ASIAN AMERICAN DREAMS by Helen Zia
The Emergence of an American People
Farrar, Straus and Giroux of New York - 2000
ISBN: 0374527369 – Paperback

Reviewed by Nancy Mehl, MyShelf.com
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As I offered my thoughts, Rose abruptly turned to me and said, “Helen, you’ve got to decide if you’re black or white.”  Stunned, I was unable to say that I was neither, that I had an identity of my own.  I didn’t know the words, “Asian American.”  It was a concept yet to be articulated.  (From ASIAN AMERICAN DREAMS)

ASIAN AMERICAN DREAMS asks as many questions as it answers.  It not only chronicles the author’s journey in a search to discover just who she is and how she fits into a world full of different races and social attitudes, but it holds many events and experiences in American history up to a racial magnifying glass.  Unfortunately, much of the amplification is ugly.  The truth behind attacks against Asian American business owners during the L.A. riots is shocking, as is the apparent lack of interest from the news media in general.

However, Zia raises some issues that seem to go around in circles.  Contemporary Caucasian actors playing the parts of Asian Americans would seem to ask the question as to whether Asian American actors should be offered parts written for white characters.  This may not be a fight that will win the war against racism in the entertainment industry.  Perhaps the question should be whether or not parts are offered to the “best” actors – regardless of ethnicity.  Also, an argument for gay marriages fills quite a few pages, yet seems out of place in a book that seeks to present the Asian American point of view.  Hawaii’s referendum to allow gay marriages was defeated by a vote of 70% - with most of the residents being Asian American.

Zia’s book left me more enlightened but still wishing for the day when we don’t have to work so hard to identify ourselves through our racial roots – when our heritage does not define us, but instead, simply enriches us.

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