Although I might not look like it, I’m culturally Chinese. My mom is Chinese, my dad is white. My sisters and I were raised in a pretty stereotypically Chinese way. We went to Chinese school, took piano lessons, went to weekly math tutoring, celebrated Lunar New Year and spent our summers filling out workbooks to “get ahead” for next year. We frequently went to dim sum, and some of my favorite memories of sharing meals with my family consist of sitting around a lazy Susan and ticking off the boxes of all the items I want to order.
While I take great pride in my biracial identity, it is also an insecurity of mine and a part of my identity that I am trying to feel more confident and comfortable in. As a white presenting but culturally Chinese person, it is hard to feel that I completely belong in some spaces that are designated for people of either one or the other culture.
My sisters and I each look like varying levels of Wasian. On the spectrum of Chinese to white, my oldest sister is very Chinese-looking and my younger sister is somewhat so — and anyone who knows me will attest that I’m solidly on the white end. My sisters and I also each connect with our Chinese heritage in different ways. My older sister, for example, studied abroad in Shanghai over a summer, continued learning Mandarin long after I stopped and wants to live and work in China in the future. She and my younger sister were both leaders of the Asian Culture Clubs in their respective high schools. I was a member of mine, but I didn’t feel comfortable applying to be a leader as I felt the club should have an Asian-appearing figurehead. When I visit China, or even walk through various Chinatowns in the United States, I feel like my mom and sisters look like they belong while I’m trailing behind with my dad, sticking out from everyone else.
At Oxy, we have several racial and ethnic student identifying clubs, like the Black Student Alliance, Latine Student Union and Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Association. But more than 11% of our student body identifies as mixed race, and yet we haven’t had a mixed student club this academic year. There was a Mixed Identifying Student Club (MISC) last year, but it is now inactive.
Especially with Trump’s executive order targeting DEI initiatives in schools, it is more important than ever to ensure students on campus can continue to hold racial and ethnic affinity spaces and clubs. The Trump administration has given schools and universities an ultimatum to disband DEI initiatives or risk losing federal funding. Although President Stritikus assured Oxy students and staff last week in an email that the executive order will not directly affect spaces and individuals on campus, it is obvious that students within these targeted communities may be feeling vulnerable and frightened about the state of affairs in our nation.
Reflecting on my own experience of being multiracial, I am so grateful my parents were able to marry in 2001. It is important to remember that interracial marriage was only made legal in all states in 1967 when the Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia that state laws banning interracial marriage were unconstitutional. Now, interracial marriages are more and more common. Since the overturning of the miscegenation laws, the percentage of interracial newlyweds has increased by more than a factor of four. And as such, the prevalence of mixed-race people is also shooting up. According to the Pew Research Center, the population of adults with a white and Asian background increased by 87% just between 2000 and 2010.
This increase of mixed people is certainly reflected at Oxy. Multiracial people, even those of the same ‘combination’ of races, can look extremely different from each other. Just like people of one single race, we are varied and have nuances within our mixed-race identity. My personal ethnic identity does not stem from my appearance, but my lived cultural experiences. I view my identity as a lifelong journey where I will allow myself to change how I feel about my mixed identity.
Navigating a mixed identity, whether racial or not, can be difficult, as I’m sure many people can relate to. We may all look different, but I have a feeling many of us face the same challenges of not feeling like they belong in one space or another. And this highlights one key statement: we need to bring the Mixed Identifying Student Club back. Clubs at Oxy come and go as students graduate or turn their interests elsewhere, but having a space where multiracial students can support one another, find a sense of community, celebrate our multiple cultures and find that sense of belonging is necessary.
Contact Ashley MacDonald at macdonalda@oxy.edu
I’m sad to hear that the Multi club / Mixed Club at Oxy seems to be no more! As a recent graduate (2021) and also a Wasian, I remember going to a few meetings of this club while at Oxy. I hope you are successful in bringing the club back!