October 25, 1998
This week, four members from the Asian Adoptees Foundation came to speak about their experiences with being an Asian Adoptee. Some of them expressed anger while others learned to accept their role in society and use it as an advantage. To me, this topic was a new topic since I never knew anybody who was an Asian Adoptee, let alone any kind of adoptee.
The first speaker’s name was Charles. He was born in Korea, but he was abandoned when he was only eighteen months old. He was then placed with a white couple in America, specifically Kentucky. Growing up, he didn’t know any Asian people so he grew up as a white person. Then, after he grew up, he moved to California and that is when he started to meet different Asian Americans. He began to like being around Asians and he can only be around Asians right now. He even wants to change his last name to a Korean name. I thought that he was going overboard by trying to erase everything that he grew up with.
The next speaker was David Miller. He had a different point of view. Although he was in the same situation as Charles, he handled his identity in a different way. At first, he hated being raised by a white family. His father was very demanding and wanted the perfect All-American son while he wanted to learn more about his natural roots. What resulted was a major quarrel during his childhood. Now, he has learned to accept his identity and so has his dad.
There were two other speakers and they both talked about their life experiences also. It seemed like all four people had gone through some kind of an identity crisis at one time or another. I felt sorry that they had to endure through such pain as an identity crisis, but I feel that they should all accept that fact and move on.