Tesserae: Love Letters to Asian American Communities Vol. 2

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Alyssa Martinez

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Love Letter to a Chinese-American Adoptee

By Kate Byrne You may be treated like you are part of a monolithic group But identity formation is nuanced and unique to you You are culturally American, ethnically Chinese Raised as white, labeled “honorary white” Your adoptive family may ignore your race Or lovingly engage with it Do you feel grateful or conflicted about being adopted?

Your friends may think of you as white And ignore your embodied person of color status “Asian, but the whitest Asian ever, but I can’t just throw on a white mask” Do experience anti-Asian racism?

Do you feel guilty for claiming you are Chinese because you do not feel connected to your heritage?

Do you face a “dilemma of authenticity”, a “cultural limbo”?

Not white enough or Asian enough To white strangers, you are Chinese, To Chinese strangers, you are American In China, or to Chinese immigrants, you are “less Chinese” Do you feel too privileged for some groups and too oppressed for others?; You may be assigned a narrative of being “damaged” But really, you are resilient You may be told of your “not-enoughness” But you define who you are You are loved, you are whole, you are enough

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