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Vent: It gets quite frustrating traveling as a nonwhite american. (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by CanalBloody@alien.top to c/digitalnomad@expats.zone

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Tired of constantly having conversations like this:

"Where are you from?"

"USA"

"But where are you really from?/But whats your nationality?/Are you actually american?... like.. full american?"

American isnt a race! American =/= white. Yes im "full american" even though im ethnically latino! If you want to know my ethnicity/race then just ask me that instead of implying im not a "real" american.

I know most people asking this arent doing so from a place of malice, but damn does it get tiring after the 100th time.

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[–] strawberryysoda2023@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I get this all the time while traveling in Europe as a Latina from the US. “Oh but you don’t look American.” …? My response is usually “What exactly does an American look like?” (And they say people from the US are ignorant - lol)

[–] NativeVampire@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Europeans tend to keep to their “origins” even if they move abroad or are born in a different country than their parents were from.

So if I end up moving to Germany, but both my wife and I are Italian, the children will consider themselves Italians, not German. Sure, some might take it and call themselves German but not all.

[–] _teach_me_your_ways_@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

But then they complain about Americans who call themselves German/Irish/Italian while not growing up in those European countries only to turn around and claim that immigrants from other countries can never truly become a part of theirs. Very strange double standard many pretend they don’t have.

[–] NativeVampire@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Idk anyone who complains about that, I know a few Americans who are born to German and Italian immigrant parents and even in our friends circle we only jokingly say "Oh the Americans came", otherwise we refer to them and they to themselves as German and Italian.

[–] strawberryysoda2023@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And who was originally in the Americas?…

Do you understand why their comment about me “not looking American” is ignorant?

[–] TreatedBest@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Not the people you're insinuating, as they weren't even the first migratory group to arrive in the "Americas"

The etymology of the name America itself is European *(Vespucci Amerigo being Italic)

We could say the same thing about "Japanese." The modern Japanese are not the original inhabitants of the island, as they emigrated from modern China to modern day Japan and displaced the native Austronesians. You wouldn't be this absurdly pedantic to a Japanese person today saying who is and isn't Japanese

Tell me where your people are from and I'll tell you who "originally" was there, and not your people