Selena Truong ASTU 100A

In a globalizing world, racial and nationalistic identities are more frequently becoming compounded and dynamic. In this blog, I will be discussing a submission from, “The Race Card Project”, an archival site created by Michele Norris, in which invites Americans to add to the conversation about race and their experiences. I will be discussing this submission in relation to Fred Wah’s concept and commentary of a “hyphenated identity”.

Wah explains in his biotext, Diamond Grill, that a hyphenated identity, such as being “ChineseHYPHENCanadian”, is a “real problem for multiculturalism”, for people usually perceive it as “a sign of impurity”. He adds that oftentimes the hyphen is “erased”, and people are identified as only one part of their identity, suggesting that the “parts” are “not equal to the whole” (178). For example, Wah is Canadian, but of both Swedish and Chinese decent; throughout Diamond Grill he explains his struggle of not being seen as Chinese in Chinese communities and for being seen as Chinese and discriminated against by people in white communities. The “inbetweenness” (179) and the idea that the hyphen places one in a “no-man’s land”, or is a “stain”, is solely determined by one’s perception that one must be undivided in order to be “whole” (178). The issue is not the hyphen itself; the hyphen connects people to the multiple layers of their identity. However, as Wah mentioned, it is a “problem for multiculturalism” (178) simply because of the intolerance that some have for an identity that does not follow the typical binary rules in which segregate us.

However, Fred Wah’s struggle is not uncommon. Many other people with hyphenated identities are having to deal with racism and ignorance. For example, in a submission on “The Race Card Project”, Shagun Doshi, a woman from Naperville, Illinois, explains that although she was born and raised in America and sees herself as American, people continuously only see her for how she appears on the outside (Norris). Consequently, she is often asked, “No, where are you really from?” when she answers American instead of Indian. However, she explains that not only white people made the assumptions, but Indian people as well as they would start to speak to her in Hindi, a language she does not understand. Although the solution to this problem may seem simple, it is not. Another submission on “The Race Card Project”, by Brianna Leander from Texas, suggests a solution as she writes, “I don’t see color, only culture” (Norris). However, this does not solve the ambiguity of certain identities, for culture can be hyphenated as well. In Doshi’s case, she explains that her Indian culture “influences a lot of [her] values and beliefs” but that the American culture she has been brought up in “also attributes for [her] personality and views” (Norris). Doshi not only is hyphenated through her race being “100% brown” and her home country being the U.S., but she is hyphenated in having an Indian-American culture as well. Identities are complex and each part constitutes who we are as a whole. Therefore, the issue is not having a multifaceted identity, but being reduced by others who see the hyphen as a “mi-nus mark, not an equal sign” (Wah 179).

With the frequent mixes of race and culture in present time, it is often no longer easy to define an identity. Therefore, it is important that we become accepting of parts of a hyphenated identity by respecting them as equivalent to each whole. However, with all said, perhaps the best solution to this racism and ignorance is simply to not assume, but ask.

–If you are interested in this topic, I urge you to check out Merial’s blog post, which also discusses Fred Wah’s concept of a “hyphenated identity”.

Works Cited

Wah, Fred. Diamond Grill. Landmark edition. NeWest Press, 2008. Print.

Norris, Mellisa. The Race Card Project. theracecardproject.com. Accessed 19 March 2017.