1. In chapter 2 reading called “Who Am I? Creating an Asian American Identity and Culture” William Wei is stating a common problem that many Asian Americans have experienced at one point in their life. His main argument is revolving around a problem where Asian Americans were being denied of their entitlement as a true American citizens. What that means is that even though many Asian Americans have been born in America or have been living in the United States for a long time, they are still unable to feel like they are a part of the American society. They are denied of the benefits that many Americans have such as being free of being judge base on the basis of their appearance. This ultimately made their lives harder than how it should have been because of the claim that the Founder Fathers promises, which is the protection for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. The result of this forces many Asian Americans to strip of their identity in order to truly morph with their society.
2. In order to convey his argument appropriately, one statement that he makes is when he stated that “most people assumed that Asian Americans were beneficiaries of both American and Asian cultures — the best of two worlds” (47). He sets up his argument by stating the assumptions that many people assumed about Asian Americans. Then, he disprove this assumption by saying that “many Asian Americans concluded that they felt confused about who they were” (46). This is especially true among Asian American who were born in the United States. America is the only place that they know but they still do not feel belong because of all the prejudice around them. The idea of “the best of two worlds is far from reach and in fact, they would feel the opposite, where they do not feel like they are Asian nor American.
3. After the Immigration Act passed in 1924, Asian Americans were refer to as “unassimilable aliens” (48). These two words truly describe how Asian immigrants and their children feel living in the United States. Asian Americans were not only viewed as “aliens” they were also portrayed as evil human beings who have no good intentions among the mass media. Of course all those things are just assumptions, but it makes a big difference in Asian Americans lives as they all feel not belong to the country that they are currently live in. Another term that William Wei uses the most in his essay is “Asian American”. This term describes a person who identifies as both Asian and American. This term also carries a lot of irony itself because during the 1900s, Asian were being disregard as being true American even though their title regard to them as “Americans”.
4. I’ve watched the Wong Fu Production which is a YouTube channel created by a group of Asian American for as long as I can remember. They constantly address the idea of how Asian Americans male are portray as “undesirable” and “nerdy”. Asian female are on the other hand portrayed as “picky” and “mysterious”. Their YouTube channel is dedicated to fight back the prejudice that have exist for a long time and they are gaining many supports from young Asian Americans.
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