Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law.
I am a stranger on earth;
do not hide your commands from me. (Psalm 119:18-19)

In grad school, I had the opportunity to go on a couple of international trips. I was hoping for Europe but ended up getting South America and Asia. This was fortunate because my class had a bunch of white people in it. Let me explain; on the trips I was able to watch the dynamic of my European American classmates be the minorities. Ah, there's nothing like being in a crowded room and being the only... whatever: white person, brown person, male, or female.

I say this with no malice as I often forget that I'm a brown Filipino American. The only time I remember is when I look in the mirror or when someone reminds me that we live in a white country. (Ever heard someone refer to a European American as just plain American?) I was born here, as my bio says—in Hollywood, CA no less—and was raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

For the most part I've always been able to blend, but I've never really felt American or Filipino. It is a strange feeling to have, to feel like a stranger in the country you were born in. I went to the Philippines in 1997 and suffice it to say I didn't feel all that comfortable in the land of my forefathers, either. The movie The Namesake MovedMe because it tries to depict this same dilemma in some very poignant ways.

First off, the movie centers around a family—it feels like we shouldn't call them an Indian family but Bengali—whose parents are from India. It chronicles how the father came to be in America, received his wife who was arranged for him, and how they raised two children in New York. The father's name is Ashoke, the mother is Ashima, the son is named Gogol (played by Kal Penn of Harold & Kumar fame), and the daughter "lucked out" with Sonia.

"How old were you when you moved to America?"
This is a classic question that I've gotten a handful of times in my life, and it was asked of Gogol by a guest at his white girlfriend's graduation party. Mostly it's a harmless assumption as it was portrayed in the movie, but it is an assumption all the same. The assumption is that everyone who is not white must be a foreigner.

Gogol's answer is great and gracious. He just says in a matter of fact manner that he was born and raised in New York, just like his girlfriend Max. There is no bad blood or need to be haughty about it; it was a harmless mistake. But the fact is, in the year 2006 we still have the situation where a brown, bilingual person would be considered a foreigner before he would be considered American.

Believe me, I of all people know that many strides have been made, to my benefit and without my having to participate in any civil rights actions. But the fact remains: what do you think of when you see a non-white person standing before you? More often than not most people think foreigner. Again, not casting stones just stating a fact.

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