I am American. Born in La Jolla, moving to the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, and going to school in Berkeley, I have lived in California all my life, so I am American in the legal sense of the word. I grew up in a typical middle-class Southern California neighborhood with mostly white (colloquial term meaning "those whose ancestors came from Europe") neighbors, playing baseball (our national pastime), basketball, Cowboys and Indians (colloquial term meaning "people who were here before European explorers and settlers came along"), playing with the neighborhood kids, wearing Sears Toughskins (a purely American corduroy invention), watching Saturday morning cartoons, speaking English at home, etc., etc., so I am American in the broader senses of the word.
Yet I am also Chinese. My parents are ethnic Chinese who immigrated from Taiwan. Most of my relatives still live in Taiwan. I have black hair, "yellow" skin (I prefer "golden"), and brown, almond-shaped eyes. So I guess physically, genetically, ethnically, apparently, I am Chinese.
I can speak Mandarin. I did take some kung fu classes when I was in elementary school. I can use chopsticks. I sometimes wear this little jade Buddha thing which was given to me by my mother. I can play the violin. My family stresses the importance of academics and study. Etc., etc., etc., but these things don't make me Chinese. Many white people (see above for clarification), non-Chinese Asians, latinos, blacks ("African -Americans"), Pacific-Islanders, Middle-Easterners, Amer-Asians, etc., can do, have done, or will do these things as well. Please, don't stereotype me, let me do that by myself.
When somebody asks me, "What are you?" (i.e. what nationality or ethnicity are you), I respond by saying, "I'm Chinese." Telling them that I am "American" or "Chinese-American" sounds to me like I'm being defensive or overly-sensitive, that I need to justify myself and my identity. Now, if I'm traveling in another country and somebody comes up and asks me, "Where are you from?", I tell them that I'm American. Simple. I haven't gotten any strange looks yet. Why should I? I'm both Chinese and American.
I don't believe I should be placed under a category such as "Chinese- American". Such a qualified and categorical term tells me that I am not really, fully an American. I believe that I am, without qualification.
I believe the term "Chinese-American" does serve some purposes, though. "Chinese-American" could be used in statistical, bureaucratic, or legislative affairs, and maybe, if someone simply does not understand after I tell them "I'm Chinese and I'm American", I just might have to tell them that I'm...ugh..."Chinese-American".