Today, the term "multiracial family" has taken on a new meaning, with overseas adoptions, re-marriages and increasing cultural diversity throughout the U.S. Mixed race children have endured prejudice and racial slurs for generations, but one Cincinnati woman is doing her part to change things up a bit.
"Hapa (pronounced HOP-uh) is derived from a Hawaiian word that means 'half,'" says Elena Stevenson via her Web site, www.Hapasmama.com. "In the past, Asian cultures often shunned those whose blood was mixed with that of other nationalities. 'Hapa haole' was a slur for someone who was half native Hawaiian, half white. In recent years, HAPA has been re-appropriated by the Asian-American community as a mark of pride."
Stevenson, a freelance writer who has written for CityBeat (see "The Other Side of the Booth: Adventures of a First-Time Poll Worker" from Nov. 21, 2006), says she began calling herself “Hapa’s Mama” as a joke, but it also became a way to underscore the importance of pride in the Asian heritage of her children.
“Hapa’s Mama is not just some label for non-Asian women who produce children with Asian men. It’s more like a state of mind,” she explains to Web visitors. “Being a Hapa’s Mama or Hapa’s Daddy is not about making race a bigger deal than it needs to be. It’s appreciating our differences while remembering that what we have in common is far greater.”
Her family has all the characteristics of a mini-United Nations in the making. Stevenson’s husband is Korean-born and she has Chinese and African American cousins by marriage. Her motivation behind this Web site — which has a blog, informational articles, a forum and a photo gallery — is to help her “biracial sons grow up in a world where their background is accepted and respected.”
Check out the site, lend your voice to the conversation and/or share the link with someone you know and give the movement toward tolerance a hand.
— Margo Pierce
Comments