Within this week I went to a mobilization at Hing Hay Park where speakers from many communities gathered to denounce violence against Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Speakers pushed for action against racism and were adamant in reminding people that “we belong here” just as any other group does.
Between this, my enrollment in EDUC 401K “Filipinx on Indigenous Land”, and the news of the Filipino Community of Seattle Center planning a mural with the poem “I Want the Wide American Earth” by Carlos Bulosan as its centerpiece, I have had many questions about what it means to be Asian American, specifically Filipinx American, and what this yearning to claim America as our own means.
On one hand, I get it. Many people had goals to immigrate to the United States and seek a better life, oftentimes through assimilation or acculturation. To be “American” was to separate yourself from your hardship, to start anew, and become anything you want. Many were seeking refuge from violence in their countries (often violence that the U.S. had hands in). The stark reality of trying to become “American” however was that “American” was denoted to white. If you weren't white, you weren't American, even if you were born in America.
Nowadays, I feel that members of our generation have started to move away from this “claiming American” sentiment. We don't care for the title of American because we know clinging to American identity is aligning ourselves with the imperialist empire that displaced us and other marginalized groups. What does it mean to be Asian “American” on stolen Indigenous land? Land that birthed racialized capitalism through the exploitation of stolen African and Black American labor? Why do we need to “fit into American society” to survive? Even if we “succeed” in America, we will still be racially discriminated against and oppressed. Even if we “fit into America”, the countries where our families come from are exploited and negatively impacted by US Imperialism. So what if we were born here, does that give us any more of a right to claim this land? Does this make us any less complicit in settler colonialism?
Based on these questions and various readings from my classes, I have come to the conclusion that I could care less about claiming my “right” to be American. I care more about our communities' safety regardless of the U.S. seeing us as one of them. I care more about being in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and true decolonization. Most of all, I care more about ensuring that marginalized groups worldwide get the justice and liberation they deserve.
