Checking the "Filipino" Box (for #emergingus)

If you know who Jose Antonio Vargas is, you can imagine how surprised I was that the staff at the Pulitzer Prize winner's new venture (#EmergingUS) reached out and invited me to write for them. They're doing a special web series about the racial/ethnic categories listed on US Census forms and what goes into our choices to identify by one of these options. Theirs is a very interesting concept integrating video and a few written pieces. I wrote this because the ethnic identity development journey is a complex one for Filipino Americans, and my story of struggling by grace from shame towards freedom is just one of many. You can read my short article here:

https://emergingus.com/growing-up-in-the-midwest-i-rarely-had-the-chance-to-check-filipino-b0d00059bc62#.verinm8hj