What does it mean to be Asian in America today?

What does it mean to be Asian in America today? When I think about this question, which I have many times, many thoughts run through my mind. The first thought is that I am an American just like everyone else. Though on the other hand, there are things I have to be conscious and aware of that other non-Asians don't have to while being in America. For instance, I have to be conscious of the fact that I will be looked at and judged differently and also that others expect certain things of me just because I'm an Asian American (e.g. model minority). I also have to be conscious of the fact that I might not be visible within "mainstream" America and that I might be overlooked. Why is it that when this country talks about race issues, any discrimination against Asians is dismissed? Yet, when there are overt and even subtle discrimination against other races, the media and the country gets into a frenzy. On the same token, I think about how Asian American men, like myself, are barely visible on mainstream television shows, and when they are, they don't speak English fluently. Is it that the audience doesn't care to see Asian Americans on their television screens, or is it that the media doesn't care to portray Asians in America as Americans? Why do I, as well as many other fellow Asian Americans, feel necessary to point out an Asian person on television if we do see one? Is it because it's not yet natural for even Asian Americans to see other Asians on television?

From my experience traveling abroad, I know for a fact that when people think of America, they think of white Americans. Obviously, this perturbs me greatly as I am an American, but I'm not white. Although I was born here in America, I've consciously tried to fit into the culture, but I've never tried to fit into white America. I've never really liked the word "assimilation" because that word connotes fitting into white America. The word "assimilation" is taken from the out dated view that America is a melting pot of cultures. On the contrary, I would suggest that America is more like a mixed salad rather than a melting pot of cultures, which I think is a good thing. Instead of assimilating to the white culture, I've tried to "integrate" both my Asian culture and my American culture together.

As an Asian American person, it has been important to me to try and maintain some semblance of my Asian culture as well as adopt and fit into American culture. It is this bi-cultural fence that separates many Asian Americans from other non-Asian Americans. As many more Asians are emigrating to the US year after year and many more Asian American generations are developing (e.g. 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation families), it will be important for these people to reconcile this bi-cultural fence and somehow develop their own "American" culture. As for me, I have reconciled what it means to be Asian American. Being Asian in America today means celebrating the culture of your family's homeland and incorporating that into what it means to be American.