127. Embrace Your Culture... But Not Too Much

But Where Are You Really From?: An Asian-American Struggle

This 4th of July, we're pondering our Americanness from a different angle. As Taiwanese-Americans - in our case, born and raised in the U.S., with parents and extended family who were born and raised in Taiwan - to what extent should we be emphasizing the "Taiwanese" part of who we are?

Inspired by frequent comments we receive on social media from both non-Asian Americans as well as Asians in Asia, we're often told to stop talking about being Asian when we are "simply" American. But to what extent can we even exist as "just" American in a world where what we look like is constantly thrown in our faces in the U.S. as a way to question that Americanness? And to what extent should we discard the heritage of our family, given that we were raised on that culture and still have plenty of family back in the motherland?

Does America really embrace the supposed melting pot ideal that it was founded on, or is being American these days about erasing what makes us different to become something more monolithic?

This 4th of July, we invite you to also ponder over what it really means to be American for you, and how much of the culture your family comes from breathes life into that definition. Let us know what you think about all of this in the comments on our social media!

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