Hapa Only?

Latoya Peterson included us in a recent blog post for Racialicious, a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture, and the resulting comment thread proved to be quite interesting.

A snippet from Peterson's writeup - "While I enjoy reading magazines, they tend to be a POC wasteland. With the exceptions of specialty publications like Essence or East West, there is not a lot of minority representation." She goes on to point out articles she enjoyed in recent magazines, including our current Dec/Jan issue.

A reader as a result checked out our website and had this reaction, which she posted on the blog, "I looked around the East West magazine website, and I was starting to wonder what they meant when they said that they’re an Asian-American magazine…were they referring to hapas (half Asian)? Of course, they have to be represented too, but ALL the models/people who are featured on there are hapa..."

Really? They are? Other posts from various individuals pointed out that this was not the case, but Latoya also asked me to comment on the question/observation. It was something that really gave me pause. But by recalling our mission, I was able to respond, and I felt the message in that response would be worthwhile to share here as well. A part of it is below.

But to read the original post and the entire comment thread ( quite interesting if you have a few minutes) click here.

My response:
"There is a mix and that is what makes us unique, we are inclusive not exclusive. Carrie Ann Inaba is hapa, but her Japanese and Chinese roots are compelling, her time in Japan as a pop star is compelling, etc. Previous covers have included Ming Na, Lucy Liu and more… Our Wasabi Woman, not hapa. I, myself, am full Indian American. The list goes on and on so that is why the comment surprised me.
Many of the My East West stories are from hapa women, but again not all are and some aren’t even Asian at all, but they each have a unique East/West perspective, and that is the nature of that particular department.
The point: it doesn’t matter. We don’t look at content production from a hapa or not hapa perspective nor do we try to balance it. We do what makes most sense, what makes a story that needs to be told, such as Asian Americans and hepatitis b, or diabetes or depression, and so it varies. We are inclusive. We are truly pan Asian American and proud that we celebrate each individual’s unique Asian cultural experience no matter how you breakdown his or her ethnic makeup. We can each learn from another and underneath it all the East/West cultural experiences are often quite similar."