The cultural relations inside and outside the Asian and black populations have been swiftly shifted into focus as the nationwide movements towards police abuse, increasing occurrences of anti-Asian discrimination, and the election of Sen. Kamala Harris as Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate.
Myra Washington, assistant vice president for faculty equity and diversity at the University of Utah said that the circumstances of the Blasians are not anomalies. "Everything they are is a very specific example of something we are all doing, which at one moment is navigating and negotiating our own identity."
This summer, as the Black Lives Matter campaign got attention, communities addressed the misconception, colorism, and colonialism of the minority group to explain how the backgrounds of both Black and Asian populations have transformed how we communicate today. Young Asian Americans encouraged themselves in their own communities and families to fight anti-Blackness. Moreover, the candidacy of Harris and the following efforts to classify her posed a question to which multiracial individuals around the United States have yet to respond: What does it mean to be both?
Myra Washington- Korean and Black
Myra Washington, who is both Black and Korean, has always been interested in knowing how multiracial people, specifically Black Asians, are viewed by the community. Such curiosity drove her to research Black-Asian identities in graduate school and eventually wrote the novel, "Blasian Invasion: Racial Mixing in the Celebrity Industrial Complex."
"We all have multiple identities that we are always negotiating," said Washington, saying these are the facts "whether we identify monoracially, or as biracial or multiracial."
The project showed her a lack of perspective surrounding identity and race conversations; however, these issues are not limited to multiracial people.
Laya DeLeon Hayes- Black and Filipino
A 16-year-old actress and Doc McStuffins' voice on a Disney series, Laya DeLeon Hayes, stated her parents never took her aside for "the talk" of being multiracial. As she grew up, her mother's Philippine identity and her father's Black culture were explored through food, family, and common history.
As an actress, she said this political period has helped her understand the repressed discrimination that continuously persists in her industry. Oftentimes, she's the only woman of color in the room whenever she goes to auditions.
Hayes stated that her family inspired her to connect with both Black and Filipino background as the Black Lives Matter movement rose over the summer. In the Philippines, during her first study with her mother, Hayes discovered the idealization of white appearances and fair skin in Asia.
"It was incredibly sad for me to hear," Hayes stated. "I've been Black my entire life, so it's never something that I had to really think about. So, I've always felt that's who I was, and that there was nothing wrong with it, that everybody was just as accepting. I think this year, I've learned that that's not always the case."
Jean Noble- Black and Sri Lankan Tamil
Jenn Noble has a lot to tell on how America misconceives and, in a way, stereotypes the experiences of multiracial individuals as a psychologist, whose profession involves working in collaborative efforts with multiracial children as well as their parents.
Noble, who is Black and Sri Lankan Tamil, claimed this could be an incredibly challenging experience for multiracial adolescents who do not have enough time to explore their identities - in which she stated that her family motivated her to do.
"There's this idea that just by virtue of being mixed, people are lost and alone," she stated. She continued that the issues multiracial individuals struggle with also emerge from the pressure to match their identities in a box.
Noble also said that the growing multiracial recognition and visibility would lead to raising public awareness. However, she warned against the notion that multiracial people's mere presence implies that racism is no longer a concern.
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