BONUS Clip: Assimilating To Western Culture?

Tracy and Cara talk to Dr. Jenny about how the immigrant experience interacts with the Asian American experience, and how to handle multiculturalism in North America.

Learn more about Dr. Jenny: jennywangphd.com 

Hosts Information:

Cara Pressley

@thecareercheerleader Cara’s Instagram

@TheCareerCheerleader Cara’s Facebook

@the1cheering4U Cara’s Twitter

@FeelinSuccessful Cara’s TikTok

Cara’s Website

Tracy T. Rowe

@tracytrowe Tracy’s Instagram

@troweandco Tracy’s Facebook

@tracytrowe Tracy’s Twitter

@tracytrowe Tracy’s TikTok

Tracy’s Website

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, y'all, Hey, let's red table that bam. We had
so much to talk about with Alison Dr Jenny that
we couldn't fit it into one episode. Listening to a
little more of our conversation right now, Dr Jenny. A
large part of the Asian American experience centers around the

(00:23):
immigrant experience. So how can Asian Americans balance the perceived
need to assimilate while also preserving their heritage. I really
am interested in knowing this, and I want us to
make sure that we talk about the word immigrant in
this process and how people perceive the word immigrant and
what that means. Yeah. So when we think about immigrant though,

(00:45):
when in the context of how all of that matters, right,
Because there are Asian Americans here who are now in
their fifth, sixth, seventh generation of being here, and then
there are immigrants who are just coming here as international
students moving here last year. So that experience is very

(01:08):
wide and unique, and so we can't necessarily say these
individuals have similar shared experiences in terms of migration and
that story. However, there are some kind of through lines
that I think do transcend space and time. One of
those is there is migration in the story of your

(01:30):
family right to be an immigrant. There was a migration,
be it yesterday or decades and hundreds of years ago, right,
So that migration is part of your story, whether or
not you know of it or not. Sometimes some of
that oral history and that knowledge is lost. It is

(01:51):
and I think being an immigrant also means that you
are subjected to the narratives that the society you've moved
to places on you. So that includes racism, that includes
different ways of viewing you in terms of if you
have an accent when you speak English, right, that is

(02:12):
part of all of the ways in which you are
being kind of assessed, you know, by society at large.
So that creates bias, that creates stigma inherently. And so
even if you are a sixth generation as your American,
people are going to view you and think of you
a certain way. And then if you came recently and

(02:35):
you open your mouth and you speak English, they're going
to view you in a certain way. And so what
happens is that we start getting put in these boxes.
You're this kind of immigrant, your this generation, you have
this type of assimilation and not this and so we
start to get put into these caricatures. Yet again, And

(02:57):
so I think there's something really important to kind of
nam is that the idea of assimilation was a coping strategy.
Say that again, so right, assimilation was coping because many
Asian parents and parents from all different countries around the world,
they sometimes did not teach their children their native languages

(03:20):
for fear that they could not speak English fluently without
an accent. So think about what that parent had to
deny of their identity to not teach their native tongue
because they wanted to protect their child. That is assimilation
because of fear. Because if we don't what options do

(03:43):
we have available to us? Will we be safe? Will
we find the stability that we're looking for in coming here?
So I think that over these last I don't know
over my lifetime, and I'm almost forty, So in the
last forty years, I've seen the idea of identity shift
and change. And now people are saying no, no, no, no, no,

(04:06):
I want all of it. I want my Asian nous,
I want my American nous, I want all parts of
the story. Whereas when I was growing up, my story
was fragmented. I had my Asian friends, and then I
had my non Asian friends, and I had my Asian
circles and non Asian spaces, and that was kept distinct.

(04:28):
And now people are saying, I'm bringing my lunch and
I don't care if you have issue with it, and
I'm going to wear my traditional attire because this makes
me feel good. And I think people are now reclaiming
those parts of themselves. And so instead of assimilation, which
is denying ourselves and taking on what the dominant society

(04:53):
is nick, we're moving towards acculturation, which is I think
much more of a multifaceted let me take from all
parts of that experience, which is what America initially thought
it was going to be this phenomenal melting pot, right
because they definitely use that word in the fourth grade.
And I'm just seeing it. I mean, oh, are you

(05:14):
saying I feel like I'm seeing it now? Like she said,
you know, I'm almost I'm actually forty. But I'm happy
to know that you're saying it. Do you feel like
you're seeing Tracy? Well, I see the intention. I love
Dr Jenny. I mean, she just gave us so much wisdom,
and honestly, I just should have taken more notes. I
don't know what you know what, No, Cara, you don't

(05:36):
need to take notes. You can just read. Listen to
this bonus clip. You are right, I mean, you are
so right. You can listen to the full episode recapping
Constance Woo's episode of Red Table Talk right now the
next episode of Let's Red Table that comes out Monday.
A big thank you to our executive producers Jada Pinkett Smith,

(05:57):
Ellen Racketson and Falon Jethrow. And thank you to our
producer Kyla Knau and our associate producer Yolanda Chow. And finally,
thank you to our sound engineer, Stephanie Aguilar