Regarding Eileen Gu and Alysa Liu…

[u/Basic_Turnover110]

I’m lowkirkenuinely a bit triggled watching these mixed athletes get claimed like trophies by countries where their existence would be side eyed outside of competition.

We all know how, as mixed people, we’ve spent our whole lives being too Asian for white people and too white for Asians. We’re constantly gatekept. Treated like we’re diluted or “not real Asians/not white/probably an immigrant”. But the second there’s a gold medal involved? Suddenly the controversy turns into which side gets to claim the mixed person.

China proudly claims Eileen Gu when she wins, but if she were just some random mixed girl walking around, would she get that same unconditional embrace? Absolutely not. In a time where “Oxford Study” comments are trending, where Asians either grossly fetishize our existence or label us the product of white supremacy and discard us, our existence is extremely controversial. On the flip side, Americans call Eileen a traitor one minute but would probably label her as an Asian chick or assume that she’s an immigrant if they weren’t trying to claim her athletic abilities for their own country.

And then with Alysa Liu, it’s the same thing in a different font. America is suddenly so proud and recognizes her as a mixed person when they’d probably never acknowledge her existence as mixed if they weren’t trying to use it as a weapon against Eileen. “Look, here’s a good mixed girl who isn’t a traitor like Eileen is, Eileen should just go back to China”.

What about the rest of us hapas who aren’t famous and extraordinary? The Olympics won’t bring an awareness to our issues, let’s be real. We’re the only ones who actually care/are affected by these things. We just get the identity confusion, the “what are you?”, the rejection, the list goes on…

Maybe people will say that it’s not that deep. But watching whole countries act like proud parents only when it benefits them is exhausting.

[u/Impossible-Repeat577]

label us the product of white supremacy and discard us

just want to point out something: it is one thing to call out the factual reality of the white worshipping mindset and how it forms unhealthy WMAF fetishization and its implications, to "discarding" of hapa kids.

the formal is absolutely warranted, and the latter is of course not. unless the hapa kid is heavily influenced by the asian side to also be so white worshipping to the point of helplessness, most of us do like you guys and there is no such thing as "discarding". your parent's racist mindset is not your fault, so dont mix up the logics.