The Life and Times

Standing in front of the Eisenhower Executive Office

It was a long time coming but I finally made it to the White House on Thursday, January 12. Well, I made it to the Eisenhower Executive Office.

Lead by Eddie Lee, the associate director for the Office of Public Engagement, the White House held a leadership briefing for Asian-American and Pacific Islander youth from all over the country.

It was interesting to say the least. The briefing was extremely educational and informative, as you can imagine, but I learned a lot about myself that day:

1. I realized I don’t identify myself as “Asian-American.” - I know this sounds weird but bear with me. My family mostly stopped associating with other Asians when I was small and because of this, I never grew up around a lot of Asians. Sure, we went shopping at Korean grocery stores at least once a week and I always eat rice and kimchi, but it never went beyond that. In high school, I was the only Asian among my group of friends so I was okay with being one of the minorities and, in fact, I was proud of my heritage. However, when I arrived at the conference and found myself in the middle of a sea of faces that looked like mine, I realized I was extremely uncomfortable and thought that I did not have as much in common with most Asians. I don’t identify myself as being Asian or even Asian-American. It’s only my ethnicity, not my identity. I am Deborah Yi and that’s how I identify myself. I wan to just leave it at that.
2. The “model minority” stereotype is detrimental to our success - Just because I don’t consider myself really Asian doesn’t mean others feel that way either. And because people perceive me a certain way, they will hold certain beliefs that may not be in my favor. I used to think that the “model minority” stereotype was not too bad. I mean, as far as stereotypes go, it could be worse and I’d rather people assume I’m very smart than assume I’m a drug dealer or something. But then I found myself wanting to avoid the topic of my race when I started applying to colleges because I found that once I check “Asian” under the “ethnicity” box, I’d be opening myself up to a whole new world of competition and pedestal. This is not okay.
3. There’s a reason why I don’t want to leave the DMV area - The DC, Maryland, and Virginia area is one of the most diverse and accepting community I have ever lived in. Because of the diversity found here, stereotypes and racism (though it may exist) is not as bad as some of the other places that I recently found out about. People I met at the briefing told me that theirs was the only Asian family ini the area and are subjected to some of the worst forms of racism every single day. It’s sad but it also made me feel quite fortunate to be from an area where diversity is the norm

All in all, it was an amazing eye-opening experience and I feel incredibly lucky to have gone, and though it was my first time at the White House, I hope that it will not be my last :]