I, The Banana

I’m a banana and proud of it. Of course I’m not directly talking about the fruit but rather its symbolism for most Asian Americans. We are yellow on the outside but white on the inside, just like a banana. Sadly, it also has come to resemble how many of us have started to lose touch with our cultural roots. However, something like this is inevitable because growing up in a bicultural environment, you will naturally gravitate towards the culture of everyone else around you and the culture of your roots that you more or less only experience at home, starts to deteriorate. While the culture of your roots will always be a part of you, you can’t help but to be more like those around you. As a first generation immigrant child, I would say that I probably have maintained a greater connection with my roots than others as I really value that part of my identity and want to keep a strong connection with it as I know that with each generation that follows, more and more of my cultural roots will be lost. This is part of the reason why I willingly subjected myself to weekend Chinese school. However, even with all that I have done, I still feel that while I have a strong connection with my roots, there are still times where I just can’t connect as deeply with my roots nor understand some ideologies or traditions. But that is just the reality for most Asian Americans as you are being immersed in two cultures that could sometimes have conflicting ideologies. This is why I am who I am, why I am a banana.