hyphenated twentysomething

Being accepted as Americans...

After the whole Sen. Allen and Macacagate issue (especially his "Welcome to America" comment), sometimes you really wonder when we (as minority or immigrant communities) will be considered in the same light as our fellow Americans, on the basis of our citizenship, and NOT the color of our skin or our race.

Here's a great op-ed by an Indian-American in the Washington Post discussing: "On Becoming A 'Real American' ".


From the op-ed:

"From adolescence on, I heard a constant refrain from my Indian father: "Don't ever believe that you're really American." I found his advice peculiar, especially as I had been living in America since age 8 and had largely forgotten my time in India. To him, it didn't matter that the only language in which I could think a complex thought was English. It didn't matter that the only music I listened to was Michael Jackson, the Bee Gees and Billy Joel."

What do we do now?:

"The Allen incident offers evidence that America is not now or likely to ever be a color-blind country. How are South Asians to live with this truth? Resignation is not the answer. Vigorous political participation is. My youthful intuition that what makes me as American as any Mayflower descendant is citizenship -- not race or ethnicity -- was only partly on the mark. The piece of paper that validates our identities as American citizens can do only so much if we do little to struggle for recognition."


Of course, while engaging in political participation, it would help to look somewhat fashionable;)

posted by payal @ 12:32 PM