Because growing up as an Asian-American and growing up as someone who is not white, oftentimes in this country you can feel as though you're a foreigner, or you're reminded of being a foreigner, even though you're not. Even though inside, internally, you feel completely American.
Interpretation
This quote expresses the internal conflict of identity experienced by Asian-Americans, feeling both American and foreign simultaneously.
Lee Isaac Chung's quote highlights the complex emotions faced by individuals of Asian descent in America, who often navigate a dual identity. Despite feeling a strong connection to their American identity, societal perceptions can create feelings of alienation and otherness, leading to a sense of being viewed as outsiders even in their own country.
In practice
During a cultural awareness seminar, this quote could illustrate the challenges faced by minority communities.
I used to think I sewed us together at the edges with my own hands, pulled the stitches tight and I could unpick them any time I wanted. Now I think it always ran deeper than that and farther, underground; out of sight and way beyond my control.
Look to be treated by others as you have treated others.
I can't tell you how scary it can be walking onto a movie and suddenly joining this family - it's like going to somebody else's Christmas dinner; everyone knows everyone and you're not quite sure what you're supposed to sit.
All relationships change the brain - but most important are the intimate bonds that foster or fail us, altering the delicate circuits that shape memories, emotions and that ultimate souvenir, the self.
Yes, you know enough of my frankness to believe me capable of that. After abusing you so abominably to your face, I could have no scruple in abusing you to all your relations.
Inside Laila too a battle was being waged : guilt on one side, partnered with shame, and, on the other, the conviction that what she and Tariq had done was not sinful; that it had been natural, good, beautiful, even inevitable, spurred by the knowledge that they might never see each other again.
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