The following description comes from the event organizer.

Should one assimilate or preserve their heritage? It’s a question many young Asian Americans are asking themselves.

Asian American youth are facing an identity crisis: feeling pressure to both embrace American culture and maintain the ethnic heritage and traditions of their immigrant parents, which is affecting their psychological wellbeing.

Join us for a rich discussion that explores the history of the Asian American Pacific Islander label, the Asian American racial and ethnic identity crisis, the pressure of representation, the model minority myth, and the newest call for racial data disaggregation.

Moderator Trish Villanueva, Branch Executive, Northshore YMCA will be joined by panelists Dr. Tracy Lai, instructor on the topics of U.S. history, women, Asian American and ethnic studies at Seattle Central College; and Paresh Mundane, Engineering Manager for Amazon, Bollywood Dance Instructor, Program manager for CRY America, and Y Community Member.

Y Community Conversations celebrate the rich fabric of our community, woven from diverse backgrounds and cultures, to learn together, and advance equity and justice for all, every day, everywhere.