One demographic survey item that Sequoia will be faced with her entire life is the "What is your race/ethnicity?" question. It may come from the mouths of inquisitive passersby, appear on school and employment applications, crop up on government documents, or show up on other more general surveys. Unless the U.S. Census Bureau redefines race and ethnicity, she may have to click the "Other" response option. And if she really wants to explain herself, maybe she'll have the chance to indicate in an open text field: "half white, half pacific islander".
Half white, half pacific islander. But how accurate is this response? According to her daddy, she is Hapa (or happa), which is a person with one Asian or Asian-American parent and one non-Asian parent. The term has evolved from the Hawaiian pidgin term hapa-haole (literally "half-white"). This cracks me up, because "half white" would NEVER work with my peeps. Ha ha ha. According to my daddy, she is "half asian" or maybe "half pacific islander" or maybe even "mixed". I guess at least they both agree on the "half" part! -- The truth is, Sequoia's paternal ancestry comes from Macau, a small island/peninsula located on the southeast coast of China. Portuguese traders first settled there in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover in 1999. Bob and his three brother's are first generation. On her maternal side, Sequoia's ancestry comes from the Netherlands ("if you're not Dutch, you're not much"). I think me and my five siblings are third generation.
I like to think of Sequoia as my little Hapa baby. If that's the case, here's a picture of the Hapa baby's mama and daddy (not bad, huh!):
I like to think of Sequoia as my little Hapa baby. If that's the case, here's a picture of the Hapa baby's mama and daddy (not bad, huh!):
i'm cracking up while at my desk trying to work. my smiles going to last a long time on this! nani, you are TOO FUNNY! where do you get this?? i haven't had a laugh like this in a long time. you must not know, but that does look like you and Bob. lol
ReplyDeletehaha, i'm cracking up at this too!! you're too funny!! thanks for writing this though! i loved being able to finally process where bob's family is from--i know i've asked, but i usually have three kids running around me. :) we like to think of sequoia as our little hapa cousin! :)-abby
ReplyDeleteThe whole time reading this, I just kept thinking "She's HAPPA; That means HAPPY" :)As for the couple above, ummmm....see ya :) LOL!
ReplyDeletebeautiful dutch, spanish moor, french hugonot, american nani.....sequoia is a child of the new earth to me where "all is one"...LOVE
ReplyDelete