Q: Tell me about your family and your cultural background and how you feel about being multiracial in America.

LM: I think it's really important to talk about being multiracial in America because it's been an invisible issue for a long time. And I remember the first time I saw a book about interracial people, and it was very affirming to have something that actually talks about our existence. I think this program is a way to affirm our existence.

Q: Do you remember what that book was called or when you came across it?

LM: It was called "Miscegenation Blues." And it was a bunch of short essays by multiracial women.

Q: Did you hear about the book in college?

LM: No, only recently, about three or four years ago.

Q: What role models could you look to that represented you on TV, in the media? Have you noticed any differences between now and when you were growing up as a girl?

LM: In terms of the media, it's not that different because there are only a few Asians on TV, except for news anchors. And there are not very many biracial people, at least people those who are identified as biracial.

Q: Or those who identify themselves as biracial.

LM: Yes, and there is more Asian American literature than there was when we were little. There is just starting to be a growing body of literature about biracial and multiracial people.

Q: When you were growing up, you looked to your family?

LM: We had a couple of other friends that were interracial families but I didn't really have any other role models for identity development, at all.

Q: I understand you just finished up your Master's degree?

LM: Yes, I just finished my Master's in Public Health.

Q: How have you integrated your education and work with multiracial issues?

LM: I worked for 6 years as the Executive Director of the Association of Asian Community Health Associations. That was a good experience for me to work in the Asian community, as a spokesperson for this national Asian organization. It made me feel connected to the community. There were also times when I felt like I wasn't connected, that I was being an imposter, or an outsider who was representing Asians, but that I wasn't really legitimate. And I got treated that way sometimes. I remember one time I was in a meeting and they were talking about the fact that there wasn't any Asian representation in the meeting and I was sitting right there.

Q: Did you respond to that?

LM: Well, I told them that I was Asian. And there were also many Asian people who didn't know that I was Asian, or who didn't know what ethnicity I was. I've worked with people for years who thought that I was Filipino.

Q: Do you feel comfortable when you're asked about your ethnicity?

LM: It really depends on the situation. It doesn't come up naturally in conversation. But I've had a couple of different experiences where people haven't thought I've been Asian, and it's been difficult. Once when I was working for this national organization, I went to Atlanta to go to a conference. I was in the hotel during the lunch break, waiting in line to get seated. There were a bunch of businessmen standing around talking, and I was a couple of feet away from them. They started talking about Japs. And they kept talking about Japs over and over again, and I felt that I had to say something, and they were a lot bigger than me. I was by myself, but I just couldn't not say anything. So I said, "Excuse me. I'm not trying to listen in on your conversation but I find it very offensive when you refer to Japanese people as Japs." One man basically started telling me why he should call them Japs. Then he accused me of trying to be politically correct because he didn't know that I was Japanese. He just thought that I was somebody trying to correct him. I said, "I'm not being politically correct, I'm Japanese American." I feel that experience was upsetting because it wasn't teenage kids yelling from a car window. It was so-called legitimate people who are running businesses, in positions of power, defending that kind of bigoted behavior right to your face.

Q: How did that incident end?

LM: They basically wrote me off. They thought I was a pest, and I got really upset. Then I got seated by a waitress who was an immigrant of African descent. I was so upset I couldn't eat. I was shaking and crying. I also felt bad because I don't have to experience this kind of bigotry all that often, and here's this black person, and this is probably really petty from her point of view.

Q: Do you think that it had anything to do with the incident happening in Atlanta, as opposed to out here? Are things more overt in other parts of the country?

LM: I think in Atlanta things are more overt, and other parts of the south. But one time I was walking down the street here with some friends and some teenagers yelled "chink" at us, outside, from their car. The friends I was with were all Asian. If it had been just me, that might not have happened because they might not have been able to tell. Generally though that kind of thing doesn't happen to me here.

Q: Why did you use a level of comparison with the African American person?

LM: I don't feel like I've experienced some of the worst brunt of racism. I haven't had people following me around in stores just because of the color of my skin. I haven't had cops harassing me because of the color of my skin. I haven't had people, counselors in school, telling me that I'm never going to make it to college because of the color of my skin. And because I haven't experienced those kinds of things, sometimes it's hard for me to even understand as a biracial person who can sometimes pass as white, how racism affects me? It does affect me in different ways that are more subtle, and they're still legitimate. On that one particular occasion, I felt that if I had to put up with this kind of treatment day to day, on a regular basis, I probably wouldn't have any self-esteem.

Q: What was the kind of preparation you got from your parents, in terms of knowing that you were of mixed descent and the possible prejudice that you might face?

LM: One of the issues that I discovered as a teenager, pretty much on my own because nobody told me about it, was that much of the racism that exists in this area is more of the subtle, less overt form of racism.

Q: Meaning what exactly? Instead of somebody saying…

LM: Instead of somebody saying, you know, you're a Jap, calling you derogatory names, somebody will make inferences about you and your culture, in an educated, intellectual way because they're a professor at UC Berkeley or something like that. It's not necessarily derogatory, but there's a sort of elitist and patronizing attitude. It's like we're the experts. White is right. We know about you. We know about your culture and we're going to pass judgement on you and your culture.

Q: Because of a set of assumptions?

LM: Or because of a sense of their own intellectual superiority. Or, for example, in public health where I work, a lot of public health programming is based on paternalistic models: there are those people of color and they're ignorant. We're going to go out there and give them information so that they can improve their lives because we know what's good for them and they don't. This attitude was prevalent in the school of public health.

Q: You're the oldest daughter. Did you pave a way for your siblings?

LM: I wanted my sisters to not have to figure things out for themselves like I did. I tried to clue them in to what I had to figure out but that didn't really get talked about openly in the family.

Q: Do you feel like you could be as comfortable in other parts of the country, where you've traveled, or is Northern California an exceptional place?

LM: I'm more comfortable here than I would be in any other part of the country. But one of the things that's hardest about Berkeley, there is this a liberal veneer on everything, and the assumption that we're liberal, above racism. Because of that, it makes it hard to deal with issues of racism because the level of denial is so deep. My feeling is that a racist who goes around cloaked in a white sheet, at least you know they're a racist. Whereas here, a lot of racist ideas, and not just ideas in people's heads, but the racial divisions in Berkeley, it's incredible the disparities, along racial lines, in education, and health, and poverty.

Q: But you still live here.

LM: I still live here. The fact that they're not out in the open and the fact that everybody's so liberal makes it more difficult, makes it harder to call. It makes it harder to point out the existence of racism and makes it harder for people to acknowledge it because everybody's denying it and looking at themselves as being very culturally diverse.

Q: How have you prepared your son for contending with his multiracial identity?

LM: I hope it's easier for him because there are many more kids for him to relate to who are multiracial than there were when we were growing up. I think being able to talk about issues openly and just making him aware of his background and culture, and about racism and prejudice is probably the most important thing that we can do. Sometimes it can look on the surface like everything's okay, and there's a big melting pot because there's so many interracial people now. But I know that he's still going to face challenges. I hope that he's able to acknowledge those challenges whatever they are, and deal with them. And on the other side, being multiracial gives people, if they want to take it, a certain opportunity to look at the world in a different way because we just don't fit into a box. It makes you have to think outside of a box and makes you look at things more critically. And that can be a great gift, but it can also make life challenging.

Q: Belia said, in an essay that she wrote about being multiracial, that she inherited all of the pain and the beauty of her backgrounds, her diverse backgrounds, and that it is a gift as much as it can be a burden.

LM: She's great. She says it all.