yeah
okay so people always asked me on
YouTube what's your background what's
your ethnicity what race are you so I'm
answering that by asking all my brothers
what is your background so I'm asking
you what is your background before we
get sidetracked about what ethnicity is
let's just go with the generic Wikipedia
one an ethnic group are an ethnicity is
a category of people who identify with
each other based on similarities such as
common ancestry language history society
culture our nation if you keep on
reading there's so many ideas of what it
can mean but in this video I'm simply
asking for my brothers
what's our background oh hey you know
what I actually have a pie chart that
shows that you do okay well yeah what is
it oh yeah this is this folder of things
I do today why would you have a pie
chart of our background at your work
yeah and so and then my girl and I did
like a pie chart of what I was in what
other girls work what is our background
our background well from what I
understand we have the majority of
Chinese on one side the majority
Scottish
on the other side but within that the
Scottish side we have some Spanish
possibly some Mayan and on the Chinese
side we have some Portuguese I mean what
do you think like off the cuff if like
somebody has to ask you and you can't
refer to your chart what do you say well
you know like I think before mom did her
her blood testing and DNA test
yeah so last year our mom did a DNA test
and found out we have some Native
American in our ancestry so that core is
Spanish we thought her mom was really
turned out to be mainly Mayan how could
that happen yes I believe that great
granny or real could have had some
background as being a conquistador with
a copious the door or the the Spanish
that came over and essentially they
decimated the Aztecs and the Incas were
trying to take over that region there
whether or not she was from that group
or not not sure
mostly Chinese with a bit of African and
Portuguese mixed in there
there is no African in the blood I don't
know where that started from but they
said there is Portuguese and by the time
it gets down to our level it's 132 I'm
1/32 that's the complicated thing right
is that there's so many influences in in
us right the four boys or five boys now
culture wise I would say like more of a
West Indian Peele although growing up I
didn't really know what that meant I
guess like you know we have roti and
curry and stuff and I was I just thought
those normal I didn't realise growing up
that my parents had such thick urban
accents and but now I and I've been told
no your mom does have a Caribbean accent
Shan I'm like oh really like I guess
that's right yes I just that's just the
way mom sounds but no she has an accent
hey you know what I noticed this in the
background like you look right yeah it's
um one of mums where's that from you
know it's from La the Caribbean left the
country actually Caribbean West Indian
Chinese Scottish what in the world
well our parents are both from British
colonies British Guiana British Honduras
now police and now Guyana how did the
Chinese get to British Guiana our
ancestors came from indentured servants
initially coming from China to British
Guiana to work on plantations so an
indentured servant is only slightly
above a slave and then after five years
of servitude he would be granted their
freedom I should point out for future
family historians that it was only half
our line that were officially indentured
the other half did go to British Guiana
freely although upon disembarkation it
seems their fate wasn't much different
than all the non free boats that came
before them
this is my question for you are one of
many questions what's your background
probably British mostly nor'easter I
guess I should back up a bit this is my
littlest brother Mikey who's actually my
half-brother and this is his father my
stepfather
but I don't ever use those titles but I
have to explain to you guys so there you
go
anyways my brothers and I used to joke
but the second oldest one Shawn was the
white one but since Mikey came along I
guess he'll have to be the whitest one
do people ever ask you where you're from
no I would say actually I was asked once
but I look like a tourist I don't think
people would really look at me that
frequently and say not white or they
might think well he's got some other
things in him but
do do people ever ask you about where
you're from uh yeah all the time
no one's no one's just like oh so where
are you from friends like no doesn't
happen okay so like what do they guess
when I'm here it's you know oh yeah
so the frozen face thing despite my best
efforts to properly record things I
failed miserably but I tried I really
did
no I think just better use the phone is
that better oh the audio is way better
can you do it horizontal like that yeah
don't take my camera ganks I'm kind of
paranoid you know a lot of feedback here
right yeah it's I don't know why like
between us two video guys we're having
the worst like well I'm not wearing
headphones anyways back to my brother's
experience in Vancouver oh you know as
always think I'm Filipino since I've
come back to one I think I've really
noticed this is people think I'm
Filipino even when I tell them not folk
you know I'm like I'm half Chinese and I
like after Chinese in half Filipino
right like no no just like how Chinese
how much other stuff there's a large
Filipino community here so I've had a
lot of people come up to me we only been
here for like two or three weeks but a
lot of people talk to me they're a
Filipino and say oh you new to the city
how's it going you know you want to come
meet my family I'm like do you think I'm
Filipino they're like aren't you like no
not well thank you and then what about
back in Winnipeg sorry
quick pause here back man people said
native as a Native American although in
school they taught us Aboriginal however
now the term is indigenous okay pause
over I know I talked about you you got
mistaken for Mexican or like Latino or
something home down the state's down the
state so it's called it was
I'm black Mexican which I assume is a
mix of blocking Mexican well Davey I
think the term they're looking for is
Afro Mexican if you can trust Wikipedia
the most frequent would be Mexican and I
even have Mexicans addressing me in
Spanish when I was Mexico that that
happened a few times so if anyone was
curious as to what black and white
Mexican brothers would look like this is
your answer the other one that we get
quite a bit as Mexican and now that it's
getting sunnier out I noticed that you
know especially if I wear like a hat or
something like that and I were like you
know well I get just a white shirt with
buttons on it and it's kind of a done or
whatever people will think I'm like from
Central America or Mexico or something
interestingly enough actually a lot of
people think I'm Jewish
what was telling for me is I had a one
of my friends came from China and he had
only been here for a few years so every
damn thing goes you know you love me or
I'll burn her right she's ordering all
these dishes is like congee with you
know that fermented egg and those are
the dishes mostly oh the stuff is
horrible you know and it's not it's
horrible but it's not like it's not you
know the food that we're accustomed to
it's really authentic Chinese food and
some of its you know it's very different
and and and they serve it at the same
restaurants we go to it's just we we're
treated like white people when we go
there because we're does not ordering
dim sum stuff off the menu or off the
khari
whereas the sky walks in his talks tell
us what he wants and and of course
they'll prepare it they will make it
right hmm so anyways that was okay do
you know I'm really not terms like
banana sometimes would be thrown around
right yellow on the outside white on the
inside although I'm think I'm the
opposite of that and more white on the
outside and my Chinese on the inside I
don't know but it's not a term doesn't
in those things you know like it's yeah
you tell an old old Chinese person that
you're trying to half Chinese and
they'll go like no you're not you don't
you don't speak Chinese you don't follow
Chinese traditions you're not Chinese
and then you tell us if I'm gonna you
know you're a bit spanish or a bit of
scottish and i like know
did you ever feel any discrimination at
all in Canada no I I don't think so
alright I don't I don't remember feeling
any and I think a lot of it really I
mean if you line all four of us brothers
up there's four different shades from
and I'm the fairest thought on that
scale there so I couldn't say I felt
anything specific no I think I did I you
know I'm probably a bit darker than you
and I was also four years ahead of you
so I think you know in anything your
grade in school there was actually a lot
more Asian kids probably maybe their
eyes but I just never pay attention yeah
that's what I've always thought like
seriously I'm thinking like am I just so
naive that I don't see it because I just
can't think of any incident where I've
ever felt like I've been discriminated
against there was just very few other
essence disease other than weight mm-hmm
and then by the time you know just four
years later by the time you're coming
through there's a lot more I think by
the time Davey went through it was very
mixed right he had you know African kids
Indian kids some Middle Eastern kids he
had a mix of kids in his classes and
that's only 7 years difference for me
right so I think I was just not that
kind of a tip where there really what
weren't very me colored people at all in
the schools that we were in I don't know
maybe people secretly discriminate
against us that like or me that I just
never really pay attention to you know
just figure like oh they just don't like
me whatever I always just focused on who
the person was so I just assumed that if
someone didn't like me is cuz they just
didn't like me as a person not because
of my color or my race or whatever but
now like I look around and you know I've
been here for three weeks walking around
one a petkin know there's a lot of
Asians half asian you know
mix us there's a lot of African a lot of
middle-eastern
like it's a very mixed City now like
he's a lot of ethnicities and I just
feel like hey I just fit right Ana one
of these you know folks that are kind of
around and where we belong here right so
I don't know that's more how I've been
thinking and you know I've got girls now
they're you know they show up at a park
play off the kids there's no one says
hey where are you from or you know
nothing ranked let's just hey let's play
and so I don't know but to me that just
feels normal unnatural and I don't see a
difference you know it's funny is I
don't know if you've noticed there's
have been a couple of articles lately
about people that have gone back and
looked at their race and what it means
to be their SSAT and it was about the
lady who was on the front of Times
magazine
I think it was maybe ten years ago okay
to correct my brother's shoddy memory
which is ironic since the podcast is
about a lady who fact checks her spotty
family history the cover-up here 25
years ago and the lady herself wasn't
interviewed but she felt like she had
looked like the computer-generated face
of the future and that letter on the
path to research her family's history
and she was kind of similar to us like
some Asian some Hispanic some Caucasian
just a mixture of races and when I look
at her she could have been like one of
our sisters you know or a sister where
basically I think of us as kind of the
future of what the world is gonna be
anyways just a whole bunch of mixed-race
where there isn't really identifiers the
podcast though talks about her kind of
going back and doing all of this
research to try to figure out her own
background her own heritage and history
and all that stuff she spends a long
time doing it learns a lot of things
about her list a lot of interesting
stories about her family that you don't
really know uncovers all this stuff and
then kind of at the end of the day she
says it really doesn't matter kind of
your history or your heritage like that
lineage that you don't know about
it's actually about you know you your
immediate environment that formed you
and those in
winces that is very interesting about
her conclusion because that's honestly
how I'm feeling right now because I'm
like I'm sure I have somewhere in my
notes is like what does it even matter
great yeah I'm like 1/32 Portuguese 1/16
Spanish maybe we had some African in us
maybe we all have African like way back
when anyways and oh we have Mayan now
like it's just so crazy because none of
that affects who I am today it's more
like the fact that I grew up in Canada
and that's why my last question is my
last question is if you have to pick
like one identity what would you say you
are hmm
it's good question I would i mean it's
it's complicated yet is it really that
complicated I'm Canadian more and more I
consider myself just a Canadian I
probably see Canadian I think that's the
clearer one you know I think a lot of
times we ask the question you know where
are we from and we try to to ground
ourselves with with an identity with a
sense of belonging and a place and you
know there's value in that there's
security that and there's importance in
that I believe but maybe the the bigger
question is where are we going what are
we gonna do what are gonna accomplish
you know I'm just a bit of everything
and a bit of nothing at the same time
because you kind of like you know you
kind of fit into every category but
you're not really any of those
categories because you're not enough of
anything to be they me of them at the
end of the day I really don't care
you know I am Who I am
[Music]
it's it's interesting to see where where
we come from but I think it's more
interesting to see where we're going
well it just got deep yo and I know what
your one drink where's the pie chart
without DNA testing for myself this is
what I've come up with my older brother
never did find that chart in time for
this video and to tell the truth this
video is kind of like my long-winded way
of explaining why I'm making a
documentary about Japanese identity
because all my brothers and I as
Canadians can simply say we're Canadian
and boom end of story
the past is important people will ask
about it but the future is where it's at
I don't believe identity is that simple
in Japan it's something as a Canadian I
think I can't completely grasp and
probably never will but I think it's an
important topic and one that's ever more
pressing as immigration even if only of
temporary foreign workers is increasing
in Japan so if you want to support my
documentary tentatively titled being
Japanese you can head on over to
IndieGoGo to do so and if you're someone
who has a story to tell about being
Japanese or knows someone who has I'd
love to hear from you thanks for
watching see you next time peace