Are Hapa Asians Celebrated Or Resented Amongst Asians?

Are Hapas, aka half Asians, more celebrated or more resented amongst the full Asian communities? David, the online debate rages on. This is a very broad question, but it did turn into an interesting and heated debate on Reddit. So we're going to get into some of the comments, of course, our own takeaways. So make sure you like, subscribe, turn on your notifications. Andrew, silly to serious, breaking it down. Andrew, is this silly or serious? Well, I guess depending on how you are, it could be more serious. I think it's a mildly spicy topic for sure. But we're going to talk about it here. Guys, a couple of things before we get into the comments section here, a bunch of different perspectives. Long story short, I think things are changing. First of all, all different Hapas have different life experiences because it depends on how you turned out looking. Are you looking more Asian or less Asian, right? Where did you grow up? Did you grow up in the Eastern world in Asia? Maybe your father or mother was an expat. Or did you grow up in the Western world? Or did you grow up in some other place, guys? Also, are you half white, half black, half Latino? You're saying it's highly variable based on just like how you grew up. Yeah, and just like, did you have Asian friends growing around? How Asian are you? How proud or how you look? You know what I mean? I think it also matters a lot if you're just a regular person trying to live your life or if you're trying to be a celebrity and you're thrust in that spotlight or you're somehow whether that was given to you or you purposely took on that mantle of AAPI to boost your profile. Then of course, people are going to be like, oh, if you're going to use it to your advantage in jujitsu, we just need to know you're down for the squad. Yeah, and I think as long as you show that you are down with the squad in 2023, it means a lot to Asians. But you got to be truly down with the squad. Your intentions got to be pure. And I think that threshold or that standard for like getting your Asian card is getting higher and higher as the rewards and the profile and the clout of being Asian go higher and higher, right? Perhaps that makes sense. Let's get into the comment section. Somebody said, I'm a hopper and I feel like sometimes full Asians don't like me because they love the idea of racial purity. But they also know that me as a hopper in the Western world have it better than them. So now I'm somebody who's technically below them, having it better than them. And that disparity makes them hate me extra a lot. All right, I can tell this comment was filled with a lot of emotion. One thing I slightly disagree with on is Asians buying into racial purity in the West. I think maybe in Asia, there is more of a belief. You can find some more old school thinking people. Yeah, in Asia. But as long as we're in the West, in America, I don't think as many Asians care. I think where the resentment and possibly jealousy does come from is looking at you, this hopper person who's getting treated better. And therefore, Asians are being like, well, why do they get treated better? They're not any more Asian than me. They don't do anything more for the community. Oh, I don't even think this person's a cool person. So yeah, there is some resentment, I think. I don't know if it's increasing or decreasing over the years. David, what do you think? I think it really depends. It's situational. I could see it increasing if you're a celebrity. Because if you're just a regular hopper living a great life, and possibly some of that ease of life in the West is due to you actually genetically being half Western, I don't think any full Asian is going to hold it against you. But if you are a celebrity or a public figure that is getting exalted in both the Eastern enclave communities and the Western world, and you're using that, then I could start to see them, people being like, oh, I don't know. What if you're just using us? And then that being the resentment. It all comes back to what you're using. And it's almost like what you're giving to the community, and then what you're taking, right? And also, listen, the person leaving this comment, if every full Asian you've ever met resents you, it might not be because you're half Asian. You might have to look at your personality and what you're saying to people as a reason on why they resent you. Somebody says, I know as a hopper that my lived experience of being Asian American is oftentimes very different from my full Asian cousins. Because at the end of the day, I could probably pass for another race if I really needed to. Whether it's the dominant race that I mix with, white, black, or sometimes hoppers just end up looking Latino because that is the natural mix of something in the Asian. Yeah, and I don't think that I would ever tell hoppers like, oh, you need to feel guilty just because you're half white, and white is considered the stronger, more dominant group in America still. Or if they're half black, oh, that's better for sports or something like that. I think at the end of the day, man, it's just about what effort have you put into being Asian? And obviously, if you're hopper, the bar is a little bit lower for you to be accepted as Asian. You don't have to be, especially if you're very good at something that Asians are not usually good at. I'm not gonna lie, you do get some breaks. Obviously, a lot of the half Asian athletes, they just need to say that they're proud of being Asian and be cool and nice to Asians. But other than that, we don't really expect them to speak the language because I guess that's just something you don't expect from a lot of athletes. This was a comment saying that it is different between just a regular hopper living their life and then a hopper that takes a role in an acting film. Basically, people are gonna more gatekeep those because they feel like there's already so few spots for representation that if the hoppers take all those spots because they're the acceptable Asians because they're usually half white and the mom is Asian, then that's gonna be unfair. But for regular people living their lives, they're totally gonna be unbothered and nobody's gonna say anything. Ah, because of those acting roles or those music roles are so, so important. Somebody said, well, the reason that I resent it is because they don't understand the true trauma of being viewed as a second class citizen in the Western world because a white passing hoppers get far more acceptance and respect in predominantly white spaces. Yeah, so I'm just gonna be honest. I think hoppers should be part of the community. Obviously, they should and they should be celebrated when they do something good. I also think it is hard to imagine that a hopper becomes like the leader of all Asians. You know what I mean? Like that probably doesn't make a lot of sense because there's so many full Asians. So those few super coveted positions, first of all, there is no leader of Asians. That doesn't even exist. That's not a position that even is a thing. But I'm just saying, I guess that's what people are talking about. Right, this guy said the reason that nobody in the Asian American community can come together and decide whether or not a hopper is Asian enough or not is because even the Asian community amongst full Asians have no flashpoint or sort of like indexing reference point to understand their own racial identity. This is very dissimilar to black Americans who obviously have the experience of slavery and of Latinos, which is like usually speaking Spanish together. And then somebody said, well, that's not fully true because obviously you have the elite academic Nigerians coming over. And somebody said that you have Afro Latinos. Caribbean Latinos from Jamaica and things like that that are more English speaking. So they said, even in the black world, it gets very complicated. But then other people said, however, there's been so much media surrounding the black experience that even if you weren't a part of that, let's say, for example, you're a second generation kid from Africa, you can still index yourself with something like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that was such a cultural touchstone, whether or not you fit in with that archetype or not. Where, and this guy was saying that Asians essentially have nothing. Uh, yeah. I mean, I guess that's what like part of our channel tries to do is kind of like, I guess, set the tone or set some type of measurement. Not that it's a hard measurement. There is no gold star. There is no title that anybody can grant one, that any one person can grant another person, right? But I guess there is general validation from a group. Right, right. Yeah. I mean, I would say from what I've seen in terms of not like an activist sense, but in terms of like going very viral, they usually have to have their mom be very, very Asian. Like if their mom doesn't, like if, like Hapas that speak their mother tongue fluently are gonna go a lot more viral than Hapas who can only say like three or five sentences. Right, right. But I will say again, even amongst full Asians, there is still a, oh, you're not Asian enough type game that people play. So I know that Hapas sometimes think like, oh, you know, people are always judging how Asian I am. Yeah, actually Asians are also judging full Asians on how Asian they are oftentimes. Right. So it gets really complicated. Of course, like we said, nowadays there's global markets. I think Asians in Asia, they're looking for the language fluency, whereas in Asians in America, they may be looking for some more, almost like political or activist affiliation, resulting talking about hate crimes or something like that. Somebody said, I didn't even know as a Hapa myself, I didn't even know that full Asians ever resented Hapas. I felt like if anything, it was always just a positive thing. And somebody said, yeah, I think that's because you're a white Hapa. If you were a black Asian mix, you would have known that it was always different. Because obviously this is indicating that the Asian culture has some sort of, you know, it puts whiteness on a pedestal. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, in America, if you're white, it is seen, especially from an Asian standpoint, as that's more advantageous, right? I guess that this person who said they had never even, it never even occurred to them, they probably lived in a bubble and maybe they're like, maybe they're either considered above average looking, so everybody kind of treated them nice and they never really had to have those struggle conversations about being a Hapa. I mean, I'll tell you this, listen, not all Hapas are good looking, but that is definitely a stereotype. So think about it, think about for like the not good looking Hapas, how do they feel? Yeah, I mean, this is a final comment from somebody in the Reddit thread that was full Asian and saying, the main reason I think that some Asian Americans that are full represent Hapas, resent Hapas, I'm sorry, is because Hapas don't go through life with as much anti-Asian racism, microaggressions, biases, or stereotyping. It's not hate, it's a level of feeling unfairness. If Hapas complain, it's likely a lot lighter about racism. Hapas are seen as elevated by full Asians in the US and in Asia, but non-Asians tend to see Hapas as Asian with some white blood or as nothing special and definitely not as pure or superior to full white. So basically Asians see Hapas in an elevated way, whereas white or black people may view Hapas as a little bit lesser. So basically this person was saying, Aileen Gu is not viewed as very interesting to white people or white Americans might even view her as a traitor, but she is also viewed as beyond a rock star in China and can make like $20 million a year. Yeah, so we have some Hapa friends and I remember them talking to me and saying like, and they're good looking Hapas. Hapa dude and he's like, amongst like the white bros friends that I have, like I can feel that I'm still seen as a little bit different, maybe because of the things I say or my tendencies or like all those things. But then amongst the Asians, I'm essentially seen as like a vital bridge. So while obviously, like let's say you're half white and half Asian, white people are not going to see you as a vital bridge. They might kind of know you're some type of bridge, but they don't care to even build that bridge to Asians. While Asians are like, oh my gosh, we need you to be this bridge. So now you have a position amongst us that is necessary. Yeah, I would agree with you. I guess the only point that I would say to that is like there is a small portion, I think of white people who do want to use the Hapas as a bridge, typically for culinary restaurants. But yeah, you're right. The more the majority of Asians, because they're already immigrants to the Western society or they emigrated here, they want to bridge more with the whites and the whites want to bridge with the minorities for sure. That's undoubtedly just how power dynamics work in life in general, game theory, right? Andrew, what are your final takeaways? Because like you said, we got Hapas in our family. We've had Hapas around us our whole lives. The main person who taught me how to be proud of being Chinese or Asian in general in my life was Hapa. Yeah. I don't know if I ever, how many times, I think we definitely told this story before, but his dad was the Chinese one and his mom was Irish and he was the first one to coach us to say, listen, you can be good at sports. You can be proud of being Western. You can learn how to rap. You could wear Jordans. You can learn how to breakdance. However, you should also go to Chinese school and take it serious and learn Mandarin or learn Cantonese or learn Kung Fu. Yeah, no, no, that was big. Shout out to John. And I feel like that that's more of, I'm gonna be, keep it real. The most proud Hapa guys that I personally end up knowing is like, they either look more Asian, so then they identify as being more Asian throughout their life. Yeah, or their father is Asian. And I think that is a factor as well. You know, so I'm not saying it can't be the other way. Obviously, there's proud Hapas all over the world, guys. We know a bunch of them in media. And I do think the Hapas that are in media are definitely a lot prouder than they used to be in generations past. They're a lot more in tune with the culture. And there's also more pressure as well. Yeah, so anyway, guys, let us know what you think in the comments section below. To be honest, the truth is, it just depends. I'm not saying everybody that's full Asian is the giver of an Asian card. I'm not saying every Hapa is valid or invalid. I think it's like extremely situational based on what are you trying to do with your life and what type of like labels are you trying to put on you. I'll just tell this to anybody about anything in life. Anytime you wanna put a label on yourself or a badge or give yourself a golden star like you're in the military, you also have to make sure if somebody pulls your card that you can live up to it. Right, right. And listen, man, I don't want any Hapas out there, whether you're half black, half white, half whatever, to be walking around being like, what, there's actually some Asians who resent me? I'm like, no, in general, man, if you're just a nice person and you're open to your Asian side and you support Asian things, dude, I don't even see why any rational Asian would resent you. Yeah, and it's still, overall, if you had to just throw a random pair of dice, it's still better to be Hapa. Right, especially in the West. How the Asian world's gonna treat you. Yeah, and obviously there's a lot of Asians out there who might have some deep-rooted bitterness, but I think that's far and few between, to be honest. Anyway, let us know what you think in the comments section below. Keep it civil. Like I said, I'm not trying to invalidate anybody's experience. I'm just trying to help people think through it because everybody's life is so different. And like we said, you know, the truth of the Asian world is there's not that much like strong, solid referencing or indexing against like a larger cultural touchstone. I think we're still figuring it out. So let us know your thoughts in the comments down below. Thank you so much for watching. And until next time, we out. Peace.