Recognizing the Legitimacy of Multiracial Individuals Through
Hapa Issues Forum and the UCLA Hapa ClubChris Thipphavong
BACKGROUND: THE MEANING OF "HAPA"The word "hapa" is of Hawaiian origin and literally means "half." Like so many other once-derogatory but now proud terms (chicano/chicana, queer, "nigga," etc.) hapa haole originally held a negative connotation, roughly translating to "half-other" or "half-outsider" and was applied to individuals who were half Asian or Hawaiian and half Caucasian. The term has since been shortened simply to "hapa" in a border-crossing type effort to include all individuals who have some Asian blood mixed with any other race, and is now a proud statement through which these individuals are beginning to assert their own identity.
OUR SOCIETY AND MULTIRACIAL INDIVIDUALS
Multi-ethnicity is all around us, but America has barely begun to address this issue. As late as 1967 some states had laws (whether enforced or not is beside the point) against miscegenation (interracial marriage), and up until the 2000 United States Census, individuals could only choose one ethnic background (Fullbeck, 2002). As a result of the unease experienced by today's society, individuals of mixed racial backgrounds are too often obliged to choose that side of them with which they most closely identify.
Nonsense, you say? One need only turn on his or her television to witness this phenomenon. Many of our most prominent celebrities, including musicians like Michelle Branch, actors like Keanu Reeves, Kelly Hu, Shannyn Sossamon, and The Rock, and athletes like Apolo Ohno and Tiger Woods, are all of partial Asian descent (Actors/Models/Singers, 2003), yet how many are regularly identified as multi-racial? Common practice is for the public, and often the individual as well, to choose one ethnic group with which to identify, or one is chosen for them as in the case of Tiger Woods. The world's most famous golfer has been very candid about his eclectic cultural makeup, and yet he is consistently identified simply as a black golfer. It seems as though America is not willing to acknowledge that multiracial people even exist, or at least that they are not legitimately different in any way from their dominant cultural constituents. Movie stars, models, and athletes are not the only ones who deal with this issue. All young multiracial people must learn to define themselves throughout their college years, often with little or no help.
For perhaps the first time in history, a significant number of students who identify themselves as coming from a mixed ethnic background are entering universities. According to Schmidt (1997),"multiracial students are thought to compose one to two percent of the college population and their numbers are growing." Referring more to Hapas specifically, "Asian Americans experience the highest outmarriage rates among all racial and ethnic groups in the country," (Xie, 1997) and the offspring of such mixed marriages have begun to reach college age. According to Xie, nearly one fourth of the estimated Asian American population under the age of 17 in 1990, have one Asian parent and one non-Asian parent. The significance of this estimation made ten years ago is that an unprecedented number of multiracial Asian students are attending U.S. colleges today.
THE IDENTIFICATION ISSUE
Multiracial students find themselves confronted with a society that does not normally allow for identification as more than one ethnicity. Countless forms and applications provide only the following instructions for identifying ethnic background: "Pick the one that is most accurate." This is symbolic not only of the difficulties of society in identifying these individuals, but also of the plight of the students to create and acknowledge their own unique identity. That is, society does not know exactly what to make of these individuals particularly because these individuals themselves often cannot say specifically what, in fact, they are.
One might be inclined to assume that these students identify with all the multiple ethnic groups of their ancestors. However in a number of less conspicuous ways these students do not identify with any traditional ethnic group at all. For example, most students of mixed Asian descent are not taught in their homes any of the ethnic languages that are a critical part of their heritage. This is part of a phenomenon that has been called "cultural deficit." Renn (1998), in a study of 24 multiracial individuals in college, found that because of a lesser knowledge of language, food, religion, and customs multiracial ethnic individuals find themselves excluded from their own communities.
"Many students who called themselves 'half-Asian/Black/etc.' came to college in search of cultural knowledge but found themselves unwelcome in groups of peers that were "whole" ethnicities." (Renn, 1998) She found that as a result of this exclusion on campuses designed to accommodate monoracial individuals, many multiracial students expressed the need to create and maintain a self-identified multiracial community on campus. This is due in part to the fact that multiracial people may identify more with each other, because "they share the experience of navigating campus life as multiracial people," (Renn, 1998) than with their own ethnic groups. This is true in spite of the fact that these multiracial individuals may all have completely different heritages. Furthermore she found that clubs or classes dedicated to multiracial issues were legitimizing activities that helped to define such a community.
COMMUNITY AND LEGITIMACY
Over the past decade, Hapa Issues Forum has been helping some multiracial individuals to form a community through which they might establish a culture and identity of their own. With multiple student chapters throughout the University of California system, including UC Berkeley and UCLA, based on the tried and true principle of strength in numbers and unity, this fledgling organization helps not only to promote awareness to the general public of the unique circumstances facing this growing portion of the student body, but also provides a means by which students can gain a sense of community and belonging that may have otherwise been lacking. Most importantly of all, this paper attempts to show that Hapa Issues Forum, by its very existence, seeks some legitimization of Hapa as an identity in and of itself, similar to the way that more prestigious groups such as MEChA once did, and continues to do, for Chicanos.
Hapa Issues Forum at UC Berkley is now in its 11th year of activism and is one of the oldest Hapa organizations on any campus. Paul Young, a fourth-year student, recalls that he joined initially out of a simple desire to "have his own group". However he notes that as he "transitioned into an officer, [he] began to realize that the whole mixed race identity had larger implications," and this was the beginning of activism for the current president of the Berkeley chapter. He goes on to admit the realization of his own ignorance of multiracial issues, and proactively took an ethnic studies class to educate himself. He is now considering an Ethnic Studies minor while he continues to organize for HIF.
Young concedes that it has been difficult building a movement essentially from the ground up. He cites various Asian-exclusion and anti-miscegenation laws as the reason for this difficulty: "Unlike mulattos or meztizos, who have deeper roots that are often more founded in racism and slavery, it's really hard to find a Hapa who's over 30."
One of the chapter's most successful activities so far has been a bone marrow drive, run in partnership with Berkeley MEChA. These groups arranged for nurses to come to campus last February and register members and volunteers as potential bone marrow donors. While this might at first seem relatively mundane, the implications are tremendous. First, it represents one of many border-crossing efforts in which HIF worked cooperatively and intimately with another relatively unrelated student group on campus. Secondly, it was a publicized event to inform the campus of an important issue unique to multiracial individuals. Many multiracial individuals, because of their unique genetic makeup, cannot receive bone marrow from relatives. Since neither the parents, nor cousins, uncles, aunts, or grandparents can usually be a match, there is an extensive need for Hapa bone marrow donors. So, a visible act like the bone marrow drive makes the entire campus more aware of at least one legitimate issue entirely unique to multiracial individuals like Hapas.
Hapa Issues Forum is also largely involved in building a community for itself. Young has fond memories of wide-eyed freshman walking into a meeting and exclaiming, "oh my God, I've never seen Hapas before!" He works hard to build and nurture a sense of identity for these members that have never before even known that there were others like themselves. He also nostalgically recalls "campus invasions," in which his chapter, in a sort of group road trip, would visit other HIF chapters throughout California. He says that activities like sleeping on a living room floor in Irvine "expands the Hapa community."
However, Young also remembers voicing a problem to a former board member. At the time he felt that although community building was very important, the organization was not very political or active. The board member replied, "no, you are active. Just the fact that you are organized and have a group and call yourself Hapa is political in itself, and that's a great thing that you are doing for people." So, it can be said that building a community of Hapas is not only community and identity building, but also a source of legitimization for the group.
For this year, in their most political action yet, Young says that HIF will begin a campaign to educate people on California Proposition 54. The organization will host a debate along with the Asian Political Association, and has been handing out voter registration cards at their meetings. He argues that removing racial identification from government issues "just hides the problem, and in fact we need to make the system better." He cites as examples the bone marrow drive discussed previously, in which race does play an important role in selecting matches for patients, and ethnic studies programs taught at public universities, which would be adversely affected. Furthermore, he asserts that Proposition 54 "takes our vocabulary away from us. How can you have a mixed race group when nobody recognizes race?" Such actions would effectively de-legitimize all student racial and ethnic groups, and counteract all that Young and Berkeley HIF have worked so hard to achieve.
The UCLA Hapa Club was originally a chapter of Hapa Issues Forum, but has recently become an independent organization. It maintains strong ties however with the other student chapters throughout the University of California system. With over 400 registered members, it is one of the largest Hapa organizations known. This tremendous growth has been achieved in only two full years (now entering the third year) of activism at UCLA.
Like Young, the current president of the Hapa Club, Emily Shin, recalls the sudden bombardment of Hapa issues that she was faced with when she first joined. With a laugh she exclaims, "I think Hapa Club actually GAVE me an identity crisis!" She explains that she grew up without worrying about racial issues, and then became involved with the Hapa Club and "realized that there really are Hapa 'issues' and [she] had them."
Shin confirms that the UCLA Hapa Club, like HIF at Berkeley ran a successful blood drive last year, and has expanded multiculturalism on campus by working with other ethnic student groups like the Nikkei Student Union. She seems most proud, however, of their simple discussions of Hapa issues at their meetings.
Like the teach-ins of so many other student activist groups, the Hapa Club hosts weekly discussions consistently drawing as many as 40 Hapa students. Even more impressive is not only the presence, but also the active participation of non-members in the discussions. A wide variety of students, especially graduates have begun research on multiracial issues. Shin explains that most of these observers are not Hapas themselves, and she is very happy with the diverse perspectives presented by such visitors and the dimensions they add to the discussions. She also mentions briefly that she is interviewed fairly often now for various multiracial projects.
The participation of monoracial individuals speaks volumes for the legitimization of the Hapa identity. They come from a broad range of racial backgrounds and have chosen to participate in Hapa discussions specifically because they are personal interests and legitimate subjects of study. Shin is eager to welcome any and all participants to Hapa discussions. It seems almost uncharacteristic for an organization that is desperately trying to assert and legitimize its own unique identity to welcome outsiders with open arms, especially since so many Hapas have never felt welcome in other ethnic groups. However, Shin is sincere when she says that, "seriously, EVERYONE is welcome," and makes it a point that she does not really view the Hapa Club as an ethnic group on campus, but rather a place where anyone (no matter what their background) can learn about and discuss Hapa issues.
Perhaps the greatest evidence of activism by student Hapas is the participation of both organizations in The Hapa Project. The brainchild of Hapa artist, speaker, writer, and UC Santa Barbara professor Kip Fullbeck, The Hapa Project is an explicit definition of the self by various Hapas framed within the context of art. The project "seeks to promote awareness and recognition. . . to give voice to multiracial people. . . to dispel myths. . . to foster positive identity formation. . . and to encourage solidarity and empowerment within the multiracial/Hapa community." (Fullbeck, 2002)
The participation of HIF and the Hapa Club included a discussion led by Kip Fullbeck, followed by the actual project itself. The project is designed to empower Hapas, as society has subjected them to various hardships throughout their lives. Due to their uncommon or sometimes "exotic" appearance (not quite Asian, but not quite anything else), Hapas commonly experience stares, rude questions, or even worse quiet mutterings just out of earshot. To fight these societal issues, Hapas are photographed in black and white from the shoulders up, without jewelry or glasses. Participants are then asked to list their various ethnicities and then answer in their own words and handwriting, the question: "What are you?" The effect is staggering. The picture serves to confront the viewer, who can only see the subject for what he or she is. There are no extraneous details. The plethora of ways in which a Hapas may choose to answer the question "what are you," is a chance for them to actively respond to the countless questions and odd stares that they have been subjected to their entire lives. They are able, once and for all to acknowledge all of their various ethnic constituents, and more importantly define themselves as they see fit, and legitimately assert that Hapa is an identity all its own. As made evident by countless other minority groups throughout history, the ultimate expression of power is for a community to define itself.
CONCLUSION
The works of researchers like Renn, Xie, and Schmidt confirm the significant numbers of multiracial students, and the difficulties they encounter in defining themselves and finding a peer group with which to identify. Multiracial organizations like Hapa Issues Forum and the UCLA Hapa Club provide and environment where Hapa students can be comforted in knowing that they are not alone in their struggles. Furthermore, the very existence of such groups serves to create a legitimate Hapa identity recognized not only by its members, but by the campus in general. Such groups serve to address unique concerns to the Hapa community, as in the case of locating and registering desperately needed bone marrow donors.
Multiracial organizations like these benefit not only Hapas, but the campus as a whole. As found at UCLA, they provide a means by which graduate students and professors can collect valuable data for multiracial students. Also, Renn found that "several students [in her study] selected their colleges because they believed they could find certain kinds of community spaces there." Thus, the Hapa Club at UCLA and HIF at Berkeley provide such community spaces and so are valuable assets to the university as a whole because they can help to draw multiracial students and contribute to the diversity in the academic community.
In such a diverse academic community, often complaints of balkanization and self-segregation are prevalent. However, Hapa students find themselves in a unique position. Faced with both the reality and the need for unique identification, as well as an innate desire to reconcile racial tensions, they can play a special role due to the ease with which they perform border-crossing and create dialogue with multiple racial groups, sometimes serving as link between two groups which otherwise may not have dialogue at all. This too can benefit the academic environment of a university.
Most importantly of all, through activism, education, and efforts like The Hapa Project, Hapa organizations provide a means through which multiracial students may be empowered and make their voices heard so that they can combat stereotypes and exclusion, and assert a unique, legitimate identity that is entirely their own.
BibliographyActors/Models/Singers. www.hapas.com, 2003.
Fullbeck, Kip. Mission Statement. The Hapa Project. www.hapaproject.com, 2002.
Renn, Kristen A. Check All That Apply: The Experience of Biracial and Multiracial College Students. Association for the Study of Higher Education Annual Meeting. Miami, 1998.
Schmidt, P. Federal Panel May Spur Changes in the Way Colleges Track Enrollment by Race. The Chronicle of Higher Education. 1997.
Xie, Yu and Kimberly Goyette. The Racial Identification of Children With One Asian Parent: Evidence From the 1990 Census. Social Forces. University of North Carolina Press, 1997.