Question of Identity: Who has the right to call oneself Asian?

Mixed cast of 'Crazy Rich Asian' left to right: Chinese/Brit Gemma Chan, Malaysian/Brit Henry Golding, and Chinese/American Constance Wu.

Originally published Dec. 6, 2017

WHO IS ASIAN? What makes someone Asian? How much of you have to be Asian to be able to call yourself Asian? Three-fourths? One-half? One-eighth?

Do you have to look a certain way in order to call yourself Asian?

In any of the dozens of countries that make up Asia that is not a question they have to grapple with because they are mostly homogeneous. However, polyglot America is built  on the back of immigrants from every country in the world. With the United States' myriad number of racial interactions, it is a question that comes up frequently and how you answer defines your sense of "just-who-the-hell you are."

Of course, it would be wonderful if the question never was asked, but the U.S. is not at the stage where it can ignore questions of race.

Most recently, the question arose in a little Twitter spat between actress Jaime Chung and Henry Golding, who was cast in the lead male role in the upcoming movie Crazy Rich Asians, based on on the best-selling novel of the same name.

When Golding, who is half-white (Malaysian British) but born and raised in Malaysia, was awarded with the pivotal role of Nick Young in the movie, Asian American actress Cheung threw some shade in his direction because of his mixed heritage and he wasn't Chinese enough as described in the novel.

Jaime Chung

Golding was reportedly hurt by the comments. “There are many arguments, for and against. Am I Asian enough? he told Variety from Singapore. "I was born here, I have lived 17 years of my life here, so for me, I feel more Asian than anything," . 

The two have apparently made up. Chung, who's plays Blink in the TV series The Gifted, apologized  last week for her earlier comments against Golding's casting.

The question, who can claim to be Asian, is not going away, especially in the U.S. as members of the AAPI community, especially among the youth, struggle with identity.

 In response, Golding accepted Cheung's apology.

Asian Americans are not the first to face this dilemma. It is a question that  African Americans have struggled with for centuries and continues even today.

The universal answer has long been that an African American, or black, is any person with any known African black ancestry. 

From slavery and into the Jim Crow era, it became the "one-drop rule:" if a person has a single drop of "black blood," it makes a person black.

The question, "Who is Asian?" can have many answers, but Asians and Asian Americans are not the first to have to face this question of identity. One way it can be answered is to see how the African American community handled the question 'Who is black?" 

This definition reflects the long experience with slavery and later with Jim Crow segregation. In the South it became known as the "one-drop rule,'' meaning that a single drop of "black blood" makes a person a black. It is also known as the "one black ancestor rule," some courts have called it the "traceable amount rule," and anthropologists call it the "hypo-descent rule," meaning that racially mixed persons are assigned the status of the subordinate group. This definition emerged from the American South to become the nation's definition, generally accepted by whites and blacks.

Still it is a question raised whenever an African/American reached a level of prominence.

There was never any doubt that Beyoncé is black, but the question arises, is she black enough?

She shouldn't have to answer but in her private life of activism in her support of Black Lives Matter and other issues and, most notably, in her music, there is no doubt where she stands. 

It is not the first time she has declared her blackness, but when something like her song  "Formation" comes along — unapologetically black, proud, Southern, political — everyone, even those ignoring her identity as a black woman and not just some post-racial music star, has to take note. There's nothing shy or subtle about it. She proclaims:

My daddy Alabama, momma Louisiana 

You mix that negro with that Creole 

make a Texas bamma 

I like my baby hair, 

with baby hair and afro,

I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils

Beyoncé uses "Formation" to remind listeners and viewers that although she's a wealthy entertainer, and she has mixed roots, she's still very much aware of and involved in the struggles faced by people who resemble her. 

Our last president, Barack Obama -- raised in a predominantly Asian American culture of Hawaii and spending a few years in Malaysia, the stepson of a Malaysian man, whose sister is half Malaysian, whose nephews, nieces and in-laws are unquestionably Asian American -- faced the question when he began his campaign for presidency.

He wasn't raised in the "African/American experience," said some members of the black community. His early critics said: He doesn't speak like us. He's doesn't know what it feels like to  be raised as a black man in America.

Beyoncé

In his eight years as president, he answered the question again and again. Now he is revered within the African American community as the first black man to be elected POTUS.

As Asian Americans -- a term new Asian immigrants must learn to understand -- if not embrace, we have distinctions between East Asians, South Asians, Southeast Asians, and even more if you break down into the  subgroups.  What we can conclude is that nobody can claim to be the "true" Asian.

To add to the debate, there is the question of Asians of mixed heritage, like Golding. Is he Asian enough?

In the early days of the Asian American civil rights movement, the question arose among some Chinese and Japanese activists, whether or not Filipinos are Asian. A new version of that debate continues today as new immigrants from South Asia try to figure out if they fit in with the more established East Asian community and as new immigrants from China question the motives of those who consider themselves Asian/Americans.

Is it enough that Hailee Steinfeld doesn't run away from the question, "Are you Filipino?" In an interview with a Manila newspaper, she said: “Very early on, I was made aware of how much passion and pride Filipinos put into anything. I feel so connected to the people and the culture."

Even though they proudly state they are Filipino, can the general Asian American community accept public figures like Steinfeld, Vanessa Hudgens, Bruno Mars, apl.de.ap, Enrique Iglesias,  Darren Criss or Lou Diamond Phillips as fellow Asian/Americans? Are they Asian enough?

Should we have a racial litmus test for other Asian Americans of mixed race such as California Sen. Kamala Harris, Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, actors Keanu Reeves and Sharon Leal, Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson, Cubs shortstop Addison Russell or Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin? Are they Asian enough?

Asian Americans don't have a Beyoncé or Obama to represent them. They can settle questions such as that being posed here. The aforementioned Asian American celebrities who have made their individual marks on U.S. society don't have the powerful media platforms of celebrities like Beyoncé or Obama, whose actions and prominence resoundingly answer the "who is black" question.

The "one-drop rule," adopted by African Americans, seems like a worthy example for Asians and Asian Americans. Likewise, if someone says he or she is Asian and there is a tiny iota of DNA evidence to confirm that, why should we question how that person perceives himself or herself no matter how they might appear? Why should that person be denied his or her self identity, especially when there are some "full-blooded" Asians called "bananas" or "coconuts" who try to not own up to their Asian roots? 

Asian Americans don't have the luxury to argue among themselves whether one is Asian enough to call themselves Asian. Mainstream America still sees Asians as one amorphous "inscrutable" mass made up of "others," foreigners or outsiders.

If an Asian American is fortunate enough to rise up and make a name for oneself -- mixed heritage or not -- to be noticed, praised or admired by the rest of America, we should see that as a door opening.

(And, to be clear, nor should those passing through that door, slam it shut behind them.)

"I was proud to be able to represent Asia," said Golding of his role in Crazy Rich Asians. "There are some sour people out there, but we should be getting together and fighting for something bigger, rather than Asians against Asians.”

The Twitter feud between Golding and Chung may be over, but the debate will certainly continue as we seek to find ourselves in this multi-racial country and as we inevitably interact with other races in a pluralistic America.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Edited throughout for clarity on Dec. 6, 11 a.m.)

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