February 28, 2012
natashavc: “Like many of the Asian American kids of my generation stuck somewhere between white and black, I filled the vacant parts of my identity with basketball and hip-hop. It was misdirected and yawningly suburban, sure, but by the time I walked to the plate in that softball game, I had built up a glittering yet utterly fragile structure of black iconography, all of which stood in nicely for my reality as an Asian kid without many friends who spent almost all his time worrying about debate tournaments and all the pretty, unattainable girls on the fast track to sorority row. I suppose that’s why my friend’s comment finally cut through, why it still lingers today. He kicked dirt over two distinct fantasies and made me stare down two very hard truths. The first: My friends had, in fact, noticed that I wasn’t white. The second: I could stalk Rasheed Wallace around Chapel Hill, memorize KRS-One lyrics, rock Timberland boots, and read Eldridge Cleaver and Cornel West without any critical distinction (all things I did in high school), but blackness would always be further a/way than whiteness and there was a wide gulf of bad history that ensured the distance.” This is fantastic writing! Reaaaad it! 

natashavc:

“Like many of the Asian American kids of my generation stuck somewhere between white and black, I filled the vacant parts of my identity with basketball and hip-hop. It was misdirected and yawningly suburban, sure, but by the time I walked to the plate in that softball game, I had built up a glittering yet utterly fragile structure of black iconography, all of which stood in nicely for my reality as an Asian kid without many friends who spent almost all his time worrying about debate tournaments and all the pretty, unattainable girls on the fast track to sorority row. I suppose that’s why my friend’s comment finally cut through, why it still lingers today. He kicked dirt over two distinct fantasies and made me stare down two very hard truths. The first: My friends had, in fact, noticed that I wasn’t white. The second: I could stalk Rasheed Wallace around Chapel Hill, memorize KRS-One lyrics, rock Timberland boots, and read Eldridge Cleaver and Cornel West without any critical distinction (all things I did in high school), but blackness would always be further a/way than whiteness and there was a wide gulf of bad history that ensured the distance.”

This is fantastic writing! Reaaaad it! 

7:07pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZI2g2yHCVh4m
(Notes: 91)
  
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    george c. grimaldis shares
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  8. afroxander reblogged this from thenoobyorker and added:
    Fantastic piece by an Asian-American writer Jay Caspian Kang of ESPN. Here’s my favorite quote from
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    “This much is clear: We still haven’t figured out how to talk about...Americans. The term...
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    “I’m not particularly proud...past two weeks, I’ve exchanged countless e-mails with
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