Wednesday, August 5, 2015

A Conversation About Being Asian-American in the South with Film Maker Matthew Hashiguchi



By Saisha Mediratta


When asked to reflect on the Asian-American experience in the South, several things immediately come to mind. I think back to the days of smelly lunches, people asking me if I understood English, and the constant feeling of being different. However when Matt Hashiguchi, an award winning documentary film maker, came and visited us here at Advancing Justice on July 21, 2015, we had to dig a little deeper, and recall a little further of what makes the Asian American experience in the south different from anywhere else. Matt primarily focuses on cultural and ethnic stories, motivated by his own half-Japanese, half-Italian background and the experiences he faced because of that, so the questions felt more like a conversation than an interview.

The staff and we interns eased into this topic smoothly because it is definitely something we have all thought about. Esther and Claire provided a unique perspective because although they grew up in the South, they have been attending college in the North for the past couple years. In their experience, the racism, discrimination, and dual feeling was equally as prevalent in the North as in the South even if it takes different forms. Language and accents became a source of discussion because every single one of us here had seen or faced such a situation such as being asked whether we need help, speak English, or our parents being asked to repeat something or being treated poorly.

Matt was constantly stressing on how any of this was any different than the North, and it wasn’t until another staff member joined the discussion did we really hit on what makes the South unique. She pointed out that the Asian American community in the South is not as well established as the North; the Advancing Justice branches in the North and on the West Coast are proof of that very observation because they are over a decade older than the Atlanta branch. She additionally mentioned that the legacy of racism in the South dates all the way back to the Civil War, so the historical context with which people view racism in the South is very black and white vs somewhere like California because of incidents like the Japanese internment camps during WWII.

Matt was especially interested in the concept of an “in between” feeling many Asian-Americans talk about, the sense of never truly fitting into either culture. Leslie, an international student from China, provided the apt contrast to all of our in between experiences because she said she has always considered herself just Chinese, not Asian or Asian-American. Esther and I recalled experiences at our heavily Asian populated school of never being part of a group, distancing ourselves from the Asian American community, or doing the complete opposite and isolating ourselves to just our community. Raymond’s experiences of growing up in Macon, Georgia, a predominately white neighborhood, really spoke to this topic because he really wasn’t exposed to the Asian American community until later in his life. He struggled with being open about his Filipino heritage in public in addition to his immigration status. Matt was fascinated with Raymond’s story, DACA, and his political awareness about the situation in Georgia and other states in the South.

The discussion forced all of us to introspect on the emotional impact of being an Asian-American particularly in the South and relive specific experiences. Matt was looking for a subject, a unique experience in the South, and although he didn’t quite get exactly that, our discussion definitely pointed him in a direction whether that be the lack of race discussion, the “in between” experience, or even the newer establishment. Either way, our conversation proved to be a learning experience for all of us, and helped us find common ground with each other no matter what our nationality.


Check out Matt’s work at his website: http://www.matthewhashiguchi.com/

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