Azn ≠ White

It has never been a synonym for mixed race. It means part HAWAIIAN, of Hawaiian descent, a word born from violent colonialism and genocide and is not for you if you are not Native Hawaiian. It is not for Non Hawaiian Asians.

thank you for sending this message. we haven’t been accepting submissions that appropriate the word “hapa.” i’m not sure if it slips through the tags, but if so, we definitely would like to reiterate that we won’t be publishing submissions appropriating that word. on the submission page for AFAD, we actually have a statement that says not to appropriate that word, so if anyone is interested in submitting, please read the guidelines beforehand.

I think it has to with the fact that the people who are usually co-opting the word are not just mixed people in general, but mixed Asian people. At a point which I can’t pinpoint, I think hapa entered the Asian American lexicon, it probably has to do with Asian immigration to Hawaii and the period of time in which Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were encouraged to group themselves together under racial and ethnic categorizations (regardless of the truth to this statement).

The use of hapa by mixed Asians has a very particular history, and like most histories of colonization, it has been done great disservice by the education system which leads many mixed Asians into believing that hapa is a word that carries no connotations and no baggage (unlike many of the words used to describe mixed Asians in our home countries, which are usually slurs). I also think the colonization of the word hapa by mixed Asians has a lot to do with the fragmentation of the Asian American movement, which despite is name is made up of many different groups with many different goals and beliefs which makes coalition among Asian Americans difficult to say the least and thus co-option of hapa by mixed Asians may also constitute a wish for greater solidarity and connection in the Asian diasporic community.

Regardless of the reasoning, it is important that we as mixed (and often diasporic) Asians unlearn behaviours and attitudes that directly affect Indigenous people and remember that we too are culpable in Western settler colonial violence.

- Melody

Hapa is a word where agency was taken from us. It does absolutely only apply when a person is part Hawaiian (not just half). If people want to argue that it explicitly means “half” when referring to heritage, they don’t know our language as well as they think they do - and unless they are Hawaiian it is not their place to debate it.

sunday reading list #3 | brought to you by the coalition zine and also this beautiful painting by wang yidon (he actually isn’t affiliated with us, this is just a cute way to give credit.)

How To Get Your Green Card in America by Sarah Mathews.

Saffy-Hallan Farah on rich black weird kids and pop nepotism.

James Baldwin’s must-read interview with The Paris Review.

“The Love of My Life” by Cheryl Strayed: on grief and the mechanics of healing.

“Poverty becomes you — it shapes what you see and taste and dream — till there is no telling where you stop and poverty begins.” Frances Lefkowitz’s personal essay on class.

“Notes from a Liar” by Tracy Wan

*HERE IT IS.* A POC space for folks to share their stories–fiction, non fiction, poetry, prose, art, comics, photos–on the unique experience of growing up brown with a white father. This is a compilation where those of us have experienced erasure in so many spaces can speak on what is like to be a person of color, while your father stands on the other side of privilege and patriarchy in a colorist society. Open to all POC with white dads (mixed race, adopted or otherwise). Check out the page for more info and feel free to reach out with questions.

Given that Asian Americans demonstrate the highest median family income of any racial group in the country, it is not surprising that “the Asian advantage” is being addressed by many Americans.

In a weekend op-ed for the New York Times, columnist Nick Kristof attributed the economic success of Asian Americans to “East Asia’s long Confucian emphasis on education.” According to this viewpoint, Confucian values create a special environment in which Asian-American parents make extraordinary sacrifices to ensure their children go to the best public schools and relentlessly remind them of the importance of education.

Yet, the idea that Asian-American success is the result of a unique cultural inheritance ignores the role of U.S. immigration policy in creating Asian-American success. In the mid-1800s Asian immigrants were recruited as laborers to work as farm laborers and on the first transcontinental railroad. They were despised laborers who toiled for low wages in the harshest of conditions. Confucian values were not seen as the key to success, but as a marker of racial and religious differences. Eventually, most Asians were excluded from immigration altogether due to fears of racial contamination.

But what a difference a law can make. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act changed the way Asians were seen in this country–from uneducated and unwanted scourge to hardworking students and examples of economic success. How did we go from backwards laborers to a so-called “model minority”? Too many people assume the community’s educational and economic success is due to the cultural traits of Asian Americans. Like Kristof, they believe Asian Americans care more about education than the average American.

There is another explanation. The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act ended Asian exclusion and created two immigration priorities: high skills and family reunification.

After 1965, the U.S. started to recruit high-skilled immigrants from Asia. More than half of the Asian-American population immigrated after 1990, when these efforts were ramped up even further. Today,fully 72 percent of all high-skilled visas are allocated to immigrants from Asia. And the majority of international student visas go to Asian immigrants.

This mode of selective recruitment challenges the idea that Asian success in the U.S. is due to Asian values. That is too simple. If Asian cultural values were the explanation, why don’t we see the same kind of educational achievement in Asia as in the U.S.? We don’t. As Jennifer Lee points out, more than 50% of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. have a bachelor’s degree. In China, the rate is about 5%. About 70% of Indian immigrants have a bachelor’s degree, while in India, less than 15% of Indians of college-age enroll in college. (India, by the way, has never been a stronghold of Confucian values.)

So, U.S. immigration policy creates a highly educated Asian-American class and this group sponsors highly educated family members. And the model minority stereotype is given life. As Kristof states so compellingly, this stereotype takes on a remarkable life of its own.

Last week, I asked the 70 students in my class, “Has someone ever assumed you were good at math because of your race?” Nearly every Asian-American student raised their hand. I then asked, “Has someone assumed you were not a good student because of your race?” Every black student in my class raised his or her hand.

Experimental research shows again and again that the more a teacher expects and treats students as capable and smart, the more they show growth on and score higher on I.Q. tests. These are controlled experiments. Stereotypes matter. They can even make you smarter. On this point I agree with Kristof that Asian Americans have an advantage.

Perhaps these stereotypes matter more than cultural values. What group in the U.S. does not value education? In fact, by one measure, belief that a college degree is necessary for success, Latinos (70%) value education more than Asians (61%). Blacks are more likely to believe college is necessary than whites. Valuing education is not an Asian thing. Some might counter that Asians don’t just value education, they also value hard work. Ideas about hard work and race go hand-in-hand, though. For Asian Americans, hard work is recognized. That’s not the case for all groups. A new study suggests that when black workers’ productivity exceeds their white counterparts, even by a wide margin, they still receive lower wages and promotions at slower rates.

There is a real downside to the idea that Asian cultural values drive Asian-American success. Asian subgroups–like Cambodians, Burmese, and Hmong–have higher high school drop-out rates than any other racial group in the United States. But they are not seen by policymakers because they are made invisible by the model minority stereotype and its assumed cultural advantages.