In the latter category, this is perhaps the oddest of the lot, sent to me today by someone named Kiera (I won't mention her surname). I assume she is from the US and fancies herself as some kind of spokesperson for all Eurasians, and thus seeks to expose me as some kind of fraud and liar.
You are NOT Eurasian
I came across your blog while looking for websites geared towards Hapa/Eurasian people. I don't know why you're trying to pass yourself off as a Hapa/Eurasian person. It is very evident by your physical appearance and by the topics you discuss that you are part Black (African), and not Indonesian/European as you are purporting to be. Eurasian/Hapa is a term for people like myself who are of European and Asian descent. Just because you are a half Black (African)/half European, who is perhaps now living is Asia, doesn't mean you are Hapa/Eurasian.
I can see that you pepper your blog with Asian topics, so as to appear that you are part Asian and interested in "your" background. But it's clear that most of your blogging is geared towards topics about Blacks, and one of their favorite pastimes: racism. That is typical of someone that is Black (African) or part Black (African), as most of you have serious complexes.
Hapas/Eurasians deal with many different issues than you have. You will never understand what we go through. Please stop trying to pass yourself off as one of us. To do so shows that you have serious issues, or an underlying agenda: to create animosity between people of Asian descent, and their European/White side. That's warped! If that's what you're doing, you've got serious issues!
No sh!t, someone did actually take the time to send that to me. Apparently the idea of me writing what I write on this blog is so mind-blowing that she had to conjure up some kind of bizarre conspiracy theory just so it would make sense to her. You can scan my blog and make up your own mind about whether my blogging is mostly "geared to topics about blacks"; and whether there would be anything wrong with that even if it were true.
So just to summarise her complaints as I understand them:
* I don't look stereotypically Asian enough, therefore I must not be an actual Eurasian.
* Apparently I am black now! Yet I so loathe my "blackness" that I must pretend to be Eurasian.
* No one would possibly be interested in issues affecting black people, unless they were black themselves.
* Only black people are interested in studying racism, perhaps because no other race is affected by it.
* Most black people have serious complexes.
* By frequently talking about white racism, I possibly have a hidden agenda to make Asians and Eurasians hate white people.
* When I do mention things about Asia on this blog (which is most of the time), it is actually a "ruse" to perpetuate the misconception that I have an Asian background.
* Because I am "black", I do not understand what it is like to be Eurasian.
This is how I replied:
Kiera,
My first thought when reading your ridiculous email was "WTF?!?" and I had the instinct to reply with an abusive email calling you all kinds of things. But after 30 seconds I calmed down, and so I'll refrain from being rude and will stick to the facts.
Why would I feel the need to pretend to be Eurasian if I wasn't one? To make it extremely clear: I am Indonesian on my mother's side, and white Australian on my father's side. I'm no mathematical genius, but that equates to being half Asian and half European, or Eurasian.
I am not, and have never been, black or African or anything like that. If you think I look like a black person, that is just coincidence. I would also contend that you have a very limited perspective on what an Asian or Eurasian should look like. If you've ever met Indonesians, you'll know that they are darker-skinned than most other Asians, and don't always have the same features that people from Northeast Asia have.
You can even see a picture of my mother and other relatives at this post:
http://eurasian-sensation.blogspot.com/2007/04/jakarta.html
If you wonder why I sometimes cover issues affecting black people as well, it's because I believe that non-white people in Western countries have a commonality of experience. If black people are affected by racism, for example, then doesn't that also have repercussions for Asians as well? Aside from that, I happen to have an interest in African diasporic culture. Why should that offend you?
I do not set out to write a blog "geared towards Hapa/Eurasian people". Nor do I ever claim to speak for all Eurasians. Ultimately I am a Eurasian person who writes what is interesting to me. If you wish to only read about things that pertain to Hapas/Eurasians, I'm sure you will be able to find it somewhere else.
Your claim that my focus on racism is some sign that I must be a black person is one of the strangest things anyone has ever said to me. Your sentence "That is typical of someone that is Black (African) or part Black (African), as most of you have serious complexes" indicates that is you who have the "serious issues", Kiera. One might even call it racism.
So again, I find it extremely odd that someone who has never met me has the gall to not only tell me what ethnicity I am NOT, but to claim to speak for all Eurasians when you say "Hapas/Eurasians deal with many different issues than you have. You will never understand what we go through."
I clearly do not understand what YOU go through Kiera, because you are clearly a fairly confused individual.
But thank you for sharing with me your extremely narrow pigeon-holed view of what a Eurasian person should think, look like, write about and be interested in.
Have a nice day.
Btw, I am well aware that I don't look particularly Asian (in a sterotypical sense), and there have been numerous people who have asked me if I am Brazilian or South African, for example. But really, if anyone has an issue with the way I look, they should take it up with God. It's not something I can really help.
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