"HAPA"

According to the title of an interview on NPR News Tell Me More, "HAPA" is "multi-culturalism explained in one word." The program's intern Kristen Lee defines it further as "half Asian and half another race" and talks about how she connects to the term.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 10 Unit 1's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: What Is Cultural Identity, Ethnic Hash, Two Kinds, Honestly Frida, Legal Alien, By Any Other Name, HAPA, Where Worlds Collide, My Mother Pieced Quilts, Everyday Use, Two Ways to Belong in America, An Indian Father's Plea
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. assume
    take to be the case or to be true
    From my appearance, people assume I am Asian, but how could a quarter measurement define who I am?
  2. flaunt
    display proudly
    I flaunt all of my cultural mix but so many people want me to pick a label.
  3. derogatory
    expressive of low opinion
    It's meant to be slightly derogatory but I embrace it as a source of empowerment.
  4. template
    a model or standard for making comparisons
    Hawaii is one of the country's most multiracial states and when I studied there, I was viewed as a local because some of my racial features fit the Hawaiian template.
  5. predominantly
    much greater in number or influence
    I was a confident and proud HAPA in Hawaii, but when I came back to Michigan, my predominantly white peers still saw me as a model minority statistic, exotic foreigner, and a token Asian in the classroom.
  6. legitimacy
    undisputed credibility
    I don't speak a Chinese dialect. And that can be a problem for Asian people who pressure me to prove the legitimacy of my Chinese heritage.
  7. benefit
    derive an advantage from
    Still, I feel like I benefited from white privilege because of my lighter skin.
  8. discrimination
    unfair treatment of a person or group based on prejudice
    I've avoided most racial discrimination, but I do face a different kind of prejudice when walking around with my black boyfriend
  9. recognize
    show approval or appreciation of
    I feel like a society that focuses on black and white doesn't recognize my unique multicultural experience.
  10. consistency
    the degree of density, firmness, or viscosity of a substance
    Yet, as the pudding bakes, the rice retains its consistency, like I keep my own unique HAPA identity.
Created on Wed Oct 08 13:41:07 EDT 2014 (updated Wed Oct 08 18:15:59 EDT 2014)

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