Stephy Chung is the Asia editor of CNN style. This week, Hyphenated starts a new series that explores the complex issue of minority identity in the United States.
America is more diverse today than ever before, but for many minorities growing up with a separate concept of identity means grappling with a sense of belonging that is constantly being questioned both internally and externally – “Where are you really from?”
Some of us who span cultures choose to choose parts of our heritage while others choose to vote them down. Some of us reject a page altogether, while others can move freely between different social behaviors, traditions, and languages with ease.
The use of a hyphen to denote our double or multiple identity is in itself controversial. The trend in recent years to remove it from writing style manuals recognizes that the symbol can represent bias or otherness.
But whether it’s Chinese-American, for example, or just Chinese-American, the suggestion that we’re different doesn’t go away. We are not one or the other, we are both. The connection is our lived experience and we should be proud of that.
Right now, Asian Americans are facing a terrible wave of hate crimes across the country. But as devastating as they are, our communities are meeting right now – marching into the streets, demanding more from the media, more from politicians, and creating the racism we have long internalized.
And in the creative space, filmmakers, photographers, artists and designers are forging a more inclusive culture that is representative of what America really looks like. Your often powerful work says that we belong here, this is us, these are our dreams. And that’s exactly what the new CNN Style series “Hyphenated” wants to explore.
From the use of “Chop Suey” fonts that perpetuated problematic stereotypes to Miss Chinatown beauty pageants and their Cold War origins, this first series of stories focuses on Asian Americans, and more to come. Eventually, we’ll expand the series to cover other dual identity groups in America and their unique perspectives.
The fight against racism is an urgent matter. And in our little way, through this project, we hope to help develop a better understanding of what it means to be an American in all of its beautiful complexities.
See the series here.
