Day 28. Asian American Joy, By Yuri Yamamoto.

“No person from Asia shows up in the U.S. and automatically feels linked to people from other Asian countries. What binds us together? American racism. Racism is about dehumanizing us, but racial identity isn’t bad. Racism strips me of my humanity, and racial identity hands it right back. Racial identity is beautiful. Racial identity is powerful. God made us different and lovely and through the ugliness of white supremacy, some of us have found belonging.” -Laura Mariko Cheifetz, Race Gives Me Poetry

“Immigrants come to this country with our own languages, cultures, national and ethnic prides, histories and views of each other. I hardly knew anyone but Japanese in Japan and was ashamed of the atrocities my people had committed in various parts of Asia. For a long time I tiptoed around other Asians because of my shame. Yet I did not socialize with Japanese people, either, because they reminded me of things I did not like in Japan… I also struggled to find my place in the black-and-white dichotomy of race relations in the American South. In the meantime, my children had to figure out their place on their own while being exposed to daily Othering in school. By the time they were in high school, they were mostly hanging out with Asian American friends.” -Yuri Yamamoto

Learn More about Asian American Joy, By Yuri Yamamoto at (https://www.uua.org/braverwiser/multicultural-joy).

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