The nickname Super Nip – partly derived from a Second World War term to describe Japanese people – and racial jokes followed Jeff Chiba Stearns everywhere when he was growing up in Kelowna.
More common, however, was the question, “So, what are you anyway?” Back in elementary and high school, Stearns, now 32, would answer truthfully: He is half-Japanese (the other half being a mixture of English, Scottish, Russian and German).
His “monster truck-driving, redneck” friends would treat him like Fez, the fictional foreign exchange student from Fox Network’s That ’70s Show, whose country of origin was one of the series’ longest-running jokes.
Other times, given his slightly darker complexion, he would say for fun that he is Hawaiian or Tahitian.
But asked that question now, Stearns, an animated filmmaker, answers, “I’m hapa.”
“Hapa” is a Hawaiian term that describes someone of interracial descent. A new cultural festival in Vancouver this week will celebrate and raise awareness of people of mixedroots origins.
From today to Saturday, Hapa-Palooza will feature film, literature, dance and music produced by mixedrace artists, as well as panel discussions. While the festival is meant to foster dialogue about the identity struggles and discrimination that many mixed-race Canadians face, Stearns, whose documentary on growing up in a hapa family will be featured on Thursday, said the goal is also to challenge the idea that mixed people are only part Canadian.
“I don’t like that people refer to themselves as half because we’re not broken, we don’t need fixing,” he said. “I’ve grown to understand that we’re still 100-per-cent whole, we’re Canadian.”
According to a Statistics Canada report released in 2010, children of mixed-raced couples are one of the fastest growing demographics in the country. That is why festival founder Anna Ling Kaye decided that Hapa-Palooza needs to be more than just a celebratory event, but a response to social and demographic change.
Besides food and live performances, a bone-marrow drive for multi-ethnic people, whose chances of finding a match are much lower than those of white people, also will be held on Saturday. Statistics Canada also found the number of mixed unions in Canada rose by 33 per cent between 2001 and 2006. Of all Canadian cities, Vancouver has the largest percentage of mixed couples, at 8.5 per cent, followed by Toronto and Calgary.
For Stearns, those numbers mean that the type of discrimination and cultural confusion he faced growing up may be a thing of the past for future generations of mixed-race Canadians. And multiculturalism, when used to describe people of different cultures living separately side by side, will become a passé concept, he said.
“I don’t think we need to be celebrating multiculturalism any more. I think we should be celebrating the idea that we’re blending and mixing.”
AT A GLANCE
Hapa-Palooza will feature events ranging from a meet-up with writers and poets, a showing of films produced by mixed-race filmmakers, a ticketed cabaret, and an art show and community fair on the last day.
When: Today to Saturday
EVENTS
Today: Mixed Voices Raised – a dialogue with mixed-race poets and writers (7 to 8: 30 p.m. at the Vancouver Public Library)
Thursday: Mixed Flicks – screening of films produced by mixed filmmakers as well as a Q&A with actors and directors (7 to 9 p.m. at the Vancouver Public Library)
Friday: Sir James Douglas Mix-a-Lot Cabaret – live music and entertainment (7 p.m. at the Roundhouse Performance Space)
Saturday: Hapa-Palooza grand finale – art show and community fair, live performances (12: 30 to 7 p.m. at Robson Square)
Cost: Free, except for Friday night’s Sir James Douglas Mix-a-Lot Cabaret.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.hapapalooza.com
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