AleXa Opens Up About The Racism She Faced While Growing Up As A Biracial Child

AleXa recently opened up about the racism she experienced while growing up in the US as a child of mixed Korean and Russian heritage.

On the most recent episode of The K-Pop Daebak Show podcast hosted by Eric Nam, AleXa appeared as a guest, answering all kinds of questions, including her latest album!

One of the questions asked to her was:

What was it like for you growing up? Your mother is Korean; your father is Russian.  So you’re half-white, half-Asian. What was that like growing up in Oklahoma? Did people see you as the “Asian Girl” or the token “hapa” girl?

—Eric Nam

AleXa revealed that while she believes the view that people have of her has definitely changed over time, she was subjected to quite a bit of racism, delving into her experiences with racism growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

That’s a really interesting question because how people perceive me has definitely changed over the years because living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I was subjected to racism quite a bit. I was seen as Asian living there. And so, whether its just people on the street or people that came into my workplace…

Like I remember, one place where I worked, I quit because my boss had constantly made like under-the-table Asian racist comments to me; said like some slander word about my eyes as a joke. And I was just like, “Hahaha, you’re so funny, I quit. Goodbye.”

—AleXa

She then revealed that the comments were not only directed to her, but to fellow family members as well.

My dad told me, there’s this one time. He was taking me to the supermarket when I was a baby. And so he’s pushing me around in the cart, and then this older lady comes to him and says, “Oh, is that your child?” And he’s like “Yeah”. And then she’s like, “Well, don’t you know it’s a sin to mix the races?”

—AleXa

She then talked about how being of mixed blood led her to search for a place to belong.

Growing up, I associated with being Asian more because that’s what my appearance was. But I was never culturally in touch, so I just… I’m sure if you ask a lot of mixed people this; you kind of always feel like its an identity crisis, you don’t know where you belong.

My dad’s a white American, and my mom’s Korean. I looked more Asian than I did Caucasian, but then, I didn’t know where I fit because I didn’t have any cultural relation to Korea; I knew nothing about it. My mom didn’t know anything- that’s not her fault, of course- but, I couldn’t learn the language or anything about the culture growing up. I only knew middle, white America.

—AleXa

AleXa recently made her comeback with her second mini-album titled DECOHERENCE, and title track “Revolution”.

Watch her open up about her experiences from the 5:45 mark here!