For my second interview I interviewed Jennifer Wang, a freshman here at Emory. Since in my first interview I chose a male I decided to interview to reduce sampling bias. Immediately I noticed that Jennifer had a much brighter perspective on being an American born Chinese student. When I asked her what it meant for her to be an American born Chinese student she answered with, “It means I get to teach others about one of the cultures I’m a part of. I’m helping my parents integrate into American culture and I’m teaching classmates about Chinese culture.” She started off the conversation not about the downsides she has to endure as an American born Chinese, but she lists how she can use this to help others and people around her. I know that it would’ve been hard for me to start off a conversation about being minority with that outlook; I knew that she was going to bring something completely different to the table about her childhood compared to my first interviewee.
Jennifer transitioned to talking about growing up in a community in which she “didn’t feel different or out of place because the area also had a lot of Asian Americans as well.” She said she always felt at home growing up. This is very different from most minorities’ stories about growing up; there is almost always a couple times where they feel like outsiders growing up in American society. I noticed that we had spent a couple of minutes after that just talking about her life before college. It was obvious that she has loved where she grew up and it was so fascinating to listen to someone talk about a community where they thought that they were born to belong in. The feeling of home is something that everyone in the world desires and should deserve. Minority or not, home is one of the most joyful feelings you can feel.
After talking about her community, we discussed her upbringing. “My parents encourage me to embrace American culture more just so I’ll be more prepared in the future. When I was young, my mom didn't read me stories because she didn't want me to have a Chinese accent when I was older.” While Jennifer and I both laughed at this comment about her Mom, we knew that her mother did that to help Jennifer not develop an accent that many minorities have. Her Dad also raised her in a certain way so that she would avoid disadvantages of being a minority. “My dad works on Wall Street and he also pushed me to be more American because he knows how sometimes the more American you appear the more likely you'll be successful.” A tragic, alleged claim that is believed by many minority families far too often. I asked Jennifer to explain some of the stereotypes that she has endured as an American born Chinese. She responded with: “Some good academic stereotypes attached to being Chinese and sometimes I try to follow them, I don't think I should be ashamed of working hard or doing well in school and sometimes I use those stereotypes to motivate myself.” Once again she responded with the positives first, which was very astonishing to me because of the negative connotations that the term “stereotypes” have.
Jennifer wanted to send a message to others: “embrace the positive stereotypes and use them to motivate you. Never be ashamed of where you're from.” This is something that Jennifer demonstrates very well and something that everyone can learn from.
Jennifer transitioned to talking about growing up in a community in which she “didn’t feel different or out of place because the area also had a lot of Asian Americans as well.” She said she always felt at home growing up. This is very different from most minorities’ stories about growing up; there is almost always a couple times where they feel like outsiders growing up in American society. I noticed that we had spent a couple of minutes after that just talking about her life before college. It was obvious that she has loved where she grew up and it was so fascinating to listen to someone talk about a community where they thought that they were born to belong in. The feeling of home is something that everyone in the world desires and should deserve. Minority or not, home is one of the most joyful feelings you can feel.
After talking about her community, we discussed her upbringing. “My parents encourage me to embrace American culture more just so I’ll be more prepared in the future. When I was young, my mom didn't read me stories because she didn't want me to have a Chinese accent when I was older.” While Jennifer and I both laughed at this comment about her Mom, we knew that her mother did that to help Jennifer not develop an accent that many minorities have. Her Dad also raised her in a certain way so that she would avoid disadvantages of being a minority. “My dad works on Wall Street and he also pushed me to be more American because he knows how sometimes the more American you appear the more likely you'll be successful.” A tragic, alleged claim that is believed by many minority families far too often. I asked Jennifer to explain some of the stereotypes that she has endured as an American born Chinese. She responded with: “Some good academic stereotypes attached to being Chinese and sometimes I try to follow them, I don't think I should be ashamed of working hard or doing well in school and sometimes I use those stereotypes to motivate myself.” Once again she responded with the positives first, which was very astonishing to me because of the negative connotations that the term “stereotypes” have.
Jennifer wanted to send a message to others: “embrace the positive stereotypes and use them to motivate you. Never be ashamed of where you're from.” This is something that Jennifer demonstrates very well and something that everyone can learn from.