{"id":37386,"date":"2014-09-18T20:09:51","date_gmt":"2014-09-18T20:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=37386"},"modified":"2017-04-13T22:17:16","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T22:17:16","slug":"proving-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=37386","title":{"rendered":"Proving Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.foodqueen.kitchen\/2014\/08\/proving-race\/\" target=\"_blank\">Proving Race<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.foodqueen.kitchen\" target=\"_blank\">Ms. Food Queen: Cooking Across Difference<\/a><br \/>\nAugust 2014<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.foodqueen.kitchen\/foodqueen-bio\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Christine Gregory<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am standing in the lobby of a Korean restaurant. In the split second before I\u2019m seated, I make a conscious decision of whether or not to speak Korean. I know that if I do, it will lead to many benefits, tangible and intangible. I will receive better service. The wait staff will smile at me. I will be given special side dishes that are not on the menu, (for which I will not be expected to pay). I will feel welcome.<\/p>\n<p>I know that if I do not speak Korean, I will be given a cordial and obligatory \u201cHello.\u201d I will be seated and served what I ordered. I will dine and go, like a stranger. They will look at my brown face, and maybe even smile, but they will fail to recognize me as one of their own.<\/p>\n<p>I almost always elect to speak Korean. Given the benefits, the reasons might seem obvious.\u00a0\u00a0 But it isn\u2019t for the discounted pedicures, free sodas at the sushi carry out, and \u2013 believe it or not \u2013occasional <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Larimichthys_crocea&amp;redirect=no\" target=\"_blank\">yellow croaker<\/a> given gratis by the fish monger at the local Korean mart. It\u2019s because I want them to see me. I want them to know that I am Korean. Speaking the language is the way that I <em>prove<\/em> my identity.<\/p>\n<p>I am black and Korean, but could easily \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=5864\" target=\"_blank\">pass<\/a>\u201d for Latina, Ethiopian, South Asian, Polynesian, or Indian. Despite my racially ambiguous appearance, I\u2019ve grown quite deft at subtly revealing my identity to other black folks. I effortlessly code switch and drop hints that would lead whomever I am addressing to surmise that, \u201cYeah, she must be black.\u201d For example, I mention that I attended a historically black college; share a photo of my African American husband; or drop the name of the church that I attend, all excellent sources of <em>proof<\/em>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Read the entire article <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foodqueen.kitchen\/2014\/08\/proving-race\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Proving Race Ms. Food Queen: Cooking Across Difference August 2014 Christine Gregory I am standing in the lobby of a Korean restaurant. In the split second before I\u2019m seated, I make a conscious decision of whether or not to speak Korean. I know that if I do, it will lead to many benefits, tangible and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,16,395,8,20],"tags":[17788,17790,17789],"class_list":["post-37386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-asia","category-autobiography","category-media-archive","category-usa","tag-christine-gregory","tag-ms-food-queen","tag-ms-food-queen-cooking-across-difference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37386","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=37386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53498,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37386\/revisions\/53498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}