Barack Like Me

Being half-Korean (and half-Caucasian), perhaps you can understand my trepidation in even attempting to make the following comparison; yet, when I read in today’s San Francisco Chronicle about my favorite presidential candidate for 2008, Barack Obama, facing flak from some members of the African American community for not being black enough, I could not help but feel his pain.

Critics of Mr. Obama claim that he is “not African American and is unsuited to be a black candidate, because he is not a direct descendant of slaves and hasn't had what they see as an authentic African American experience.” Ouch! True, the man is the son of a Kenyan immigrant and a Caucasian mother; yet, he identifies as an African American and is perceived by many as an African American. Shouldn’t that be enough?

The other day, I heard an anecdote from the director of my institution, who is currently working with a Japanese architect on the design of our new building. In an informal meeting, the architect expressed his views on the hierarchy of Japanese-ness: First, there are REAL Japanese, i.e., those who were born and raised in Japan . Yoko Ono and Seiji Ozawa are REAL Japanese. Then, there are FAKE Japanese, i.e., those who were born outside of Japan. The fake Japanese in our culture are too numerous to count, but some that come to mind are Jenny Shimizu, Judge Lance Ito, and Senator S. I. Hayakawa. The architect went on to aver that there was yet another category of Japanese (sorry, the name escapes me, but it was something like Ur-Japanese) who are NOT Japanese, but THINK they are Japanese. Larry Ellison, CEO and founder of Oracle, might fall into this category. Finally, the architect claimed to be confused about what to call Hawaiian Japanese; they’re in a category of their own.

I told my mom, who was brought up in Korea under Japanese occupation, about the above conversation and she was not at all surprised: “That sounds typically Japanese,” she said. Unfortunately, I’ve experienced this attitude from Koreans as well. Not only was I not born in Korea and don’t speak the language, I am not even 100% Korean. Korean-born Koreans (including my mother) consider me, for the most part, a “white girl.” And my daughter, who’s “quappa?” She’s really a white girl. Korean twice removed.

You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve tried to start writing this blog post in such a way that is both meaningful to our Kimchi Mama audience AND is respectful to the African American community. I claim to be neither an expert in African American race relations; a social historian; nor a scholar of ethnic studies: What I am is a bi-racial (hapa) woman whose dueling ethnicities have forced her to spend her life straddling two cultures, belonging simultaneously to both and to neither.

I find the racial hierarchy I’ve described, above, both hurtful and exclusionary. If Barack is not African American, then what is he? If I am not Korean, then am I white? Just because Kristi Yamaguchi was born in the U.S., does that negate her centuries-old connection to Japan?

I’m all over the place here, but my point is simple: People who are ethically mixed or not born on the soil of the country of their ancestors’ origin should be able to self-identify, both racially and ethnically.  We should be embraced unconditionally and wholeheartedly by the group to which we choose to identify and belong. 

You might remember when last year Barack traveled to his father’s village in Kenya and was greeted  warmly by the Africans he met there. They considered him to be one of them, even though he is half white and was not born on their continent. I think they called him their “son.” We should aim to be more like those Kenyans and open our hearts to anyone who shares a part of our culture and wants to belong to that culture. Isn’t America supposed to be all about inclusiveness, after all?

Note: The title of my post refers to Black Like Me, a seminal book about black/white race relations published in 1961.

Comments

[Angie in Texas]

well written. it wasn't until i took my current position that i ever had any doubt in my mind that i am korean. i was born there and both of my parents are korean.

however, because i was raised here and do not speak the language, i am not considered korean by most of my korean-korean students.

how painful for me (and others like me and others like you): to live one way because of how we look and live another because of our culture(s) and to struggle to find the balance between . . .

i think there is a lesson to be learned from the ethiopians . . .

[Angela]

Twizzle, what an excellent post. I have been reading Mr. Obama's bio, Audacity of Hope, and he is truly inspiring. I was also quite saddened to read and hear about him being criticized for not being black enough. Thank you for writing about this issue. My children are 9 and 5 and when asked their heritage, they say they are Korean, Irish and Italian. Their original Irish and Italian ancestors came to Canada at least 4 or more generations ago, by some people's standards they should not even claim this heritage. I worry about how they will be perceived and treated by other Korean people. I know many of my parents' friends threatened to disown their children if they married non-Koreans and the news that both my sister and I married non-Koreans, let's just say, my parents got a lot of sympathy. Thankfully, my parents love their sons-in-law and welcomed them with open arms.

I agree that people should be able to self-identify their ethnic group and be embraced by that group, I really hope that my children will not face intolerance and ignorance, but in my heart I know it will happen. I can and do teach my children tolerance and the importance of not judging by appearance, if hurtful things are said I hope they will have the courage and confidence to speak up and not let it slide.

[daddy in a strange land]

Okay, that was a great post and I wanna write a lot more, and I will, but for now, just 2 quick things:

1) His dad was Kenyan,
and
2) That was the most AWESOME title for a blogpost ever! Heh.
"Barack like me." There's a t-shirt there somewhere. (To join my vintage Nike "I am Tiger Woods" shirt and my "[check] other" shirt in my hapa duds collection.)

[halfmama]

Thank you for writing this. I'm so sorry to hear that you have never felt embraced by either culture; unfortunately, I'm not surprised. I am a 'FAKE' Korean myself, but I have hapa twins and I worry about the prejudices they will face as they grow up. My husband talks about someday taking a trip to Korea, and I constantly have to remind him how nervewracking it would be for me. I last visited when I was about 13 years old, and was harassed walking down the street because of the clothes I was wearing, which immediately indicated that I was American. These strangers yelled at me, my siblings, my mom... Granted, that was years and years ago, but I still get nervous about bringing my hapa kids there and seeing them be treated even worse than I was.

Thank you for offering more insight on this. I'm always curious to find out more from a hapa's perspective, and try and get prepared for the obstacles my kids will have to face.

[halfmama]

Btw, have you seen this? The Hapa Project

I love one of the quotes:
"What am I? I am exactly the same as every other person in 2500."

[twizzle]

Daddy in a Strange Land:

Thanks for clarifying that Barack's dad was Kenyan, NOT Ethiopian. How embarrassing. Will edit right away!

Thanks for appreciating my title, "Barack Like Me." Love the T-shirt idea, too!

Half Mama - Yes, I have the book you refer to. Great quote!

[eliaday]

I think things will only get more complicated. I consider myself third generation Chinese American - the first persosn in my family to emigrate to the US was my great grandfather in 1913 or so. Yet technically, I'm full-blooded Chinese.

Sometimes, especially around Lunar New Year, I don't feel Chinese at all.

I hope that someday, people will actually identify as Asian American. This especially goes for people like my daughter who is mixed Chinese and Korean.

[kim]

Being half-Korean, I too have felt like I've been straddling cultures my whole life. Growing up in a rather black-white city, I held on to this optimistic belief that I'd be able to find "my" group if I were just in a place with more Asians. Cut to college - I went to a school with a sizeable Asian (and specifically Korean) population. You can imagine what happened - I most definitely did not find any shared experiences or camraderie with the great majority of the Korean students. If anything, their behavior / actions made me question why on earth I thought I would suddenly be able to fit in. Every time something like this would happen, I would always imagine that I must be one of the only people to experience this and must be hyper-sensitive to it. Thanks for showing that that's not the case... but what can we do to change it? (Just wondering out loud, although I do wish there was a magic answer...)

[Rachel]

I agree that people should be able to self-identify, and I'm tired of all the articles agonizing over whether Obama is "black enough", whatever that means. Love your title.

[Glennia]

Great post, Twizzle. I think I identify more with people of mixed race (regardless of mixture) than I do with either Koreans or Caucasians. There is some shared experience of not being (fill in the blank) enough that resonates with all of us. One of the moms in my mixed-race moms group tells her kids to say that they are "double, not half" and I think that's a good way to look at it.

[carol]

Thank you for writing this post, it must have been difficult to write. It doesn't sit well with me that there is one definitive, singular authentic experience in talking about any culture or identity. Yes, Barack Obama's family had a different journey, but it doesn't make him any less American ... why would it make him less black, or not black. While I am sympathetic to the distinction that the critics are trying to get across, and I support that they are voicing it - it's so exclusionary, and to say he should not run because of it? Or change his word choice of how he self-identifies? I have a big problem with that. I see it as another example of divide and conquer, tearing each other down making it easier for those in power to stay in power. So for those who don't consider Obama black, why not just endorse or not endorse him based on his merits as a candidate? Whose father happens to be Kenyan. Nothing more. If he's truly not suited for the presidency, then don't vote for him. That said - Go Barack! Regardless of how it turns out, it shows the beginning of a shift in this country, and for the better I say. It's going to be really exciting.

Interesting note on the Japanese categorization - I was watching NHK coverage of a figure skating championship with someone who read/spoke Japanese, and he noticed that Yamaguchi's name was spelled out phonetically - how non-Japanese names are treated when they are spelled out in Japanese - instead of using the characters for the family name "Yamaguchi".

halfmama - I like to paraphrase one Ms. Houston-Brown, "I believe that OUR children are the future!" Sorry, couldn't resist.

[harlowmonkey]

I'm currently reading Kinship: A Family's Journey to Africa and America by Philippe Wamba. Wamba really investigates the idea of African/African American identity and ideas of authenticity that many people of different cultural or racial groups struggle with. I am finding a lot of shared experiences and ideologies within this book that I think can apply to more than just the African/African American discussion and one which I think any of us who feel like racial or cultural boarder-crossers can identify with.

[Nina]

Great post Twizzle!

I love the quote at the end of the article from the civil rights activist/Professor who said "We shall overcome" at the end of all his lectures and that "judging Obama by those three rules, we have overcome".

The comments from Reverend Sharpton ("Just because you are our color doesn't make you our kind.") seem particularly mean-spirited.

I HATE that kind of divisive "you're not ____ enough". I don't think it's a bad thing to make a distinction between those who's families have a connection to slavery/Jim Crow laws and those that came to this country later, but the reality is that Barack Obama is of African decent and he is American. And because others see him and identify him as being black, it makes sense that he also self-identifies as black. What else is he supposed to identify himself as?

I think what is probably more at play here is the fact that the traditional church-based black leadership (like Sharpton) is not being tapped like they want to be. Clinton (both of them) have always tapped this base, but Obama hasn't. I think that Carol is right on - it's a strategy to tear people down and keep the people who currently wield the political power in the black community in power.

I think the fact that we have both a serious female and a serious African American contender for the white house right now is absolutely the most exciting thing I have seen in American politics in a long time. I think it points to both the merits of both candidates AND the willingness of America as a whole to reaxamine who they see in power. I am almost giddy with excitement.

[Chookooloonks]

Dude, Barack like ME.

This post is great, and an issue that I find myself particularly confronting now. I am a Trinidadian, living in Trinidad, where most of the population is multiracial. Though I look black, my racial makeup is 1/2 African, 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 East Indian ... roughly speaking (there are a few more races in there, as well, but that's a close approximation). When I walk around my country with my Chinese grandmother, or my Indian grandmother, or, hell, my white English husband and my even more multiracial daughter, no one bats an eye -- because we Trinis ALL look like this. Our families ALL look like this.

I am, however, on the verge of returning to the United States, where, as one friend put it, I'm "too black for white folks and too white for black folks." I'm returning to a place where once, when I described my racial makeup publicly, an African-American woman claimed I was "ashamed of being black." I'm returning to a place where, even though I self-identify and am identified as "black," I don't self-identify (and I am only occasionally identified) as "African-American," because my family's history ISN'T African-American -- it is partially African, yes, but since neither I nor my ancestors were born in America, how could we be African-American? Of most concern is the fact that I'm returning to a place where people will notice my daughter's skin colour looks exactly like mine and nothing like her father's, and will likely make assumptions about our family -- assumptions upon which, I fear, judgments will be made.

Despite all of this, we are happy we are returning to America -- it has, over these years, become my husband's and my second home, and it is our daughter's birthplace. But I know I will sincerely miss living in a place where our family isn't considered an oddity, and where people won't look at my features, and the way I speak, and the man I married and the appearance of my child to judge whether and to what extent I validly "represent" my race.

[honglien123]

Great post Twizzle. If anything I think it highlights the fact that no matter what your ethnic make up or what you look like, it's your experiences and values which truly matter. I spent many years of my youth in the poor parts of Oakland amongst African Americans and I can see where some African Americans are coming from when say that Barack Obama does not represent them. He did not grow up poor and undereducated, and admit it or not, there is a large group of African Americans who grow up poor and it can be argued that part of African American cultural identity is that of a group of people getting the shaft not just racially but economically. That by itself creates a gulf between Mr. Obama and many many African Americans. We have to remember, that it's not just about race and ethnicity, but socio-economics and education as well.

We've been told and taught over and over in our politically correct culture that it's wrong to exclude and that it's wrong to pigeonhole someone based on their looks or background, however we don't take into account the reasons for inclusion or the hypocrisy of dividing ourselves up into groups in the first place. Isn't it wrong to assume that you have something in common with someone who looks like you? In my experience, socio economics and education level matter so much more than race or ethnic makeup.

I mean, how much do we REALLY have in common as Asians and having quarter Korean children? And then ask, how much do we have in common because of where we live? Where we grew up? The TIME that we grew up in? What our parents taught us about ourselves, money, the world around us?

[twizzle]

Honglien,
You raise some excellent points about the importance of socio-economics in determining the social groups that we belong to; however, the point of my post was ABOUT race and color. I feel personally offended when I am considered "not Korean" because I am half. I worry that my quappa daughter will have even LESS of a connection to our ethnic heritage than I do. Barack seems to be facing the same scrutiny (though based on not sharing a history of poverty and slavery) by members of his own race and, when I read that article, I felt a stong sense of empathy for the guy and felt compelled to say so. - Twizzle

[honglien123]

Twizzle,

I think any minority in the United States can feel empathy for what Barack Obama is going through and I understand that the point of your post is more about race and color. However, I wanted just point out that it is understandable that some African Americans would not accept Barack Obama as a candidate that represents them and their experience. The point of my comment was that culture is more than color, more than race. I didn't say or mean to give the impression (if there was such an impression) that I agree with people who make the simple statement that Barack Obama isn't black.

Regarding being Korean or not. My kids are 1/4 Korean, and I too worry that they won't feel any connection to their Korean heritage. I understand also that they are 1/4 Japanese, and half Vietnamese and that they'll lose out on those cultures. When they grow up, they can choose to identify more with Korean culture. But, it would be a unrealistic of them to be fully accepted as a "real" Korean by everyone in the Korean community. Their experience and upbringing is different and there would be many aspects that they would just not be able to relate to.

It's that whole straddling of both worlds thing rearing its ugly head again. "Real" anythings have no clue what you're talking about usually in terms of feeling like a cultural/racial outcast. I was born in Vietnam, and I can speak the language, raised in the US but never felt accepted as American. I remember being slapped as a child for speaking English at home and being told, "you are not American, you are Vietnamese!"

Then there are the relationships with other Asian groups you have to navigate because apparently there's a hierarchy in terms of Asian nationalities too. Then to go to Vietnam and hear and understand all the whispering and pointing at the Viet Kieu (foreign Vietnamese). The vast majority of the whispers were not very nice. Even amongst Vietnamese American's there are different flavors. There's a difference between the ones who came in the first wave as refugees with the Americans, to the second wave of boat people who escaped after the communist took over, and the newer immigrants who didn't even have to take a boat.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is, I understand where the Japanese architect was going with his different flavors of Japanese (my kids are 1/4 so they're not "real Japanese" either). The biggest difference between me and him is that he sounds very judgmental about it and quite snooty. Me, I'm just accepting reality the way I see it and saying that Japanese, Korean, African American, Vietnamese, you name it, there are a lot of different flavors and these different flavors don't always identify with each other. It's kind of like being Californian and Texan I guess, all American but there's a big difference. But again, I think to define ourselves only along these factors of race, color, and ethnicity is selling ourselves a bit short. I think Barack Obama makes that case too.

[Nina]

I think at this point I want to just refer us all again to the Bill of Rights for Racially Mixed People.
http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/dec96/blurring5.html
I think this is what Twizzle's post was about, in the end. That we all have a right to self-identify ourselves how we would like whehter or not that makes people uncomfortable or not, whether they agree or not.

Race, color, and ethnicity are not everything, for sure, but if they were nothing then we wouldn't all be having this discussion anyway.

[Summer]

All I have to say is what then, is exactly American? That right to self-identify is also what segregates us... does that mean that this cultural/heritage segregation will never have an end?

Heritage is something we grasp so strongly, yet is the something we want widely accepted, regardless of labels, but labeled nonetheless...

It almost feels as if Sharpton wants black Americans descended of slavery to be identified as a different group...to me Barack is African-American, he is an American of African descent...

When I was a younger girl, I was listening to these girls speak for the title of Miss World Eskimo Indian Olympics.

I don't remember which village she came from but one girl just resonated with me.

She was talking of being mixed heritage and living in modern times yet still doing certain things as elders of generations before her had.

As she explained it, she walked the world in a moccasin and sneaker, she got all these looks of wearing two different shoes, people would stop and ask if she knew she wore two different shoes... she said she would take that opportunity and educate them why she wore this moccasin and this sneaker, they were part of her...

From that moment I had shoes, the sneaker and my moccasin/mukluk (1/2 Choctaw,1/2 Eskimo)I didn't just want to educate why I was wearing different shoes, but to show that two different shoes were fine to wear everyday, really, it is, and look good with any outfit, such as my hanbok...these shoes protect my feet so I may continue walking, sharing, learning...these shoes are important, I will not lose them...but my favorite vacation has been Hawaii, where I was fully accepted as a person, person on vacation, person looking to relax, a person needing to live, just not "where do you come from", and you know, you walk barefoot on the beaches there....

Not too much to ask for, is it, for the world to be a beach?

[Latia]

I am hapa (Korean and Black, from which I understand is a HUGE no-no in Asian cultures...) and my daughter is a "tripa" (Korean, Black, and White).
I get asked everyday by strangers about my "ethnic background" but occasionally those strangers like to throw in the, "So who do you identify the most with?"
You see, my upbringing is very complicated, but to make it short, I was raised primarily by my "black side" some of which are from the inner city and I, myself and my two younger siblings, did a lot of growing up in the rough housing projects of our town.
I chose the path of speaking proper English, making good grades, not doing drugs and other things that are stereotypically associated with growing up in the ghetto.
Anywhooo...I was forced to choose between a culture I knew nothing about but longed to be apart of but wouldn't have me because of my father who is Black, a culture that ridiculed me for being bright and choosing the right path in life (Black), and the only other culture I was exposed to (Middle Class White America).

I long to find a a culture that will take me in and proudly claim me as their own.
I struggle everyday to find my identity but if I know nothing about my history, how do I find myself?

There are no family traditions or family heirlooms to pass to my daughter.
I have no cultural traditional wedding customs and when I tried to implement a traditional Korean wedding (even though my mother abandoned me as a toddler) the Korean catering lady said, "Wha? Why not your mother do it?"

I feel for Obama, I think all of us feel for Obama.
I wonder if he was afraid of the reception he'd receive from conservative white politicians. I wonder if he was afraid of how they would not accept him as a legitimate candidate because of the color of his skin.
Funny how those conservative white politicians turn into his own African American 'brothers' and 'sisters'.