For the longest time, I have been selecting the wrong box. It wasn't until very recently that I realized that even though my family immigrated from a country in Asia, I was not necessarily "Asian." Throughout my life I continued to check "Asian" in all applications and forms, but little did I know that the United States government had reserved that box for only one group of people.

Asia, the largest continent in the world and also the most populous, consists of 60 percent of the world’s entire population. Although the geographical term “Asia” was originally used by ancient Greeks to describe the civilizations of the East, Asian people are not a collective group. Asia consists of a diverse mix of cultures, from Hong Kong to Bangladesh, all comprise of people who are different and rich in their own individual culture. Today, the term “Asia” is nothing but a cultural concept used by the West to generalize an entire continent and paint all people with one brush.

As someone from South Asian descent, my ethnicity is now lost in the pool with everyone else that circles "Asian." I never understood how so many people could be categorized under one box. This led me to believe that maybe the South Asian population in the United States is low and insignificant. However, this is far from the truth.

According to the 2013 American Community Survey nearly 4.3 million South Asians live in the United States. They are the fasted growing population in America and make up one of the largest Asian American ethnic groups in the country. In terms of population growth, the South Asian population in America grew by 97 percent. The Bangladeshi community experiences the most significant growth, increasing by 196 percent followed by Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Indian. By 2065, it is projected that Asian Americans will be the largest immigration population in the United States. According to the Pew Research organization, by 2055, Asians, in general, are projected to surpass Hispanics and in 50 years, they will make up 38 percent of all U.S. immigrants.

Clearly, there are a lot of us here, and when people aren’t counted for, there is a lack of research and data regarding their population. This, in turn, makes it difficult to help South Asian Americans if we don’t know much about them. The U.S. Census Bureau has one box to select for people in the entire continent of Asia. However, a Chinese American is very different from an Indian American. And both Chinese and Indian Americans are very different from someone in the Middle East, who is also from Asia.

America does not have the culture that is accepting of diversity. The question of Asian American identity is contested, with South Asian groups finding it more challenging for American society to view them as Asian Americans. A NAAS survey asked Americans “Who Counts As An Asian American?” to which almost 50 percent of white, Latinos and African Americans responded that Indians, Pakistanis, and Middle Eastern people are not likely to be Asian/Asian American. It is clearly evident that when Americans think of Asians, they have only one particular group in mind.

South Asians are culturally very strong and do not easily let go of their heritage, which makes it hard for them to assimilate into Western culture. The lack of assimilation plays an advantage because it displays their strong roots. However, this also means that other Americans refuse to view South Asians as one of their own.

If you succeed in assimilation, then you lose your culture. But if you keep your culture, then it’s hard to succeed in American society. Western culture has the tendency to impose their Eurocentric ideals onto other people until they have forget their own culture altogether.

It is imperative for government agencies at the federal, state and local levels to accumulate improved data collection and community engagement on various issues such as racial profiling, immigration, and hate violence in regards to South Asian Americans. The media needs to produce more elevating stories covering South Asian communities on various issues, including elections, immigration, and civil rights. If more data is collected regarding the South Asian population, it will provide methods to help them.

Overgeneralization of an entire continent filled with different people with different experiences undermines their struggle. In order to help all Asians in America, it is important to create subgroups that help pertain to each Asian American and is unique to their own experience. It is essential for the United States government to recognize South Asians as their own entity and include them in the American fabric, and maybe, give them their own box to check.