this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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Yea, it usually happens if you are east asian looking , not if you're black.
Agree, because most people view black people as "real americans" because of the longstanding history and media representation.
Got it. That makes sense.
I slightly disagree. As Americans, WE definitely understand that black people have a longstanding history, however that understanding differs when it comes to cultures, like Europeans who have only had multi-cultural societies in the last 1 or 2 generations. I get "where are you really from" all the time as a black American living in Europe. But I just see it as them not understanding the deep history of American multi-culturalism.
Another different example is places like London or the UK, where it is multi-cultural, but people often identify as their ethnic background more, being Jamaican or Turkish or XYZ, while still being first or second generation.
American culture has a way of making everyone American. It's inclusive and immigrants eventually adopt American culture as their own. While some multi-cultural societies like the French, will only identify people who have been in the country for 100 years as truly French.
All this to say, you're right that it sucks when people say this to you. It's ignorance and I usually explain it quickly but don't engage more than it's worth.
I will add an additional comment to the excellent observation above. I've noticed that people in other countries do not understand very well that it is possible to become a citizen of the US relatively easily (relative to other countries, that is) if you meet certain standards. Sure there are hoops to jump through, but it IS possible. And then you are a citizen, no holds barred. You can vote and own property and are only barred from becoming president. You ARE an American. And your children are American, no matter where they are born. More confounding to non-Americans is that if you are born on American soil, you are an American citizen, unless you choose not to be. Not so in any other country, that I'm aware of (please let me know if there are other countries in which this is also so). In other countries, you are the nationality of your parents no matter where you were born. It's difficult, if not impossible, to become a citizen in so many other places. [As an example, I usually think about the Turkish "guest worker" situation in Germany. Allowed to go live and work in Germany in the 1960s, it was assumed that the stays of Turkish people who were "helping out" would be short-term.They were not. If they had children while in Germany, those children were not and could not be German citizens, even though they grew up to speake colloquial German and subscribe to German cultural norms. And THEIR children were also not citizens. You can bet they have been asked ad nauseam, but where are you really FROM? As I understand it, there was no path to becoming a citizen for this group. And yet these descendents aren't truly Turkish. I think this is slowly being addressed, but is still controversial.] So non-Americans just short circuit because they can't conceive of a voluntarily inclusive (at least in theory) nation.