This letter is written in response to “Affinity Groups: Building Community or Deepening Division?” by Grant Gandhi.

Dear Grant,

Growing up in Guangzhou, my grandpa sacrificed everything to come to the U.S., build an Asian wholesale empire, and give his children every ounce of the all-encompassing word: opportunity. Now, he’s dead. By the end, we could barely communicate between his broken English and my lack of Cantonese. I don’t think, however, that he would have told me that just because he achieved the “American Dream” and found success in a white society means I should give up what makes me Asian. While you “never think too hard about ‘being Indian,’” for me, Chinese is never an afterthought.

The most extreme case of this belief is highlighted in Frantz Fanon’s book “Black Skin, White Masks,” in which he emphasizes how cultural assimilation is inherently racist, as it forces the subject to renounce themselves to take on a new identity—that of a white person. Before you point at your computer screen and laugh at the absurdity of this argument in the context of your article, I am not saying that one must exclusively be Indian or exclusively Chinese. I do believe, however, that being half-Chinese, half-American is its own explicit identity. Therefore, while you “hardly feel any differences” among you and your diverse friend group, your experience is not necessarily reflective of the broader community of Asian Americans—or many people of color who have experienced discrimination or lack of belonging.

Affinity groups are not created with the intent to break up already marginalized groups. At least, in my opinion, they are created with the intent of acknowledging the different lived experiences someone may have as a Jewish American, Black American, or, in the case of ASA, Asian American. They are not meant to “divide ourselves further”; they are designed to educate people on what it means to have a certain identity in the U.S. As my fellow co-head Ani Mehta-Shah mentioned in your article, it’s simply a “positive space for people to come together.” If you are skeptical about whether we are “doing this in the right way,” you are always free to critique our current structure, which mixes serious, sentimental, and even silly aspects of Asian American culture. We eat a lot of food, too.

It’s easy to consider myself American (just like your grandmother). But it’s impossible to forget that I’m also Chinese and Asian, and all of that is worth celebrating.

Best,

Sebastian