a response to a response to "But this is what I am..."

This is Matt. 

And this is how Matt responded to my entry "But that's what I am...":

A long long time ago...

An Asian woman sat in front of an American man who was berating her with diminutive questions. The woman was born in America, however her entire family and background is from China. The man wanted to know how she identified herself. He said, "Are you Chinese, or are you American"? She said I am not Chinese, I am not American & I am not Chinese American." The man looked at her puzzled, "Then you have no identity!" he said. The woman smiled with wisdom, "I am just a human being." The man responded with, "Then you are nothing, from nowhere."

The woman took sometime and recollected a story she had also heard, long long ago...

1,500 years ago when China was so-to-speak on top of the world, and a perennial force in the world, two wise men argued: "Is a white horse really a horse"? One man said that a horse is a horse, flat out. But the second we label that horse a "white" horse, it is no longer a horse. It is that very adjective or title that we hang over all walking things in life to cast them out, or set them aside.

Interesting, yeah?

For about a month and a half, I was grappling with ways to explain that I'm both American and Filipino...but is it really necessary? I guess not. Essentially, like the story said, we’re all just people. No matter the color, where we're from, whatever; when it comes down to it, we're all just people. But let’s be honest, the next time someone asks me where I come from, I’m not going to throw this email in her/his face and say, “boo yah”. It doesn’t work that way. People don't ask because their intent is to “cast [me] out or set [me] aside”. They're curious, that's all. 

In sum:

My position is still the same, I’m Filipino-American. I know it. You know it. Others will know it. But does it matter on the grand scale? Not really. Should it bother me if people assume “American” is synonymous with “white”? Not at all. Why? Because some people just don’t know and you can’t blame someone for something they aren't aware of.

Race is an institutionalized pillar in our society; we see color, we see differently shaped eyes, and we subconsciously categorize people based on physical characteristics. It's what we do and I don't think there’s anything wrong with it. In fact, I believe that being aware and still accepting of our differences is so much more amazing than "seeing no differences at all".

Thanks for sharing, MJ!