에므리

I saw the music video for Amerie's "One Thing," and noticed something interesting: she has her name tatooed in Korean on her back. Turns out she's actually half-Korean -- her Korean mother married an African-American serviceman.

Bicultural people interest me, not the least because I might be raising one or more sometime in the future. I realize growing up between two cultures can be a tough thing, and I worry about it. In Asia, mothers of mixed children are sometimes scorned -- they can be a painful reminder of Western imperialism and military prostition. It's not so bad if the man is white, but if the man's skin is dark, well, Amerie's mother must have had a lot of courage....

The bicultural experience is different from that of "hyphenated Americans" and adoptees. For adoptees, there's an internal question about who they are and where they're from, but there's not often a lot of external difficulty. "Oh, you were adopted. OK." People understand that. For "hyphens," there's less of an internal question, and more of an external one. "What are you?" and then, "Huh? What's Hmong?"

For biculturals, they know both legacies, but the lines are blurred, as much by others as by themselves. They end up with both questions, and it's not like they can get answers from their parents or by hanging out with people like them -- they pretty much have to figure it all out for themselves. Amerie can't just "be Korean" because she doesn't look Korean, nor can she deny her Korean heritage and exclusively "be black." The Korean word gyopo (교포,僑胞, "overseas Korean") doesn't apply for her, though the difference between her and a gyopo might only be skin deep.

Biculturalism brings up difficult issues about how we relate to each other as individuals and within cultural groups. In Korea, I met two girls in the children's class at church who spoke English very well, though they had a French father and a Mexican mother. I was thoroughly confused -- I didn't even know what language I should talk to them in.

In spite of the challenge they present to more ... nationalistic(?) parents, bi -or multi- cultural children are the embodiment of a wonderful concept -- that humanity can exist without the limiting borders of culture, language, and nationality. That we can escape the prejudices handed down by the past, and simply accept others for who they are, knowing that underneath everything we are all the same.

This gives me great hope for my future kids. Though they may not be "American" in the same way I see myself, as children of the world they will undoubtedly be a better global citizens than I am.

[For more info, follow the link Mitzi Uehara-Carter's essay "On Being Blackanese"]