Growth in New York City
As both a racial and gender minority, I’ve had to learn how to deal with the intersectionalities of my identity as an American, something that my parents never taught me nor acknowledged. I’m a 16-year-old Asian American New Yorker who comes from a fairly successful first-generation immigrant family. It is the typical story that many Asian Americans try to assimilate into the American culture by disassociating with their Asian heritage and it was no different for me. It took me years to understand who I am, and I’m still figuring it out, but through this journey, I’ve learned that my biases root in my identity.
The biases I had in 7th grade were far different from my current ones. Back then, I didn’t have my own identity which led me to go along with the stereotypical opinions I heard from my classmates, teachers, and parents, without ever second-guessing them. Today, I view the world through the lens of my unique identity, allowing me to gain a better understanding of myself and the world around me. For instance, I’ve realized that there is a lack of representation of people not white or adjacent to being white. Olivia Rodrigo is a notable example. She is Filipino and white, but can be mistaken as just white by many people. And while it is great that she is a closer representation of who I am, it seems that the entertainment industries love to focus on people whose looks are more white, thus assuming that white people are more palatable to their intended audience. This is not to take away from Olivia Rodrigo’s identity as a minority, but her case highlights the fact that many people with darker skin tones or less racially ambiguous looks are less likely to have the level of success than those with lighter skin tones or who are more racially ambiguous. The way the mainstream media industry operates is much to blame for this, but such lack of representation also reflects the standards of society, where someone more synonymous to whiteness is more likely to succeed than someone who isn’t.
My current view on the lack of representation of non-white people in mainstream media is very much based on the experiences that I’ve learned from. If you asked 7th grade me, who had no idea what my identity entailed, I would’ve thought my current view was unnecessarily dragging race into the mix and that the people who were more successful just had more talent. Growing as a person and learning from my experiences and mistakes has truly helped me find my identity. This growth and learning process mainly came from the subtle conversations throughout my life that have taught me how to accept myself and fine tune my perspective on the world.
Much of my growth and identity I owe to the great city I reside in, New York City. Everyone always tells me that growing up here is great because of the diversity, but recently I’ve realized that this diversity has enclosed me in a bubble where many people have similar opinions. With the occasional close-minded person I run into every now and then, I have not been able to participate in discourse with people who have vastly different opinions from that of those in the NYC “bubble.” But so long as the people I converse have open minds, everyone often walks out of the conversations with a new takeaway. These conversations are how we ensure that our opinions aren’t two dimensional and that they have depth and sound justifications. While a typical conversation I have here in the NYC bubble may not commence steam blowing out of my ears, I can always count on broadening my horizons even just a little during these types of talks. I wouldn’t be the person I am if it weren’t for the impacts from each of the conversations that I’ve had throughout the course of my life.
Alina Chen is a 16-year-old girl from Brooklyn who is passionate about racial and gender advocacy, like many youth on varying social issues, has blossomed in 2020. She is excited to be a Next Gen Summer Civic Fellow. Aside from her interests in these heavy topics, she is an avid music listener, water drinker, and Fast and Furious viewer. She is currently a rising senior who is under extreme stress worrying about college, just as she believes any other typical teenager her age would be.