For my first interview I decided to interview someone that wasn’t my friend because I figured that generally, my friends would speak about the same things that I would speak about. I interviewed a classmate in my Chinese 103 class. He is a senior at Emory and he prefers his name be left out of my website, so I’ll be referring to him as John. John is also an American born Chinese student like me; born and raised in America.
I was sitting in my room stumped on the question of who I would interview for my project. I felt so stupid that I neglected to think of my Chinese class which is comprised of12 American born Chinese students. I instantly texted John who sat next to me in class if I could interview him for my project. John agreed and I was excited to have the opportunity of not only interviewing him but getting to know him better as well.
I started off the interview by asking John what it meant to him to be a part of 2 different cultures. He answered with a classic response of: “It means that I can draw upon 2 different worlds.” Everyone that I know that is a part of 2 cultures feels the same way, including myself. One part of the interview that really stood out to me was when I asked John if he embraced one culture more than another. He responded without any hesitation: “American culture without a doubt. Spending all my life here, I live and breathe America culture.” I followed up by asking him if he ever felt different out of place when he was growing up. “I'm born and raised in America, but there have always been people who treated me like a foreigner.”
“Growing up, many of stereotypes included the following: people asking me if I eat dog, telling me that we all look the same, etc.” I noticed that John had said this statement so casually, almost as if it no longer affected him anymore. We both shared a lot of our experiences in which we were ridiculed for being Chinese. John told me that a white man and his son pointed and laughed at my friend just because she was Asian. It was evident that John was disgusted by this, but he said that the worst part is that these people probably don’t comprehend how much their actions affect the way we live our lives. I asked John to explain how being an American born Chinese impacted his life either negatively or positively. Instead of ranting about the disadvantages of being a minority, he explained how he learned to be more aware and sensitive to minority issues. It was amazing to listen to how he explained why he enjoyed being a minority and how he has learned from it. “A disadvantage is that you're caught in the middle. You're never completely Chinese because why would you be? You grew up here in the U.S. so you have way more in common with other Americans. On the other hand, many Americans will never see you as anything but a foreigner.” I don’t think there are better words to describe the identity struggle that American born Chinese kids have to go through than these. I know for a fact that every child along with me and John has contemplated their true identity and coming to the harsh conclusion that we are neither truly American nor Chinese. Before we ended the interview, John wanted to add to the interview a message that he had for young American born Chinese students. “Keep your head up. Always love who you are.” A powerful message that I know I wished another American born Chinese had said to me as I was growing up.
I was sitting in my room stumped on the question of who I would interview for my project. I felt so stupid that I neglected to think of my Chinese class which is comprised of12 American born Chinese students. I instantly texted John who sat next to me in class if I could interview him for my project. John agreed and I was excited to have the opportunity of not only interviewing him but getting to know him better as well.
I started off the interview by asking John what it meant to him to be a part of 2 different cultures. He answered with a classic response of: “It means that I can draw upon 2 different worlds.” Everyone that I know that is a part of 2 cultures feels the same way, including myself. One part of the interview that really stood out to me was when I asked John if he embraced one culture more than another. He responded without any hesitation: “American culture without a doubt. Spending all my life here, I live and breathe America culture.” I followed up by asking him if he ever felt different out of place when he was growing up. “I'm born and raised in America, but there have always been people who treated me like a foreigner.”
“Growing up, many of stereotypes included the following: people asking me if I eat dog, telling me that we all look the same, etc.” I noticed that John had said this statement so casually, almost as if it no longer affected him anymore. We both shared a lot of our experiences in which we were ridiculed for being Chinese. John told me that a white man and his son pointed and laughed at my friend just because she was Asian. It was evident that John was disgusted by this, but he said that the worst part is that these people probably don’t comprehend how much their actions affect the way we live our lives. I asked John to explain how being an American born Chinese impacted his life either negatively or positively. Instead of ranting about the disadvantages of being a minority, he explained how he learned to be more aware and sensitive to minority issues. It was amazing to listen to how he explained why he enjoyed being a minority and how he has learned from it. “A disadvantage is that you're caught in the middle. You're never completely Chinese because why would you be? You grew up here in the U.S. so you have way more in common with other Americans. On the other hand, many Americans will never see you as anything but a foreigner.” I don’t think there are better words to describe the identity struggle that American born Chinese kids have to go through than these. I know for a fact that every child along with me and John has contemplated their true identity and coming to the harsh conclusion that we are neither truly American nor Chinese. Before we ended the interview, John wanted to add to the interview a message that he had for young American born Chinese students. “Keep your head up. Always love who you are.” A powerful message that I know I wished another American born Chinese had said to me as I was growing up.