Growing up as an Asian-American, I’ve often been asked the age-old microaggressive question: “Where are you from?” When I answer that I was born in Manhattan, whoever’s asking switches to a more targeted inquiry: “Where are your parents from?” I know what they really want is a clear answer about my ethnicity, so I cut to the chase.

“I’m half Chinese, half Korean.”

Most times, this leaves them utterly perplexed. Their confusion is based on the outdated preconception that a person can only be part of one race or one ethnic group. Despite the fact that the United States’ population of multiethnic and multiracial individuals has been increasing in recent years, with the 2020 Census showing a 276 percent increase in people identifying as “two or more races” since 2019, this idea continues to persist in society. Personally, because my last name is identified as Chinese, people often assume that both my parents are Chinese. I often don’t get to correct them, so they are baffled when I speak Korean or wear hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) at cultural events.

Similarly, in a 2015 study conducted by Pew Research Center, one in four mixedrace adults said people have often been confused by their racial background. Over time, these assumptions can erase the identities of individuals who belong to multiple groups. When people view you as solely one ethnicity or race, they ignore entire aspects of your identity, which pressures you to conform to their stereotypical expectations of your behavior. This is especially true if someone makes an offensive joke about a group they don’t think you’re part of. As a multiracial or multiethnic person, sometimes your only choice is to awkwardly laugh it off.

Unfortunately, even PHS, with its core values of diversity and inclusion, cultivates an environment where this occurs. Throughout my time here, I have met many students who are victims of this narrow mentality and falsely assume my ethnicity.

This is an administrative issue as well. In 2023, an online survey was conducted regarding students’ opinions on the school climate. This survey asked students to choose a single race from the following options: White, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and Other. This forced multiracial students to make a choice: should they select the race whose culture they most strongly identify with? Or maybe they should silently resign to choosing “Other,” because that is what they are to society — the center of a venn diagram that doesn’t quite contain everything from the circles it’s made up of.

I cannot speak for all multiethnic individuals, but I often feel inadequate — I’m neither Korean or Chinese exactly, but also not “All-American.” As a result, I often feel as if I don’t truly belong anywhere. Although I don’t think this feeling will ever truly go away, I have found that meeting others who have similar backgrounds helps me feel validated. There is no instant way to broaden societal ideas surrounding multiethnic and multiracial individuals, but facilitating discussion and increasing awareness of this perspective can help people understand the complexity of racial identity. At PHS, it is about time that we adapt our way of thinking to America’s ever-diverse multicultural melting pot.