed kids and grandkids - it could you! No matter our ethnic origin, our identities are becoming increasingly complex blends of lineages and legacies. The important message is that even as our identities become more complex, we don't have to become "diluted" versions of our ancestors. We are new, we are original, we are ourselves.

It's no easy feat to move the dial on what others think or perceive about us, but I hope we come to the point that on a personal level, our heritage should not be a burden, but a gift that we receive and make our own. No percentages or fractions, no tests of belonging, but instead, a source of pride and strength that enriches our lives and the lives of those around us.

So Happy Asian Heritage Month, it's yours to celebrate.