{"id":31901,"date":"2013-06-25T04:30:24","date_gmt":"2013-06-25T04:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=31901"},"modified":"2013-07-07T02:31:39","modified_gmt":"2013-07-07T02:31:39","slug":"you-don%e2%80%99t-have-to-be-mixed-race-to-have-a-mixed-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=31901","title":{"rendered":"You don\u2019t have to be mixed-race to have a mixed identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

You don\u2019t have to be mixed-race to have a mixed identity<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Seattle Globalist: Where Seattle Meets the World<\/a>
\n2013-06-24<\/p>\n

Maggie Thorpe<\/a><\/strong>, Graduate student in Japan Studies
\nUniversity of Washington<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Laura Kina, who is quoted throughout this post, disagrees with the representation of her perspective here. You can read her response<\/strong><\/a> in\u00a0the comments<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

A new exhibit at the Wing Luke museum is part of a growing movement that says our racial identity is a personal choice, not a fact of birth.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAren\u2019t you insulted by that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Tenjoma, 23, set down the rolled-out slab of Japanese noodle dough and looks at the blackboard specials beside him in the Seattle restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d asked the fifth-generation Japanese-American from Hawaii.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat!\u201d The irate customer pointed at the words \u201cJap. Satsuma Potato.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tenjoma let out a chuckle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has a period after the word \u2018Jap\u2019. There\u2019s nothing insulting about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The customer stormed away, irate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not Japanese,\u201d Tenjoma said after telling this story. \u201cWhenever I was in Japan, everyone kept asking me what I really was. But I\u2019d just answer that I\u2019m American. It seemed to bother everyone that I couldn\u2019t give them a straight reply. But when I\u2019m in Hawaii, I\u2019m Japanese. It all really depends on where I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2000 the U.S. Census allowed Americans to identify themselves as being two or more races for the first time. According to National Journal<\/em>, people who identify themselves as multiracial have risen from 9.2 percent in 2000 to 32 percent in 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder My Skin\u201d \u2014 a recently opened exhibit at the Wing Luke Museum<\/a> \u2014 discusses the issues of race and identity through art. Each piece weaves an intricate story evoking introspection, whether through modern art installations or traditional oil paintings. It is a quiet place with all 26 artists\u2019 emotions and perspectives prodding into each attendee as they view each display.<\/p>\n

Laura Kina<\/a>, a contributing artist to the exhibit, is mixed. Her father\u2019s side of the family is from Okinawa, Japan and her mother is of mixed-European ancestry with origins in small town Washington…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You don\u2019t have to be mixed-race to have a mixed identity The Seattle Globalist: Where Seattle Meets the World 2013-06-24 Maggie Thorpe, Graduate student in Japan Studies University of Washington Editor\u2019s note: Laura Kina, who is quoted throughout this post, disagrees with the representation of her perspective here. You can read her response in\u00a0the comments. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16,8,20],"tags":[41,15026,15028,13479,15027,15029,14863],"class_list":["post-31901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts","category-asia","category-media-archive","category-usa","tag-laura-kina","tag-maggie-thorpe","tag-michael-tenjoma","tag-the-seattle-globalist","tag-the-seattle-globalist-where-seattle-meets-the-world","tag-valerie-conklin","tag-wing-luke-museum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}