He's Laotian.

Hank Hill's like, "So are you Chinese or are you Japanese?"

Right?

And then the guys like, "No, I'm from Laos, you know, "it's a southeast Asian country."

And then, in the end, he's like, "Okay,"

he's like, "So are you Chinese or are you Japanese?"

Right?

(symphonic music)

- Every time I meet somebody new, the question always comes up, "Where are you from?"

And I always wanna say Minnesota, but you know what they mean.

- I was at a bar and someone asked me my name, and I said Rachel, and then they said, "Okay, but what's your real name?"

- Chinese are not the same as Japanese or are not the same as Koreans or are not the same as Phillippinos, or Thai or, you know, Indians.

- And not every single Asian person gets into college.

Not every single Asian person goes to a great school.

Not every single person has, you know, a great job.

- I can still be Japanese American and know that part of myself and know that history, but it's also okay to still identify as a gangly, little suburban kid.

And I'm fine with that.

- I remember seeing Wayne's World growing up,

and I was like, "Oh, Tia Carrera, she's Phillippino, "a Hawaiian Phillippino."

And they're like, "No, she's playing Cantonese."

And I was like, "Oh, we don't even get to be ourselves.

"We don't even get to be who we are."

"We have to play at something else."

- Most times in high school, or places like this, you don't really have an outlet where you can talk about these Asian-American issues.

Even in the workplace, you know, you need Asian-American mentors who experienced the bamboo ceiling, something that happens in corporate America.

So most times, if you actually look at it, you'll see that a lot of Asian-Americans, for instance, you know, they're in middle management or they're in engineering, but you don't really see them in high CEO roles, and the reason being is often times our culture for instance, you know, my mom always tells me, "Don't ask for a raise, keep your head down."

You know, "When you do your work, your boss will "basically see that you're doing well and he'll give "you a raise."

But in America, it's not like that.

America, the squeakiest wheel gets the oil, right?

- People sometimes say that Nubooko, just forget about Japaneseness, just open up yourself more and be more expressive and be more up front and straight forward.

- That goes back to the stereotype of, oh, no ones talks about Asians because Asians don't speak up.

- My parents didn't want me to learn the language.

They thought that if I were to learn Tagalog at home, that I would have an accent, and I would have the struggles that they had because they were shamed for having thick accents when they first immigrated to the U.S.

I think I struggle with it even now, that talking to my parents, I think they do regret those moments of wanting something different for me.

- I have two younger sisters who are 10 and eight, and I really feel it's my responsibility to help them come to terms with the identity crisis I know they're going through and bridging the gap between the American culture that they deal with at school and the Asian culture they deal with at home.

- There is just so much beauty in the distinction and different cultures out there that I think it would be to everyone's advantage to learn more about all the different places we come from.

- I love seeing that these communities are asking for representation, because it's so important to me, and I think my ownership is getting to be a part of that.

- And even celebrate the fact that it's so cool to be different.

To have something to offer that someone else may not.

And to exchange ideas, rather than just try to be the same idea.

I think that concept is just, it frees you so much.

So much freedom in that.

(serene music)