Asian Americans are the
fastest-growing ethnic minority group in Michigan, with the population in Metro
Detroit increasing from 102,365 to 141,550 in six years. Ding speaks with
several Asian Americans who grew up in Michigan and are now in their 20s and
30s. They speak about navigating two cultures, fighting stereotypes, and
assimilating in an area that today is less than 4% Asian.

I was raised in Ohio, which
has an Asian population similar in size to that of Michigan. It’s a vastly
different experience I would say than growing up in the large Asian enclaves in
New York and California. I think Ding and her interviewees do a great job of
describing the nuances of growing up Asian American in Middle America:

“Growing up Asian
American in metro Detroit is far removed from places like San Francisco, where
one out of every three people is Asian, or like New York, where Asians can buy
food in burgeoning Indian neighborhoods in Queens. Or even like Chicago, whose
thriving old and new Chinatowns serve as an anchor to urban and suburban Asian
Americans.Asian Americans in metro Detroit
often were the only Asians in their grade, if not the entire school. The result
was a kind of de facto integration for Asian Americans. ‘As a kid, you just wanted to
fit in," [24-year-old Stephanie] Chang said. "All my friends were white, except on Saturdays.’
That was the day Chang's mother made her go to Chinese school.”

Let us not forget our fellow Asian Americans in the Midwest and South this Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!