AAPI Heritage Month: The Unique Loneliness of Being Asian American
We’re trapped between two worlds, but we will never fully belong in either.
As AAPI Heritage month comes to a close, I wanted to reflect upon my experience as an Asian American and our unique place in the world.
I wrote this piece for Huff Post from my motherland of South Korea, who I love so dearly but who doesn’t always love me back.
In the past month since I’ve been back in Seoul, I’ve been chastised for my tattoos by the ahjumma at the bathhouse who gave me my body scrub, stared at by strangers on the subway, and straight up just talked about by random old men. It’s hard not to feel like I stick out like a sore thumb. Although I’m used to this feeling of being othered in America, it’s a special kind of alienation when it’s from your own people.
Read the full piece here: I've Been Told To Go Back Where I Came From. Here's What I Wish I Could Explain.
When neither Asia nor America feel like home, Asian Americans of many different cultures have had to create our own distinct identity, as Asian Americans. We have different languages and traditions, but we are united in asking ourselves the same question I’ve asked myself for as long as I can remember: Where do I belong?
This is what so many fail to understand about the unique loneliness of being Asian in America: We’re trapped between two worlds, but we will never fully belong in either.