r/hapas

i’ve been seeing a lot of tiktoks on ppl discussing their perspectives on the NYC wasian meetup, and i wanted to share mine & hear the perspectives of other wasians as well.

if you’re not aware, heres what i understand happened from the videos i’ve seen:
there was a large wasian meetup in NYC. The event was advertised as a wasian meetup and the vast majority of those who attended were wasian. For those who were wasian, the majority of them were white/east asian. There were some other mixed asians in attendance. The event is being held under scrutiny because other mixed asians feel as though the event centers whiteness. From my understanding, this claim is what the discourse centers on. Some say that because other mixed asians were allowed to attend, there is no problem to have a meetup catered to the wasian demographic. Others feel that the surge of wasians becoming an overly represented demographic in popular media when compared to other mixed asian demographics is a reflection of racial hierarchy. Of course, representation is important for everyone, i think it would be bad-faith to say that those who feel that this event centers whiteness don’t want to see wasian representation. I believe people are just tired of the racial hierarchy that society can’t seem to shake.

In my opinion, i do think the event does center whiteness and the timing leaves a poor taste in my mouth. Wasians have been garnering a lot of attention in popular culture recently while other mixed asian ppls experiences arent given a second thought. Wasians are unambiguously centered when it comes to mixed asian identity; having a large scale wasian event that claims to be inclusive to all mixed asians absolutely centers whiteness. This doesn't mean that wasians dont go through specific experiences or struggles that they can connect with eachother on, i just think during aapi month we should be more mindful and uplift all mixed asian experiences if we are connecting on the basis of being bi/ multiracial

Let me know what you all think if you want to weigh in.

I’m half Vietnamese and half white, and I don’t look Asian at all. My mom is southern viet so she doesn’t hv that Asian look. ( look up the dif between north Vietnamese vs south Vietnamese people) So I have double eye lids, a very tall, and straight nose and overall just look white. ( I’ve even gotten Latin before) but I hate that I don’t look Asian. I lowkey wish I had monolids or something to make my facial features look Asian descent. I feel so excluded from my viet cultural bc I don’t look like I come from it at all.

Archive link: https://archive.is/rKW85

Choice quotes:

>Wasia’s popularity is insidious because the identity will always be defined in relation to whiteness. You can’t be Wasian without the hard 'W.' And that distinction matters more than it might seem.

>You cannot include whiteness in your label and then claim to represent everyone.
Compare that term to any of the other Asian identity markers that actually did political work. The term Hapa was a political tool used by Hawiians to build solidarity across ‘mixed’ Asian communities under colonial rule. Identity markers like Asian-American or AAPI emerged in the 1960s from the pan-Asian solidarity movement against white supremacy. These were identities built in opposition to something. Wasian is built in proximity to something. Specifically, whiteness.

>So, then, what cultural and political weight does ‘Wasian’ hold?

>When Icelandic-Chinese singer Laufey exclusively featured fellow Wasians in her “Madwoman” music video, she framed it as representation: "Growing up, I felt a general lack of representation for people who looked like me in music and media." But representation of what, exactly? A phenotype? Because if Wasian identity begins and ends with aesthetics, that’s eugenics.

There’s a lot of discourse about the wasian meet up recently, and I agree with many in thinking that it’s weird to make the event about wasians and not mixed asians in general. Not because we don’t deserve a space for ourselves, but because our defining experience as wasians (cultures clashing in our heads, not belonging anywhere) is shared by all mixed asians. There’s no reason why we should be excluding people who share our experiences just because they aren’t part white. We all know that mixed people aren’t often represented nor have spaces for that experience, and that when mixed people are represented, they’re usually half white. Because of this, whenever we create events, clubs, etc, we should advertise it as open to all mixed asians/people. There could be a wasian sector in the event, and sectors for each racial identity.

That being said, some of the discourse goes too far. I saw a popular post say something like “the term wasian itself centers whiteness”. This is not true. It is just a descriptor, and to assume our identity centers whiteness is ironically a way of centering whiteness. Each of us choose what culture/identity we lean into (to the extent that we have a choice), and what we advocate for. It is not wrong to claim an identity for yourself. But it is wrong to create public events and spaces that exclude people with similar experiences, just because they don’t share the same phenotype. Creating a wasian only meetup event centers whiteness, being wasian does not.

Maternal side is very patriotic as Filipinos. Anyone grew up with this?

do any of the other top multiracial names ring Hapa to you? if you look through the table there's very strong Hawaiian and Japanese representation (Nanea and Taiyo are the most multiracial names in the entire 2020 US Census).

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