Article: Real or Paper?

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Real or Paper?

A ProGroup consultant considers Asian Pacific American Heritage month

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As part of our celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2007, ProGroup asked Sally Jue to contribute her perspective.

When people ask me, "Where are you from?" I say "Los Angeles." Often people will then ask, "Yes, but where are you really from?" So I tell them I was born and raised in California. At this point, some people have actually blurted out, "Yes, but what are you really?" What they really want to know is my ethnicity. Even after I tell people that I have lived my entire life in California, some have asked me where I learned to speak English so well! This makes me wonder if they still see me as a foreigner, someone who is not really American.

As the only nonwhite child in my preschool, I had such a terrible experience that my parents pulled me out after one week. With one exception, none of the other kids would interact with me except to make fun of my Asian appearance or tell me I was different and didn't belong there. After that, my parents stopped speaking Chinese at home, mistakenly fearing that continued exposure to their language would negatively affect my English.

My father was born in China and is what historians refer to as a "paper son" because my last name, Jue, is the name on the papers his father purchased for both of them in order to come to the United States during the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first U.S. immigration law targeting a specific nationality or ethnic group. In the 1960s, when the paper sons were granted amnesty, there was a great debate in our family about whether or not to take back our real name. My father decided not to because by then he had a family, business, and home under his paper name.

My parents felt that to succeed in the United States my siblings and I would need American names, so Sally was the very American name they picked for me. My Chinese name is Toy Phuong Hong. Toy is my family name, which comes first to signify the family's importance. Phuong is my generation name, and traditionally, all my sisters would share the same generation name. Finally, Hong is my individual name. Years ago when I was working in Chinatown I kept meeting other Chinese who asked me, "Are you a paper Jue or a real Jue?" I'd reply, "Sorry, I'm a paper Jue, but a real Toy."

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This article was part of our recent celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2007, ProGroup also shares with you Five Ways to Start an Asian Pacific Heritage Month Conversation.