Seeing Opportunity In A Question: ‘Where Are You Really From?’ |
Seeing Opportunity In A Question: ‘Where Are You Really From?’
Morning Edition
National Public Radio
2013-11-11
Renee Montagne, Host
Steve Inskeep, Host
Michele Norris, Host/Special Correspondent
NPR continues a series of conversations about The Race Card Project, where thousands of people have submitted their thoughts on race and cultural identity in six words. Every so often NPR Host/Special Correspondent Michele Norris will dip into those six-word stories to explore issues surrounding race and cultural identity for Morning Edition.
“Where are you from?”
“No, really, where are you from?”
Those questions about identity and appearance come up again and again in submissions to The Race Card Project. In some cases, Norris tells Morning Edition‘s Steve Inskeep, people say it feels accusatory — like, ‘Do you really belong?’
It’s also a question that Alex Sugiura, because of his racially ambiguous appearance, can’t seem to escape.
Sugiura, 27, is the child of a first-generation Japanese immigrant father and a Jewish mother of Eastern European descent. Sugiura’s brother Max looks more identifiably Asian, but when people meet Alex, they’re often not satisfied to hear that he’s from Brooklyn…
Read the article here. Listen to the story here. Download the audio here. Read the transcript here.
Tags: Alex Sugiura, Michele Norris, Morning Edition, National Public Radio, NPR, Renee Montagne, Steve Inskeep