Du was born Adam Wheeler and grew up loving Filipino food and culture -- so much so Du now identifies as Filipino, even driving a purple motorized rickshaw Du called a Tuk Tuk, an Asian-derived vehicle used for public transit in the Philippines.
“Whenever I’m around the music, around the food, I feel like I’m in my own skin,” Du told WTSP. “I’d watch the History Channel sometimes for hours, you know, whenever it came to that and, you know, nothing else intrigued me more but things about Filipino culture.”
The comments make Du a member of a small, but growing, community of people who consider themselves transracial -- meaning to be born one race but identify with another.