It took me decades to come up with an answer that was complete enough not to provoke more questions.
I am Chinese. But that doesn't mean I speak any dialect you might know how to say a few words in. I was born in the Philipines and - through no fault of my own - immigrated to Chicago when i was 7 months old. No, that's not a Filipino accent you hear. All of my grandparents were Chinese, my parents are Chinese, and I am American. If you don't believe me, look at my passport.

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Polaroid activity from the Japanese American National Museum's exhibition kip fulbeck: part asian / 100% hapa. Participants were asked to add their own response to the question "What are you?"

Los Angeles, California. 2006.