Everyone in the class agreed with the statement, except one. Later, a friend of mine agreed as well, saying that it depended on how people treated her that day. In Vietnam, she didn't think about it at all. In the US, if she came up against a racial situation, she sometimes saw an Asian face staring back at her.
My reply was this: I always see my face staring at me from the mirror. I see my physical features, and sometimes my thoughts behind them. Sometimes I see a white woman staring at me, with freckles and hazel eyes. Sometimes I see an Asian woman staring at me, and my eyes seem more almond shaped, my skin smoother. And some days, I see a woman with multiple races layering themselves like so many palimpsests. But always, race is there. To say that my race is not a part of me is disingenuous. My experiences shape my being, and those experiences are deeply rooted in how people treat me, based on my perceived race.
What does it mean to look into a mirror and not see race? Color blindness has proved itself untenable. When we as a society "refuse to see race", we simply ignore it and the problems it has caused in our history. Discrimination goes underground. Or white becomes normal and everyone else is supposed to assimilate.
When people say they don't see race in the mirror, do they mean they're moving towards colorblind? If someone said they didn't see Asian, but instead saw white, how would the situation change? Race is generally immutable. We can't become one or the other depending on choice, can we?
When my friend said she saw race, I think she meant she felt different that day. In Vietnam, she saw no racial difference between her and the other people around her. My answer, then, as a mixed-race woman is based on my experience of not really looking like anyone else. Even in my own home, neither of my parents really looks like me. I am constantly conscious of race because I am constantly surrounded by difference.
you look very much like your mother
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