Former Minnesota State Sen. Mee Moua recalls the great influence Brown University had on her.
She recalls coming to the Ivy League school a Hmong Refugee and leaving an Asian American, reports the Brown Daily Herald.
The president of Asian Americans Advancing Justice was the keynote speaker of an Asian American conference at Brown this weekend, “E(RACE)D But Not Forgotten.”
“Within the broader Asian-American umbrella, we are an alphabet soup,” Moua said. “There’s this spectrum of Asian-Americans. You could choose to distance yourself, or you could choose to embrace it.”
Moua says some Asian Americans choose to distance themselves from their Asian American identity.
She admits that disappoints her, but she also understands why that happens.
“There’s this artificial Asian-American identity imposed upon us, and you can either say, ‘No, no, no, that’s not us,’ or work with it.”
You can read more of Moua’s thoughts about Asian American identity and building coalition with other minority groups in the Brown Daily Herald.