Digital Nomads

Don't get frustrated by so little. Consider that 90% of Americans are completely ignorant in geography, we are even.

When people ask where you're from, they're asking what your ethnic background is but are generally too timid to phrase it that way. Just work that detail into your response and you'll be less frustrated. I'm white but first generation American and always work in what part of Europe my family comes from because I know that's the next question. Being from the USA doesn't mean anything.

I’m half Puerto Rican, and can go from traditional looking white American to maybe some kinda Middle Eastern looking depending on how time I spend in the sun and how long I grow my curly hair.

The difference between tan and not tan is insane. Like I try to explain it to my white friends and they just don’t understand. If I’m tan, I’ll budget an extra hour between international layovers cuz I’m almost guaranteed to get a “random screening”

When I tell people I am Haitian, they tell me that I look American lol.

Ya being a non-white American is difficult. You’re never really seen as just … being American. You get Othered. Like you aren’t really one of them.

What’s hilarious is that your family has likely been “in” the US longer than my family. My father immigrated from England and outside my two brothers, I have zero blood relatives in the US.

But when I hear this question being asked to others, I do like jumping in and putting them on the spot bc I never get that question and I like pointing out how ridiculous it is.

I didn’t even know this happened until a few years ago and I still have trouble believing people think this way. (Although I used to think all white men who wore black socks with sandals must be European tourists.)

We can commiserate when an American born in X is accepted as an X.

Substitute with your country of choice:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Argentina
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Botswana
Brunei
Cambodia
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Fiji
Gabon
Georgia
Ghana
Guatemala
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Lesotho
Libya
Madagascar
Maldives
Mali
Mauritania
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar (Burma)
Namibia
Nepal
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Qatar
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Korea
South Sudan
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland (Eswatini)
Syria
Tajikistan
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

That’s what travel brings. A vision of other nationalities. The United States is unique in its multiculturalism and history of immigration. It is confusing for them but they are likely just interested. I doubt pointing out your race had any negative implications. Germans look different than Italians for example. If someone looked german and they were from Italy they would get the same questions.

If the conversations go as you say, you might be oversensitive to race assuming it is always associated with racism. It is normal to discuss race.

Since I’m the first of my family born in U.S. and bilingual, I just tell people abroad that I’m Indian, and add that I’m American-born if asked. Most times gets a more positive response. Introducing myself as American often sparks a diatribe from others.

Tired of non-whites complaining about this, just lose the angst, you're not special. This seems to be driven by America's identity politics.

People ask that all the time including to white people. Every single time I meet a new person they ask that. It’s conversation and people are fascinated by different cultures that why airplane. How I answer is oh I from dis state then we shit and giggles and they ask again so I tell them the exact name or how many miles away from the biggest city

Just bypass the whole thing. If they start to push back tell them you were born in the United States but your great-great-great-great-grandfather emigrated there from the Netherlands. Watch their heads spin trying to figure that one out. If they keep pushing tell them your ancestors were from Atlantis and they should mind their own business.

I think it’s difficult for some cultures to understand that..

I used to travel with a friend who is Mexican American. No one knew what that meant. While we were staying in Cyprus people thought Mexican American meant Mexican, and didn’t understand that Mexican people can be American. This type of mentality was common during our travels.

I think that it’s difficult for some people to relate that haven’t spent time in or are not from settler states like America.

America is a more difficult country to get in due to our visa laws as well as the cost of everything here compared to other places in the world. I used to have a friend who was polish who told me they had been applying to get into America simply to visit for years. They kept on being denied to come in. A lot of people can’t get a visa just to visit this country.

Many people have ideas about what this country is like based on pop culture and tv/movies. Only until very recently has there been a push in America to have characters played by POC actors. American culture is inherently racist. This idea has only very recently been addressed and questioned in mainstream media.

A lot if people outside of America have a difficult time understanding what it is like in America. A big reason is because of the way America is publicized all over the world with our pop culture. If you watch international news (France 24, Al Jazeera , DW, NHK), when there is a story about America the visual is almost always Congress. If this was my window to America I would think that America is a bunch of older white gentlemen who are obsessed with flags.

America is separated from most of the other continents by a big body of water. I can think of many reasons why it could blow someone’s mind that Latin ppl can be American.

I think it’s really fantastic that you can be an ambassador for America and have the opportunity to educate people on how America really is outside of pop culture and the news. There are so many parts of American culture which make up the backbone of America that other cultures would have a difficult time understanding exist. It’s so awesome that just by being you and living your life you are showing other cultures something really authentic and genuine about ours.

Safe travels!

ive never understood why people don’t like that question… i’m super proud of my ethnicity and love telling people

Lmao this happened to me in London over the summer. Cabbie kept pressing. USA-where?-NYC-Where?-Georgia-but where? I had to firmly let him know my family didn’t have access to the records of our slave owners and where they bought my ancestors from. He said he “forgot” 🙄and apologized profusely. I was with another friend (nonPOC) and they could not believe it happened and so casually.

Its almost as if every country besides the "evil racist" white ones are effectively ethnostates.

Crazy how the entire planet gets to maintain a majority for their own people while we allow millions in, still get called racist, at the expense of our own survival as a group.

Being a nomad made me realise white people deserve lands and countries where they make up the majority, their culture is dominant and the rules caters to them.... Kinda like the rest of the planet does without any liberals who've never left their gated communities in NY and CA batting an eye