Group items tagged

Eric Liu is an Asian American: "I never asked to be white. I am not literally white. That is, I do not have white skin or white ancestors. I have yellow skin and yellow ancestors, hundreds of generations of them. But like so many other Asian Americans of the second generation, I find myself now the bearer of a strange new status: white, by acclamation."

Eric Liu is an Asian American: "I never asked to be white. I am not literally white. That is, I do not have white skin or white ancestors. I have yellow skin and yellow ancestors, hundreds of generations of them. But like so many other Asian Americans of the second generation, I find myself now the bearer of a strange new status: white, by acclamation."

Eric Liu's essay examines the meaning of assimilation, and what it means to be a "banana", an Asian American who identifies as white.

Robert Rodriguez's memoir, "The Hunger of Memory" (1982) is an account of his painful separation from the Spanish-speaking world of his family in his journey to becoming a fully assimilated American.