Asian Avenue magazine

Hawaiians came up with the derisive phrase, “hapa-haole” (“half-white”) to describe mix-race islanders. It’s not an insult anymore in Hawaii. Over the decades, the term “hapa” has come to refer to mixed-race Asians in general, without the stigma attached to the original meaning.

Some people still find the word offensive, and some feel that people outside of the native Hawai’ian community have no right to use the term, but it’s become so commonplace that a pop group in Hawai’i is named “Hapa,” and it’s the name of a popular chain of sushi restaurants in the Denver area. The term is now being used even in the African American and Hispanic communities.

Back in 1992, the Hapa Issues Forum was founded by Asian American students in Berkeley, CA because of outrage when a guest lecturer claimed Japanese women were marrying white men to gain social status. The organization helped mixed-race AAPIs establish and feel proud of their heritage for 15 years, and finally disbanded in 2007, announcing that hapas are now much more visible and not stigmatized like they were during the group’s inception.

Meanwhile, author, educator and performance artist Kip Fulbeck, who’s Chinese and white, traveled the country and shot a book’s worth of portraits for “Part Asian, 100% Hapa” (Chronicle Books, 2004), a photo album that displayed a fascinating range of mixed-race faces with a brief handwritten statement from each subject.

Online resources:
http://www.mavinfoundation.org
http://www.asian-nation.org

Book list:
“Part Asian, 100% Hapa” by Kip Fulbeck
“What Are You? Voices of Mixed-Race Young People” by Pearl Fuyo Gaskins
“Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? A Parent’s Guide To Raising Multiracial Children” by Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Hapas of note:
Tia Carrere (Actress)
Devon Aoki (Actress)
Dean Cain (Actor)
Rob Schneider (Actor)
Phoebe Cates (Actress)
Michaela Conlin (Actress)
Kristin Kreuk (Actress)
Brandon Lee (Actor)
Keanu Reeves (Actor)
Moon Bloodgood (Actress and Model)
Maggie Q (Actress and Model)
Kelly Hu (Actress and Former Model)
Lou Diamond Phillips (Actor and Director)
Russell Wong (Actor and Photographer)
Michelle Branch (Singer)
Lynda Barry (Cartoonist)
Ann Curry (News Anchor)
Malia Jones (Surfer)
Apolo Ohno (Speed Skating Olympic Medalist)
Johnny Damon (MLB player)
Paul Kariya (NHL player)

Hapas by the numbers
According to the 2000 census (the first time Americans had the choice of identifying themselves as “mixed-race”), 2.1 million people identified themselves as part Asian and part one or more other races. Out of those, the majority – 52% — claimed Asian and White ethnicity, with Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders next with .84% and African Americans at .64%. The rest, 45%, claimed Asians with other combinations.

Japanese make up 30.7% within the group claiming to be multiracial. In fact, Japanese Americans have had the highest out-marriage rate of all AAPI populations since the 1970s, so the high mixed-race statistic isn’t surprising. They’re the highest proportion among the six largest Asian American ethnic groups, followed by Filipinos (21.8%), Chinese (15.4%), Korean (12.3%) Asian Indian (11.6%) and Vietnamese (8.3%).

By Gil Asakawa
Asian Avenue magazine