Sahaj Datta | The Chronicle
At Mason High School (MHS), diversity is valued through its ethnic murals, its cultural festivals, and its flags in the front lobby. But when it comes to students whose identities do not fit neatly into a box, the celebration suddenly becomes complicated. Somehow, the same community that encourages inclusivity starts to demand clarity.
Ethnically mixed students are often faced with a paradox: Mason’s community celebrates diversity; they encourage it through every cultural event and club you can imagine, but the norms and expectations society holds can force these students into rigid categories. Casual conversations about heritages, culture and background are often a reminder that society sees identity in binary terms.
For students like junior Isaac Zhang, the disconnect between how they see themselves and how others see them is persistent. Biologically, he is “50 percent Filipino and 50 percent Chinese,” but he says his Chinese side is typically the one that is acknowledged.
“If [others] know my last name, they assume I am Chinese,” Zhang said. “If they look at me, they assume I am one of the standard East Asians – Japanese, Chinese, or Korean – never Filipino.”
Zhang said he wishes people recognized that he is mixed, but understands why they do not: in Mason, there is far more representation for the more common East Asian cultures, such as Japanese and Chinese, than for Zhang’s Filipino heritage, which automatically places him into the Chinese “box” with no consideration for other parts of his heritage.
This pressure is not unique to ethnically mixed students at MHS; it is a prevalent issue across the United States. According to the U.S. Census, the multiracial population increased by approximately 276 percent between 2010 and 2020, now representing around 10.2 percent of the national population.
Media portrayals rarely capture the complexity of a mixed identity, often referring to characters of mixed heritage as “exotic” caricatures rather than real people. This misrepresentation occurs because society is not quickly adapting to the increase in multiracial and multiethnic heritage and instead stubbornly holds on to the black-and-white representations of identity and heritage.
Ethnically mixed students such as Zhang often have to navigate between two worlds, but feel fully accepted in neither. They can be told they are “too much” of one culture and “not enough” of another. This is a struggle that most students who are first or second-generation immigrants within their families already face in America, but it reaches an impact tenfold when those who not only have to internally navigate multiple cultural identities also live in a country that continuously boasts about its diverse culture, where they are constantly being asked which ingredient of the melting pot they make up.
And while MHS values its diverse community, it is not immune to similar missteps. In particular, Zhang said MHS has more Chinese culture than Filipino, which causes him to gravitate toward more Chinese-related activities. Students are encouraged to embrace their heritage and explore others, yet asked to simplify when it becomes inconvenient. They are included only in ways that make sense to everyone else, ways that can be quickly clarified to one word.
Identity is not one-dimensional.
America is becoming more and more diverse each year, and children born to families of multiple races and ethnicities are challenging the traditional norms associated with cultural identity. Those with mixed heritage should not be required to fit into “or” or “other,” they should have the space to select “and.” We need to acknowledge the reality: cultural expectations cannot be stuck in a past that categorizes people based on data points. The complexity of identity needs to be embraced rather than ignored.
MHS prides itself on being ahead of the curve. This is just another area we can begin to push ourselves forward in.
