Back in my day as a college student, when multiculturalism and politically correct language was just starting to hit the streets, my peeps pretty much stood contentedly under the banner of “Asian American” to represent our cultural identity and interests to the campus at large.  Back in the good ol’ days when kids were raiding Salvation Army stores for vintage corporate logo uniforms and wearing them ironically as grunge apparel, I picked out a work shirt that had a ready-made brand to tell the world who I was (see left).

In recent years as I’ve been working with AA community groups in the NYC area, I’ve noticed that the terms Asian Pacific American (APA) and Asian Pacific Islander (API) are being used with increasing frequency in place of the good ol ‘AA. I didn’t really think too much about what these new acronyms signified, other than that the extra letter made them kind of cumbersome to my mind (a superficial observation, I know). I always considered Samoans, Fijians, Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders to be Asian, if not geographically, then certainly racially (moreso than Asians from the Middle East). But I was brought to think more seriously about a video I produced and posted on YouTube on behalf of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CAAF) announcing a new national health care partnership got the following comment:

“Why dont Asian groups keep the words “Pacific Islanders” out of the name of their organizations? Especially when everyone in the organization is Asian & yes Filipinos are Asian. LOL. Pacific Islanders just want to be themselves and not assiciated [sic] with Asians. Is it because you Asians want to do the hula too? Haha. U can do it without our name if u like.”

Honestly, this was the first time that I’d directly encountered Pacific Islander resentment against being lumped with the Asian identity.  I’m wondering just how much that sentiment is shared among the Pacific Islander community.


What have your experiences and observations been?  Also for the students out there, what is the prevalent way of tagging Asian Americans at your school - is it still AA, or are API, APA or some other acronym more common?  And just how broad is your Asian American organization?  Is it dominated by East Asians?  Or is there a healthy inclusion of Middle Eastern, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific Islanders as well?



5 Comments

i think people are just too proud. okay you’re pacific islander but if you look at history, you were asian at one point

It’s funny that you posted on this because it came up in conversation the other day with a friend of mine. Personally, I’m annoyed with the Pacific Islander part as well. Whether they want to accept it or not, genetically they are Asian. However, identity isn’t a genetic construct and race is unfortunately a social construct. This all speaks to the larger umbrella issue of fragmentation and anti-solidarity within the Asian American community in general which has many number of other issues under that.

i dont see the big deal…

niether do i. i guess it would matter if i cared but i dont. as long as they know im asian and not chinese! (stupid people) then im good

this is a first for me haha