Many people of mixed heritage have heard the question, “What are you?” Most times, those who ask it have no idea just how offensive of a question it is.

“Don’t ask me what I am before you know who I am,” said Asian American Studies professor, Dr. Wei Ming Dariotis. “Many people ask the ‘What are you?’ question before they have even asked your name or know anything else about who you are as a person.”

Dariotis considers herself to be a “Hapa,” which is a word used to describe someone of mixed race with partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Hapas are the second largest American subgroup, and Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups. As their numbers grow, the need for society to understand and accept them becomes heightened.

There are better ways to address this question like, “Do you mind if I ask you your ethnic identity and/or heritage?” And be prepared to share your own in return, Dariotis said.

Jennifer Vanaman, 20, has been asked this question more than she would like. It was hard for the microbiology student, who is Irish and Korean, to gain acceptance growing up. However the discriminations she encountered only pushed her to become more aware of her individuality within the Hapa community.

“It’s a slap in the face when people look at you with colored glasses only seeing race,” Vanaman said.
The first time she experienced racism was at age 12, when she was studying at a friend’s house.
The mother pulled her daughter to the kitchen while Vanaman overheard their quiet argument in Korean.

“Her mother didn’t think I could understand what they were saying,” Vanaman said. “But I did and she didn’t want her daughter hanging around me anymore because I wasn’t Korean enough.”
“Kids are going to get picked on because they’re of a different race, or because they wear glasses, or because they’re weird,” said Kip Fulbeck, professor and chair in the department of art at UC Santa
Barbara. “It all depends on the kid.”

Fulbeck, an artist on the subject of Hapas and multi-ethnicities, has worked extensively on films and art relating to Hapa identity and will be putting out a photographic book, “Part Asian, 100% Hapa” in April.

“My book was not written for only Hapas but for people who don’t feel like they have a voice,” Fulbeck said. “Society wants to box people in by gender, race, or class and that’s just laziness.”

Fulbeck has exposed the question in his art exhibit, “The Hapa Project,” which will be in The Art Gallery in the Student Center until March 7. The exhibit is not only a display of art, but also an expression of passionate feelings toward discrimination, identity, self-image and empowerment.
Sociology student Lauren Cox, who is African American, German and Irish, used to love the flattery of being called “exotic” but now realizes it is nothing but a stereotype.

“As an individual it has nothing to do with my race,” Cox said. “I feel pretty content and I am no longer confused about what I am supposed to be.”

Culture is not a physical substance that can be diluted. People who are bi- or tri-cultural are not half or less than whole members of their communities, nor is their understanding of a relationship to their culture(s) diluted - it is like being bilingual. If anything, it is that your sense of identity and culture become more, rather than less, Dariotis said.

According to the U.S. Census, 36 percent of Asian Americans will be multiracial by the year 2050. As intermarriages among Asians increases, multiracial Asians will become a more prominent group in the Asian American community and within mainstream American society in general.

“There is definitely more of a sense of mixed heritage community and I certainly hear people use the term Hapa to self-identify,” said Dariotis.