Source: Teen Vogue
Orginial Link: What Does It Mean to Be AAPI? 12 Young People Reflect on Their Identities | Teen Vogue
Myla Taylor, 22: “Being in a small Southern town, I grew up wanting to fit in and hated being seen as an outsider. But when I got to L.A., [I realized] the things that made me unique are what I love about myself.”
Joyce Lam, Kaimore Group, 26: “So much of my identity has been shaped by my parents’ sacrifice to immigrate to this country, and I want to pay it forward by building better opportunities for this community.”
Mia Nham, program coordinator for health access at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, 23: “The darkness of the last year and the attack in Georgia has unified us Asian women to stand up and protect each other beyond this temporary moment. That is the light I found in this dark time.”
Richelle Caday, USC student, coordinator of the Asian Pacific American Student Assembly, founder of the Southeast Asian Student Coalition, 22: “As a low-income, first-generation woman of color at a predominantly white institution, there were many times when I felt out of place amidst the greater student body. Luckily, I was able to find various communities and pockets of campus where I felt at home, especially within the AAPI community.”
Tally Phuong Ho, public health master’s student at California State University Fullerton, 25: “I’m proud to be an Asian American, and I’m glad that I could come here to achieve the ‘American Dream,’ but I hope future generations don’t have to go through what I went through.”
Melissa Tungare, 21: “Being a singer and [an] actor, as a brown nonbinary person, is a revolutionary act. So is being an activist. I do both to survive.”
Brian M. Kim, 21, student at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts: “Back home, I’m a proud Korean. In the U.S., I simply became an ‘Asian.’ But how can you possibly categorize people from tens of different countries and backgrounds into one simple word without losing the essence of who they are?”
Joyce Seoyoung Jang, USC student, co-president of the Student Coalition for Asian Pacific Empowerment, 21: “I define my community as much as it defines me. I can’t say that the Korean community doesn’t have queer folks because in seeing myself there, I know that isn’t true. I am there, and so are others.”
Elizabeth Yin, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, 21
Alissa Thanh-Thao Nguyen, 22: “Growing up, it was also difficult seeing beauty standards [favor] white features and thinking that because I was Asian, I would never be beautiful. I wanted so badly to be white so I could be pretty with big blue eyes and blonde hair. It took a lot of unlearning to find beauty in myself.”
Sarah Kageyama, Palisades Charter High School student and member of Congressman Ted Lieu’s Youth Advisory Council, 18: “I think that a lot of people have begun to lose hope in a better future. But I don’t think we can afford to. Hope it what drives us to push for change.”
