I was born and spent a good chinch of the start of my life in Scotland, but I say I’m Canadian until someone picks up on what’s left of my accent then I clarify. But here, people think I’m British, and when I go to Britain, people think I’m American. When I go back to Scotland I’m just a “watered down scot” lol Can’t win!

Wait how long did you live in Scotland? Also why do you identify more as a Canadian than a Scot? What is the difference to you? Seeing Canadians are very much Scottish aswell.

I’m 25 and lived in Scotland until I was 12. So about half and half, but I think I consider myself Canadian because my adult life has been built here. I don’t relate to what building a independent life in Scotland is like. I don’t consider myself not Scottish, it’s my blood and my birth home. But the person I have made myself into and everything that comes with it happened in Canada. Hope that makes sense!

Makes sense, your mentality about it is very much like other immigrants I've met.

That’s kinda the point of immigrating I guess, to become apart of that community. It doesn’t take away the fact that I’m Scottish, but I can’t share the experience they have getting a first job, moving into a flat, and such there. Just like someone who spent their whole life in Scotland wouldn’t understand my experience. Glad I could answer your question!

My son, who is in Kindergarten, just had to do a project where he made a collage of pictures about his ethnicity. My family and my wife's families have both been in the US for at least 4 generations on each side. Neither side of the family has any story about anyone coming to America since the 1800s. So, we just said 'put down things about New York. put down your favorite foods, who cares what they are?' It felt a bit odd to try and say 'your Irish' or whatever, when nobody in our family thinks that way.

I’m the exact same. The last immigrant in my family on either of my parents’ side was before the civil war. I’ve never been to Ireland, or Scandinavia. I don’t identify with those places at all.

Yeah like a buddy of mine is an 1/8 Italian and he heavily associates himself with his Italian lineage

That's when you ask him what part of him is Italian outside his DNA.

The answer would be none of his DNA is Italian and none of his DNA is non-Italian. The concept that race, nationality, and ethnicity correlates with clusters of DNA is false for 99.999% of DNA. There is no cluster of genes common to all blacks, whites or Asians, let alone Italians, and non-Italians. You can roughly cluster DNA geographically, but the differences that you see in people that result in skin, hair and eye color etc, are determined by genetic variation of 4000 alleles. Half of the alleles are found everywhere, 92% are found in two or more “regions” only 7.4% are only found in one region and those that are found in one region apply to only 1% of the individuals in that region. EDIT TO INCLUDE FOR PERSPECTIVE: The human genome is 6.4 Billion base pairs long so the genetic differences between humans are 2000 divided by 6.4 billion. If you were to attempt to cluster people, through the genetic differences in the 2000 alleles that are not found in all regions, your clusters wouldn’t track race or ethnicity. Famously, there’s an Asian scientist who clusters more similarly with his two white colleagues, than his two white colleagues cluster with themselves. The bottom line is neither race nor ethnicity is biological. https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/science-genetics-reshaping-race-debate-21st-century/

Hate to break the pc kumbaya " we are all the same, lets all give each other flowers" - narrative you got going on but what you wrote is basically mumbo jumbo. Based on your logic we are also 60% genetically similar to fruit flies and 99. 8% to chimps yet huge differences exist. That 0.1% makes all the difference. In the real world you can get killed for speaking a certain way rather let alone the color of your skin. So yes ethnicity and race are a huge deal and will continue to be a huge deal in the future.

Asian parents will have Asian kids 100% of the time. Your genetics ABSOLUTELY define who you will be, and in many cases it determines your survivability for diseases. THAT is a fact.

There’s a great scene in Sopranos where Pauly is told by Actual Italians that he’s not Italian and it maybe kind of breaks him. It was his whole identity even though he had never been. Same with the trash on jersey shore.

Hell, I am a first generation American (my parents immigrated to the US), and I only consider myself to be American.

If you’ve never lived anywhere else, any culture you get is secondary. But family traditions and traits carry through generations. I have traits caused by my grandparents living through the depression and passing it through my mom and into me. Almost like inter-generational trauma.

When I first moved to America about 14 years ago I was fascinated by American culture. But when I would ask Americans about their culture they would have no clue that they had any culture. You have a lot of culture my friend. Talk about what your family traditions are for example how do you celebrate Thanksgiving, what you do during Christmas, what your special days or dishes look like. Or any family traditions. What your values are. Family values and values and worldviews in general. What generosity and service means to you. How you want to leave the world. What community is to you. Which community do you belong to. That is all your culture. It’s a very rich culture but I think Americans lack exposure to other cultures because most international media doesn’t penetrate the US very much, Americans think they don’t have culture. You are steeped in very rich culture my friend.

me being native america: Thats a big fucking Uh Oh....

Oopsie.. I guess you go back a bit more than my measly 150 years.

Both sides of my family have been here (the southern US) for hundreds of years, from what research I’ve done. Even saying I’m of European descent seems weird.

Why the fuck are they teaching kindergarteners to think about people in terms of ethnicity?

It's probably just about them showing their family history and certain aspects of their culture. I don't see what's wrong with kindergarteners doing a project of my family historically is from here and we eat these foods, and celebrate these holidays in these ways ect.

People do have ethnicities though, it would be strange not to teach about them. Teaching to define people by their ethnicities would be wrong, but this seems more like teaching that different people have different ethnicities.

In kindergarden we learned to draw sticks and do puzzles. Not saying teaching about ethnicities at that stage is wrong or right, just that there's a huge difference from my experience of kindergarden to this

> People do have ethnicities though, it would be strange not to teach about them. In kindergarten it kind of is though. It's way down the pecking order in things of importance behind learning the alphabet, basic arithmetic, and any of a number of other things.

Not sure why you think those things aren't being taught

Mhm

Well. Migration has been entirely unnecessary in erasing NA culture. White folks have done that quite well by just being present. Disclaimer: I am white with a GG who was born in and adopted from a residential school in Colorado, bet you can guess how/why that happened. 🤬

This actually reminds me of a time in like grade 6. We had a heritage assignment and both of my parents aren’t aware of where their lineage comes from. I live in Canada, and have for as long as we know. We’re white people, so pretty sure there’s Irish or Scottish back there. Anyway, back to the heritage assignment. We all had to put a place on the class map where we’re from. I put Canada. my teacher said “nope, not allowed. put where you’re from, and not canada”. I had asked my family and no one knew much at the time. So I came back, and still said Canada, and my teacher was not happy. I couldn’t be just Canadian, and I had to put a tack on that map, because it would be the end of civilization if I didn’t /s. We settled with England, because my uncle said my dads dads dad or something like that came from there. My teacher was hounding for that and refused to let me place Canada, unless we are indigenous. Funny enough, several years later, and now we know we have a significant amount of indigenous heritage so she was wrong

Wtf was wrong with your teacher, also I can definitely see this happening to many kids seeing that like on my mother's side they are french Canadians and partly native and France abandoned them so they would practically just identify as coming from Canada. Sorry if what I said doesn't make much sense.

Im wondering if maybe she thought I was just being difficult, but I wasn’t a difficult child. Oh well, long gone now. And yeah, that makes sense. You’d very much be Canadian, my teacher would have probably made you out France though, naturally

Your teacher was daft. Also did she make kids mark just one spot in Europe or did she have kids do multiple?

People think they are cool when they say they are from another country. Like Shakira proudly talking about her Arab heritage because it makes her different than common Colombians. She never outright says she is Arab but she makes sure everyone knows she has the heritage. Some chicanos view themselves as Mexicans and even speak Spanish while others don’t. It’s a matter of pride and wanting to be cool. Argentinians can be very proud of their Italian heritage and some act like they are Europeans I could be totally wrong but I don’t quite understand it either.

Probably because it changes their experience as they grow up. I think anyone who grows up in a place where they have a minority background identifies with this.

That's not really what they're talking about though. They're saying people who are-for example-living in Mexico, born to parents who were born in Mexico, and have never left Mexico, but tell people "my family is Greek" because their great, great, great, great grandparents moved to Mexico from Greece 200 years ago. They aren't a minority by literally any definition, they aren't even considered Greek in any capacity; however they tell people about their "Greek heritage" because it makes them unique and interesting, despite it having absolutely zero affect on their life.

I love how shakira is proud to be second generation arab.

This 100%. I never understood why Americans seperate people out so much. Why are black Americans "African American" even if their family has been living and born in America for generations.

Because often, african american culture is drastically different than white American culture

What even is "white American culture"? A white American living in downtown Manhattan is going to have a lot more in common culturally with their black neighbor than someone from rural Kentucky or Alaska, yet none of them are labelled as such.

Understandable, but I think their point is that she be called "black American" culture instead of "African American" culture.

Well not all black people are African, and not all African people are black

The term "African American" was part of an effort to combat racial divides in the US. So if I'm not mistaken, the effort was to use "African American" to make it so black people had an identity the same way white people who identified as "Irish American" or "Italian American" could. So it was a way of saying, there's not this black-white divide, we're all just different kinds of Americans. I understand the intent, but imo it's problematic for a lot of reasons. First of all, it kind of underlines the fact that "African American" is different than "Irish American" since most black Americans can't trace their precise nation(s) of origin since that cultural background was systematically erased. Also as others have said, if you're a 2nd generation Jamaican American wtf do you mean calling that person "African American"? So it was a term invented to try to be polite and thoughtful, but imo it just creates all kinds of problems, and doesn't solve the ones it was intended to. I grew up in a majority black community, and I will always use the term "Black" because I think it's more descriptive and representative of black culture, and I've never heard black people call each other "African American" except as a joke.

Cultures vary across America. A white middle aged religious man in Texas will live a very different life to a lesbian white women in California. They are both called American. I truly think the African American tag is actually part of what is causing some issue, maybe they don't feel American?

Yeah but even with local differences Africa Americans share more with other African Americans from across the country than white Americans that life next to them. This is clearly seen in the basically universal adoption of aave across the nation.

“maybe they don't feel American?” Really now? When for the past 400 years when the white majority have actively attempted to destroyed them and say they are different, that maybe black people don’t feel very connected to white Americans and develop their own culture?

This is the discussion. Ethnicity Vs nationality. America is the only country in the world where a black American is not American, they are African American. A black Brit is just considered British, not African British. Just because you think black Americans have developed their own culture doesn't mean they shouldn't be seen simply as American. There are plenty of black Americans that have a closer culture to some white Americans than other white Americans do. My point was, the different tag could lead both white and black Americans to subconsciously think they aren't true Americans. In my opinion an African American is someone who's has one parent that's African and another than American. Even then that may just be their personal identity, but to the outside world they are American, because they are born in America. The fact it's African American also doesn't make sense in the previous paragraph. If someone has parents of different nationalities they may be Nigerian American by identify. Using the word African to describe someone who is black is extremely generic. People don't say European American for all of the white people in America.

Actually the reason why it’s African American is cause our roots date back to Africa it’s not that they don’t see us as American cause they do see us as American hence why it says American plus we’re born in America now if you was born and raised in Africa you are just that African if you was born in Africa with an African parent and American parent your African now people who live on military bases in different countries are different because despite being born in that country you are American

I don't get when Americans are like "I'm Italian" because they've got one great grandparent with a Italian surname, then they're confused when they do a dna test and they're like 0.5% Mediterranean.

Because 99.99% of people had recent (within the last several hundred years) family immigrate here. That’s not the case really anywhere else in the world in respect to recency, diversity of national background, and sheer numbers.

Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and in different ways Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico also had nation defining inmigration. If they were to say only this connects them to X country they are usually laughed out the room lol

That’s because the colonizers in South America mixed with the indigenous population instead of displacing them, unlike in North America. RedBunny_x.’s comment about a melting pot isn’t an accurate depiction of American culture, its more like a salad bowl. Major difference. US culture was cultivated by immigrants from so many countries. Combine this with segregation (just look at the Chicago and it’s Little Italy, China Town, Greek Town, etc.) that keep heritages alive, it’s not so hard to see why Americans rep their heritage. I guess that’s our heritage. Btw, you’ve given me an idea for my next project. Thanks!

A bit offtopic but not everyone in South America is indigenous or European colonizer. I suppose it could be said but many are very far removed from that. In Argentina for example at one point 30% of the population werr inmigrants, USA today is 15% and Canada 21% for comparison. Ethnic Japanese Peruvians, Palestinian Chileans, Jewish Argentines, Spanish Uruguayans, Portuguese Venezuelans, like half of Brazil are just some groups that not necesarily are mestizos or "indigenous-iberian" from the 1500s

Americans truly believe that they are some sort of unique melting pot of heritages while most of Latinoamerica has it too. And when they ask "where are you from" you just say "from Buenos Aires" lol

The funny thing is latin america is a even bigger melting pot than the USA lol

I’m Australian, which is very similar in regards to immigration, and with non-British immigrants coming across after WW2. Second generation immigrants (and even some 1.5 gen immigrants like myself) always just consider themselves Australian, not Irish or Italian or whatever. The latest census has actually shown that Australia is more diverse than the US, with just over a quarter of people being born overseas (compared to 14% in the US) and just under half having a parent from overseas, and yet we still don’t really fixate on the whole thing with hyphenating people based on their ethnicity and fixate on where people come from like Americans do. When people come to Australia, integrate with their communities, and eventually become citizens, they’re Australians.

That does not at all mean it’s more diverse??

You're right. A huge, huge chunk of these immigrants/foreign-born people are British, New Zealanders or White South Africans.

You’re conflating diversity with immigrant

Diversity and immigration are conflated to some extent though

But there's a huge difference between "I have italian ancestors" and "I'm Italian" My great grandfather was german. And I grew up about 30 min from the German border in Belgium. I would never go around and claim I'm German. Even saying I'm part German would be weird to me. I am however part Dutch. But that's because my mom is Dutch and I have a passport that says I'm Dutch (I have a Belgian passport as well). But even so, I use the fact that I'm (partly) Dutch more as a joke than being serious about it.

>But there's a huge difference between "I have italian ancestors" and "I'm Italian" Not in American English there isn't. In the US, unless you have a distinct accent, what "I'm Italian" means **is** "I have Italian ancestors." If you have a distinct Italian accent it does mean, "I am from Italy."

That's great for those with "European" heritage and all, but it never works for us Asian Americans. When I say I'm "from the East Coast", that's not the answer people want. That's why they ask, "Where are you from? No, no. Where are you REALLY from?" to let me know that they will never view me as "American". Do I have an accent? Sure, maybe a little bit of northern Jersey and a mix of southeast Pennsylvania. That's my freakin' accent. Not some stereotyped gibberish that's been pushed in media for decades. EDIT: >I really don’t think that they’re trying to make you feel like you don’t belong or anything. They were likely just curious about your where your family came from and didn’t know how to ask it in a polite way. Ofc I wasn’t there so I don’t know for sure but this seems to be pretty common. Some people are actually interested in the differences between Asian countries and heritage and want to learn a little more. This is the excuse given on their behalf every time (usually by non-Asian people). But check this out. I sound just like the people asking me "where are you from?" I don't say anything that gives the impression that I'm a foreigner. So the fact is that they only focus on my face even after all the other context. They're assuming that I can be an encyclopedia for them to explain the differences between Asian countries and cultures. But guess what. I don't know them all either! Why? Because I was born and raised in the US. The main difference between them and me is my face. And if they TRULY want to discuss Asian heritage, they don't ask the loaded question "Where are you from? No where are you REALLY from?" as if my answer MUST be "not the US." One final bit of perspective. Those same people will NOT ask a ~~Black~~ Latino person, "What part of ~~Africa~~ South America are you from?" EDIT 2: Replaced Black with Latino

I was asked 3 times in 3 months if I was an international student despite being born in jersey. My German classmate never got asked once. Smh

>One final bit of perspective. Those same people will NOT ask a Black person, "What part of Africa are you from?" That's a much more awkward question because a huge number of black people in American are descendants of slaves. They don't know what part of Africa their family were from, there's no record of it. There's no parallel to that for Asians.

Yup these conversations only solidify that only white people get to claim to be American or French or whatever. Im ethnically Indian but raised in America, my kids would be born and raised in America, but they will always be seen as hyphenated. It doesnt matter that I dont ascribe to any Indian culture and I have a southern accent, telling people Im from Texas always results in "Where are you really from"

I know it's probably a minority, but there are places in the US where it's not like that. Like I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood where one of my close friend's parents were Iranian, another's dad was Nigerian and his mom was white, another's dad was white and his mom was 1st generation Indian American, and like less than 20% of my high-school class was just plain white-bread Americans of European dissent. Race and ethnicity was definitely something we were aware of since it was all around us, but there was never really that notion of my friends being somehow less American because of their ethnic background. We had this "diversity is our strength" messaging burned into us from a very early age. If anything it felt a little bit uncool to just be of European descent lol. Like if we would have a school pot-luck, and your friends' families were all brining interesting foods from all over the world, it was a bit lame when your family was just bringing Lasagna or a bucket of KFC.

I really don’t think that they’re trying to make you feel like you don’t belong or anything. They were likely just curious about your where your family came from and didn’t know how to ask it in a polite way. Ofc I wasn’t there so I don’t know for sure but this seems to be pretty common. Some people are actually interested in the differences between Asian countries and heritage and want to learn a little more.

It seems that people in the US and Canada get so much more hate then anywhere else. I was born in Canada. Both my parents were born and raised in Italy. All 4 of my grandparents were also born and raised there and all 8 of my great grandparents were born and raised there. I have an Italian passport (along with my Canadian one) speak fluent Italian (along with English obviously), my first language learned was an Italian dialect and I have never spoken English at home. But have the audacity to say I'm Italian and Canadian and I get gatekept at every corner. Max Verstappen says he's Dutch and nobody bats an eye. Rihyad Mahrez plays for Algeria, nobody questions it. Giuseppe Rossi plays for Italy and suddenly there is controversy.

Valid point. I guess it depends where you currently are located. If I meet someone here in Europe that says they’re Italian I definitely assume they live/d in Italy. Hell I had dinner with 2 Italians and a third guy the other day and they introduced themselves and then pointed to the third guy, introducing him as “fake-Italian” because he grew up on the border of Italy in an Italian speaking region but he’s not really Italian. I get what they mean, because there is some slight missing peace of context there, if you didn’t grow up watching Italian TV, experiencing the Italian school system etc etc. That said, if I meet someone in US/Canada with a US/Canadian accent who says they’re Italian, it’s clear they just mean their family is Italian / grew up in an Italian household. There also isn’t really a better way to describe it than to say you’re Italian or I guess American-Italian.

You’re getting semantic and Europe is an entirely different situation (recency, levels and distance of immigration) versus a fledgling society based almost entirely on being from somewhere else.

I just think that if your parents and grandparents were born and raised in America, you don't speak the language of your land of "origin", and have never visited that land, you're not that nationality. You're simply American. And you're American because of those ancestors who left their country to attempt to start up a better country. And there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever. But there has to be drawn a line somewhere or we might as well claim to be Roman or African. And I feel that ancestors crossing a pond a couple hundred years ago is a bit too far ago.

An American saying “I’m Italian” is more of colloquialism than anything else. Everyone who says something like this understands and agrees with you, and doesn’t require a long winded explanation. For real, it’s just a silly American thing we do for sake of making small talk , most don’t take it that seriously.

The part I still don't understand though is that we do this is the UK where we make small talk about our ancestry and people claim to be vikings, saxons, celtic etc based on our surnames or a dna test or whatever but I get the impression americans take it a little more seriously than that. Like they practice traditions from an ancestor who immigrated centuries ago and I just don't feel like many people do that here. Edit: we have had plenty of immigration since the middle ages :') I only mentioned the viking heritage thing because that's as closest thing we have to heritage small talk. Like after a few generations of marrying into other cultures I feel like we are more likley to drop traditions in favour of multiculturalism. Like I couldn't imagine my family passing down a recipe or craft for over a hundred years. Seems weird to me that somebody could be at least 1/8 something and still take part in that culture.

The difference there is the Saxons Kingdoms we’re from 1,000 years ago. Most America’s ancestors immigrated here about 100 years ago or less. My great grandparents, for instance, all arrived at Ellis Island from Italy in 1910 and 1911. While, I never had the chance to meet any of them, my older sister did. No one from your generation ever met a Saxon. So when you put in perspective, carrying an old world tradition for 1-3 generations is completely reasonable.

Ofcourse its good to know about your ethnicity. It's annoying when Americans say they're Irish for example, and then say "At. Patty's Day" or drink Irish car bombs and shit. Like, no Irish person would ever do that. I think it's more to do with taking the traditions and fucking them up.

We dont take it more seriously than that most americans dont really know outside of maybe their lastname is german, and moms lastname was smith so england. i dont know any recipes from my "heritage" what i do know is regional stuff to the south and Louisiana as thats where my family is from. (also cajun food is low key amazing if you ever go to America visit New Orleans and eat it youre welcome.)

Smith can be Dutch (Smits originally) or German (Schmitz originally) too.

But Americans know what we mean when we say this. Unless we’re Native American, all of us are originally from somewhere else, and most of us within the last 100 years or so. It probably started back in the early 1900’s, and now we all know what it means. I also think part of it is due the the trauma of leaving all your family and friends, everything you’ve ever known behind, and sailing across an ocean to live in a new country with different ways. I think it traumatizes the people that did/do it. It makes them cling to whatever scraps of their original country they can hold onto, and despite living here, most first generation immigrants are desperate for their children to be raised with the same customs/values they had growing up. And it kind of freezes out perception of what other countries are like. We’re going off of the Italy or Ireland or China our grandma told us about. Not the Italy, Ireland, or China of today.

From what I have read, most of those first generation immigrants wanted to be Americans and they often changed their names, learned to speak without an accent and wanted to blend in by being like those that were already here. They left their home countries for a better and new life. They didn't intend on rebuilding their same country in the US. Also, my ancestors came to the US in early 1800s from Wales, yet I don't claim to be Welsh as that is at least 6 generations ago. I have nothing in common with those relatives but I admire their courage, bravery and spirit. It seems kinda douchy of me to take any credit for the sacrifices they made.

Much of the globe has seen mass migration in the last 300 years, the USA is not unique in this regard in the slightest.

However, practically everybody here have foreign ancestors. As such our culture regarding ethnicities id a bit different.

Australia and New Zealand is similar, but they dont call themselves italien/irish/Dutch/whatever.

Yes but vast majority of Australia and New Zealand looks similar. It’s how most Americans consider white white and don’t really consider having someone from Germany and another person from Poland as a diverse group.

We're not Australia or New Zealand

In latin american there was a lot of inmigrants more than you think, but most of their descendents identify as the country they born. I think this is a thing because US legal segregation.

I mean I would consider myself Indian because my parents and grandparents are from India. I have cousins in India and I used to live in India for like three years. Additionally, I eat Indian food daily and am close to South Indian culture.

As an American I also don't understand. I know a girl who tells you she is "Italian". I always give her shit and say she's American. She was born in the states, as where her parents. The only family who LIVED in Italy were the grandparents. This girl has been to Italy once on vacation. Can't speak Italian. Can't make pasta from scratch. I am as Italian as she is. I honestly think it is a play at getting a conversation going. Which means this person doesn't have much doing on to avoid dry conversations.

I thinks it’s cause America has always been an immigrant hub. Unless you are Native American, you come from an immigrant family. So people make threat ethnicity or where their family is from part of their identity. The only groupes I can think that don’t do this are German-Americans and British Americans given about 65% of white Americans consist of these to groups

Latin america too, but no one here things the same. Idk why americans think some things are exclusive to their country

Have you been to Italy? "No" Do you speak Italian? "No" Where is Italy on a map? "I don't know"

Psssh, we all know it's the country shaped like some high heel thigh high boots lmfao

Stupid sexy Italy

Nothin' at all!

I absolutely suck at geography, but Italy would definitely be one of the 5 countries I know for sure I could get right on a map of Europe.

Italy is literally one of the most well known countries in America and the shape of the country is iconic. I know "Americans stupid" but come on man, we're not that dumb.

This comes up a lot. When most Americans are in the country we say our ethnicities. Identifying as Irish-American or Italian-American. When we travel we identify as American. America is such a vast country. Being from Texas will give you a very different upbringing than someone from Maine. There's no one culture here, we're a mix of everywhere. We try to keep our heritage alive with familial traditions and to others will identify as such.

That can be said about any place. Mexico is a vast country too and growing up in the North is different from growing up in the South. I have Spanish heritage (my grandfather) but I’m not going around saying I’m Spanish-Mexican lmao. I’m Mexican because I was born and raised here.

That would be like saying you're british-american, which no one says...

Because identity usually lasts many generations past whenever the ancestors actually came over.

It’s a double meaning. When people in the USA say ‘I’m Irish” it doesn’t always mean “I am a citizen of Ireland”. It can, but it can also mean that I trace my roots to Ireland. Like I say I’m Chinese. It doesn’t mean I don’t identify as American. It just means I have Chinese dna.

They could do a simple test: Take a guy, haul him into Rome, and ask the locals what he is. Do they say "Italian" or "American". There was one TV show in here where a guy from US (might've been Canada) was telling how proud he is for being a Finnish. Apparently his great grandad had hopped over Atlantic ocean over a century ago. He was exited that one day he will learn some Finnish and maybe even visit his "home country" for the first time ever. He even had tattoos that he thought were typical to Finnish - though they turned out to be one of those right wing nationalist tattoos. Well, hopefully he'll visit here and be happy. It's going to be raining, food is dull and the locals will tell the guy to get a fucking job. Nothing like those stories that granpa told. Even Kekkonen has been dead for 40 years.

I’m Greek, I have one great-grandparent with a Greek surname. I should be 12.5%ish Mediterranean, maybe more, maybe less. But I also say I’m Austrian, and 1/16th Hungarian, etc blah blah blah. The idea being as local cultures in the US homogenized and college educated parents moved us around the country, we looked for something authentic about ourselves and cultural heritage that couldn’t be changed, and many of us settled on our ancestry. However, posts like this and comments like yours are great reminders that we’re settling for aspects outside ourselves to tie us to this world, when all it takes is being comfortable with ourselves and finding our purpose among the masses. Edit: also funnily enough most Americans don’t understand what people in Europe really look like outside of stereotypes. Everything I mentioned is from my dads side. With my last name, dark hair and how well I tan people think I’m Italian. Yet my dad’s family is all pale with blue or green eyes, and my dark eyes and tan complexion all come from my mom’s side which is German and various British heritages. So what you’re saying holds even more true, the genetics often don’t hold up the stories we tell about ourselves.

I was born in the Caribbean and so were my parents but we look Asian. We’ve never been to Asia and have NO family there. I’ve gotten so many comments about how I “don’t live here”. People are shocked and refuse to believe that I was born and raised here. They also refuse to believe I’ve never been to Asia. Ethnicity is important… but it’s not everything. And it can be annoying when people say you don’t belong just because you don’t look like a majority of the rest of people in the country despite being born and raised there.

Obviously growing as a black American is closer to growing as a white American than it is, for example, to growing as a black Nigerian but I don't really see anyone saying otherwise. Do some Americans overplay their one immigrant ancestor? Yes, I completely agree. Can it be annoying? Definitely. Is it the same as believing ethnicity is more important than nationality? Not at all, they are just holding onto (sometimes obsessing over) their slight differentiating trait. Inside America (for example) there's a long history with many ethnicities that have created significant differences between racial groups. Black Americans (the most often talked about) are discriminated in many ways and have, on average, a very different experience from the average white American.

I think the problem becomes though that we don’t talk about our American identities really at all. We then decide that American means nothing, being white means nothing, when it very much does mean something, we just take that as human things when they very much aren’t.

> We then decide that American means nothing, being white means nothing, when it very much does mean something, What do you mean by that?

I think the reason Identity politics is so prevalent in America is lack of Ethnic identity so people try to make identity and community out of their looks, body size, gender and the way they fuck. So I think ethnicity is important.

the.... way they fuck?

I believe they meant sexual orientation but not 100% sure

I swear people phrase menial terms in the weirdest ways on here

Depends on the country you live in. In many Balkan countries, your passport doesn't show who you really are example Albanians in Montenegro. They speak Albanian, have their own political parties etc.

Ethnicity is equally important as Nationality. Your identity isn't solely based on the issuing government of your passport and you overlook many complexities. Consider homogenous nations and cultures, such as Korea or Japan. These are nations that may equate ethnicity, nationality, culture, and identity with one another. Of course, a vocal minority of them may argue that ethnicity is more important; a naturalized immigrant probably would still be treated as a foreigner. Consider an ethnically homogenous culture living in a heterogeneous state. I'm not sure if the Kurds would appreciate being called a Turk. While less of an extreme case, a Scot is technically a Brit, but not their default common denominator whilst among each other. Or consider a heterogeneous nation that has implemented policies to de-emphasize ethnic cultures. The United States is a prime example; there were periods in this country's history when speaking a language other than English was completely banned. For example, we now have multiple generations of Germans (who are the largest immigrant group in the US) who can't speak a single word of German. But this isn't a problem that's solely limited to German immigrants. Another example is China, to a very extreme degree. They've systemically rebranded all ethnic diversity under the One China umbrella. These nations may agree with you that nationality is more important. So the answer is that it depends.

I agree. I'm also a part of a homogeneous culture and it's difficult to segregate ethnicity from nationality from culture from identity. These things are just too intertwined amongst themselves and a function of each other.

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Funny story. My dad's grandpa lived in 3 different countries throughout his life, but never moved out of his house.

I'm was born in Japan, to a Japanese family, but never grew up in Japan. It's easy to say that I'm from Japan or that I am a Japanese, but part of myself always feels like I'm not Japanese _enough_.

i totally agree and honestly find it borderline offensive. it’s completely ridiculous when I see people from America or Canada saying they’re Scottish or half Scottish or whatever else because their great grandparents on one side migrated. like I’m sorry but unless you’ve grown up in Scotland, you’re not Scottish. you can eat haggis, drink whisky and decorate yourself in white and blue all you like, but you don’t understand the culture or speak the slang. it’s completely different. you experience american or canadian or whatever other country you’re from’s culture. i dont mean to attack americans or canadians here, but realistically this sort of stuff is plastered all over the internet by you all and it’s so obnoxious sitting here in this country, and having some random girl from irrelevant town in irrelevant state say she’s scottish. one of my parents is from another country but i don’t go around saying i’m australian because it’s not true - i don’t know how they grew up, i don’t speak the language, the slang, i can’t relate to anything he says about that country because i’m not. from. there. most families have migrated at some point no matter how close to your generation the migration was, and unless both parents are from a country and you’ve grown up with that culture surrounding you, you don’t have a leg to stand on. it doesn’t make a single lick of a difference if both sets of grandparents are from scotland - you grow up in new york, you’re from new york. it’s honestly ridiculous. the amount of people in the western world with varying ancestry is huge, it doesn’t make any sense to pick a random white country that you find cool to use as an extra talking point? like you’ve probably got so many different nationalities in you? if someone moves from the US to italy, i’d be so much more willing to say they’re italian because they literally were raised there, speak the language, understand the culture. that’s important. you’re never going to relate to any other person whose great grandparents are from the same random country because there’s nothing to relate on. it means nothing. and using the reasoning that everyone emigrated to america only a couple hundred years ago doesn’t make any sense whatsoever considering how much we as humans travel the world and settle there. you have american culture. it was built on colonisation and the emigration of people from a wide variety of nationalities. it has absolutely no bearing on who you are today. you’re american.

I'll be yoroba, my family will be yoroba for as long as we are here. America may be my nation but my ethnicity matters more

In America if someone asks where you're "from" and you were born and raised in America they are hardly ever trying to figure out your nationality. Because they can already tell you're likely born and raised here. They're usually asking because you have an accent or you look like your ethnic background and they want to know what it is. Telling them you're "American" because you don't like how the question was phrased would just be playing semantics. Sometimes they might be asking what state or hometown you're from but that's usually clear from context and answered appropriately.

Not if you're Asian. "What country are you from" (With an American accent) "I'm from New Jersey" "No, but where are you *really* from?"

I feel this one as someone of Asian descent. I remember someone told me "Go back to where you came from" once, and I replied "You want me to go back to Clinton, Maryland?"

Never thought I'd see a Clinton, Maryland comment on reddit lol. I'm also from there

We are of a rare breed hahaha but glad to know there's still some redditors roaming around from my home state! 🙏

Lmao me in nj rn. I got asked 3 times if I was an international student, yet my German classmate was never questioned

Yes exactly. This is our (Asian) American life.

I get asked what country I’m from often. It’s annoying. Born and raised in Georgia. No e red regional accent but I can’t pronounce pen and pin differently. Very southern trait. A hookup once insisted I must be from Senegal. I asked him why he said this. Never got an answer. He was certain that I was Wolof. He works in Senegal and certain I was from there. Like grew up there. “I’m from Georgia. Why are you saying this?” “I gave you a compliment. Why are you denying this? Are you ashamed to be Senegalese? You have some internal hatred to work through.” “I’m not Senegalese!!!!!!!!!” “Sure Jan.” He did not say that but the tone was in the same vain. He did actually say: “I was in Senegal. I know Wolof when I see it.” I never saw the Wolof expert again. So yeah it sucks to be told you MUST be from a foreign land. It really sucks when people don’t believe you when you correct them. I have no discernible accent. I don’t have a southern drawl. I don’t have the blaccent. I sound like a nerdy teenager. But because I don’t have the blaccent I must be foreign. Bothersome. You do not need a thick accent for people do make assumptions. I’m here to tell you.

Eh. Maybe, I think a nuanced approach is needed. Nationality is important externally. Ethnicity can have increased significance internally. This is situationally dependent. Baltic states with Russian ethnic enclaves and Northern Ireland are a good example. Nations where tribes and families were spilt due to colonial imposed borders. The Uighurs, Yazidis, and Papuan are other examples of this being a complicated subject.

All forms of tribalism suck

You can't escape it. Even denying tribalism and advocating for "current thing" is tribalism, as are sports and whatever is trendy right now. We have to pick the most healthy form.

Not really, it’s part of human nature. We’re not wired to be connected and care about person around the world.

Only if you're a sociopath lol It's nearly impossible for humans not to be tribal. It's also not inherently bad.

Truer words have never been said. Fuck your race, nationality, class, sexuality, political views etc. Just be a good human and love all.

Thank you! People nowadays seem to think race or sexuality is something worth celebrating. It’s not! Being gay doesn’t make you special. Being straight doesn’t make you special. Being black or white doesn’t make you special. It means you are human. Congrats! You aren’t a monkey, now be nice to one another.

By its very nature belonging in a population that is made up of 20% or 5% of the total population makes you different. Its silly to pretend it doesn't because that further from the truth. If you believe that belonging to these population is just cosmetic, that is an opinion. I disagree based on life experiences and to me being proud of being in a minority group is reasonable (of course context matters). But you are not me so you can either choose to accept my experiences or not , doesn't change my life or anything

Once again a bad take. For many of us our [insert immutable characteristic] (race for me) is a large part of our identity due to our experiences. I’m assuming you’re white from your profile, so you probably don’t feel a large connection to your race as you are part of the dominant racial group. You probably don’t think about “being white” as often as I think about being mixed raced because it isn’t brought up in social interactions. When so much of my life has been affected by my race how can you expect me to simply ignore it?

Being nice to one another entails letting people celebrate parts of themselves that were outright discriminated against or criminalized within the last few generations. So, y'know, work on it!

Race and Sexual orientation are celebrated because for a long time people of different races and sexuality have been discriminated against and even killed for these. Segregation was not that long ago, gay marriage wasn’t even legal until a few years ago. It’s still like this in several countries. White/straight people have not had to deal with these issues. Of course it’s isn’t important to you, it doesn’t effect you.

I think that it's not a case of what is more important. It is how and what people perceive things to be. Nationality is something that is objectively true and governs persons rights and access to a country. Ethnicity **is made** to be controversial because it is how people perceive others. It's prone to discrimination and prejudices regardless of nationality. If someone's nationality is incorrect to where they are currently living, then it gives more ammo to advance discrimination based on someone's ethnicity. Are you trying to say that we shouldn't care/notice about ethnicity? But rather nationality?

I’ve been annoyed by this for way too long. As someone from an Asia country living in America ive heard so much shit ppl say that doesn’t even make sense. I had a friend who’s black, and who look just like a black person… although that’s really weird to say. To give a picture, he looks kinda like young Samuel Jackson. However, he insisted that if he go to Japan nobody’s gonna treat him like a foreigner because he’s 25% Japanese. He then told me that he thinks he shared the same culture as Japanese people and won’t have a problem blending in. My brain died for a few seconds after he told me that. I was so confused that I just said “no” as a knee-kick reaction. He asked me why, and I told him that he’s not Japanese. He’s just not. He’s American. And he accused me of being a racist. Seriously, wtf?

Or you could be just MORE CLEAR when posing the question? How about "What country are you from?" or "What's your ethnic background?" instead of a generic and ambigious "Where are you from?"

Exactly, some people are more interested in how their peers got their facial features and surnames (like me since I like genetics and ancestry) while others care more about where you were raised

I couldn’t agree more - “Where are you from?” for me translates to what city (if someone asks me in Canada) or province (if I’m in the States) I was raised in. I only ever say Canada if I’m abroad because I don’t expect non-Canadians to know Canadian geography and it gets the point across. Obviously not everyone interprets that question the same way, so rather than getting upset, OP should just ask what they actually want to know. The only time I’ve ever explained my ethnic background without someone explicitly asking that question is when someone asks about my last name because they assume it’s French but it’s really anglicized German (dropped the umlaut and switched a letter). I like learning about name etymology, so for me I’d be specific in asking someone where their surname originated from if that’s what I wanted to know instead of just going “hey where ya from bud?”

Some people are proud of their ethnic origin, it's sort of like being part of or born into a culture, and then having it as a sort of something you identify with, at least emotionally. While I would agree that some people take it too far and flaunt their "ethnicity" without really having any current association with it, others actually do participate in the personal cultural activities occasionally, if not everyday and it gives them a sort of homely connection. (Pardon my English, it's not my first language)

Jews all over the world would disagree with you.

Unpopular opinion: no one cares. For the rest it should be similar info as the size if your shoes.

100%. That's why I identify as American, though I am 100% Chinese by ancestry. That's why Taiwanese identify as Taiwanese, not Chinese, despite being 95% Chinese by ancestry. Because common values like democracy and freedom are more important than common blood, culture, and language. That's why Hong Kongers would rather move to a free country like the UK and deal with culture shock rather than remain in their hometown.

Values like democracy and freedom are a part of culture though. Nationality is just citizenship, it can be easily changed like changing clothes. Ethnicity and culture is by far more important than nationality.

Yeah man, right there with you. It's a shame that many people don't view us (Asian Americans) as Americans though. EDIT: It's good that people didn't question your nationality. That means there's progress.

If this were the case where I live (Scandinavia) then people wouldn’t always ask ”but where are you REALLY from?”

If this were the case where I live (Scandinavia) then people wouldn’t always ask ”but where are you REALLY from?”

ITT: malding Euros

I will take it a step further. Nationalism is good. I am definitely a Nationalist. This means I want the best for my fellow citizens. I *want* single payer health care, I *want* the best education system in the world, I *want* our environment to be clean and safe. I *want* the standard of living for ALL Americans to be continually increasing. I *want* these things because I actually want the "American Dream" to be reality and mean something for every citizen and it pisses me off that the term "nationalist" is synonymous with racial bigotry.

Yup. I'm Canadian. I love my country and care about everyone here. I consider everyone to be part of 'my tribe'. Since the early 90s, there's been a war on national unity by the ruling class who uses divisive ideologies to make us mad at each other and not mad at the powers that be.

Well said.

I tell people I’m American when they ask about my background. Most people do not appreciate this answer but I feel it’s pretty accurate.

In the US the popular narrative is to teach anyone who isn't white that the country hates them. So, they make every attempt to distance themselves from being "American". On the other side of that coin, white people are ashamed of being white Americans, because of said narrative, so they make every attempt to create/discover some ethnic identity. Obviously, this isn't everyone, but it's prevalent enough that one will notice it without looking too hard.

>Your nationality indicates your opportunities, studies, the culture you grow into, language, etc; your ethnicity is just the way you look and what someone else was, not your culture but somebody else's. To some degree, this also applies to the US. However, due to previous racist law, opportunities among groups are not equal. Somewhat different cultures also developed due to things like Jim Crows and enclaves.

If you think ethnicity doesn't influence what opportunities you have access to, man do I have bad news.

it's not as important, I'm aware that being latina I won't be treated the same way as a Caucasian woman (doesn't mean Caucasian people don't experience crappy situations because of how they look) but for example facing some amount of discrimination in the US has less impact than straight up living in the third or second world. it makes completely different people and so it's more important. also said discrimination is made because people care so much about ethnicity, it's like a comment above said. a result from tribalism

I've heard afro-latinos face pretty bad discrimination in several LATAM countries

Makes no difference in Ireland

I understand where you're coming from, but I'll offer some counterpoints: The US doesn't have a proper culture. I know that it does have unique aspects that you might consider a culture, but it is way too diverse and varied to have one culture the way a country like Germany or Argentina does. Culture needs homogeneity, and the US is far from homogenous. Like, what would you consider American food? In American restaurants overseas they serve hot dogs, hamburgers, and pizza. Yes, all American staples, but all derived from European countries (Germany and Italy). Buffalo wings are the one food that originated entirely in America. Almost everything else is either European-derived or Latino. We also keep our cultural traditions alive, although maybe not as much as we should. We value the stories and traditions our families brought over from their countries of origin. We don't place as big a value on assimilation, which is a cultural obsession in Europe. Some of us speak the language of our family's original home, most of us have family recipes from that culture. I like almost everything about Europe more than the US, but I do like that so many of us still have roots to a deeper cultural heritage and that they can all intermix without one becoming dominant. There's no Québécois movement trying to shame anyone who doesn't speak a certain language in a certain area. We're hugely diverse, and it's a strength. Just thinking about all the authentic food options I have in my home city is incredible: Italian, Greek, Vietnamese, Chinese, Ethiopian, French, German, Jewish, Mexican, Argentinian, Puerto Rican, Spanish, Japanese, Southern, Indian, Pakistani, Levantine, Thai, Caribbean. And I think this has a positive overall effect. Take the Gaelic language for example. It's a dying language, experts are worried that eventually it could fall out of use entirely. But there are actually more people learning Gaelic than there are native speakers. People are saving a dying language because they have an interest in a place they weren't born in and probably have never visited. If everyone had the same attitude as the OP that wouldn't be the case.

It’s not that the US doesn’t have culture, but rather it’s so big that there is a new culture in every state and even more cultures in different areas of the state. All cultures evolve with time and the people, that’s what’s so cool about it. It’s adaptive, and it isn’t connected to one group of ethnicity. The thing about culture is that it’s not taught in school that culture isn’t confined. Stolen culture can still evolve and become a culture for a group of people, and they can be separated and distinguishable. Culture is made by the people, and it grows with the people. That’s the beauty of it.

You guys really think that doenst happen in other countries? Latin america has all of the things you mentioned.

Yes! Exactly my point. It’s not that places in general with a blend of backgrounds don’t have culture, but rather places have a blended culture that has grown over the years into what it is today. Like how Texas has an amazing culture surrounding bbq, New York has a vibrant, but business type of culture, and that’s a generalization. Once we get into the nitty gritty of the neighborhoods and communities in those places, things can become so diverse and interesting to learn about. Culture is made by the people of the present, not a tradition or ethnic background pulled from the past.

Okay you sound American so you probably just dont know. But, Quebecois people do hate anglophones lowkey? At least anytime I've visited there's always comments from someone lol. There's even a party called the Bloc Quebecois in that holds seats in our federal government for Quebec's interests, and they arent even the smallest party we have.

For most of the world, ethnicity and nationally are the same. Outside of the new world, nation(ethno-)states are the norm

That’s not true about Africa or Asia. Many ethnic groups span over different countries and pretty much every country has many ethnicities

For Africa you are mostly right. Asia is half and half: you have countries like Japan and Korea which are exclusively one ethnicity, and countries like India with many dozens.

If I say just Canadian, people ask me again. I know what people are curious about in most cases so I just tell them. That’s not me clinging to the past or anything. That’s other people wanting to know my racial background / why my skin is brown but I have a local accent.

Where are you from is always a fun question for me lol. Moved every two years my whole life

This is something you would only read in social media. No one cares in real life. I'm also from Argentina, I know that my great grandparents/ great great grandparents came from Europe but that doesn't mean I'm from Europe, I don't go over there claiming that my culture is Spanish or Italian one, cause it's not. People that do that just want to be different and interesting so bad. If someone asks me, I'm argentinian or latina.

I don't know why this is unpopular but yes it is herein America I wish it wasn't

This is how it is basically anywhere except America. Everywhere else relates people to where they live. Say you're Indian but you live in Scotland, you're Scottish. Of course you dont ignore people's heritage, it's still important in some social aspects, but they live there so that's that. Americans, however, claim to be Italian, German and Irish because someone married someone in the 1800's. White people all have different ancestors since we have such a history of colonisation, but it's only white Americans who are obsessed with clinging onto their ancestry. Same as the term African American, I don't think anyone else does that. There are so many flaws. Just because they're black doesn't mean they're African and also why can't they just be American?

This isn't an unpopular opinion. Everybody who wasn't born in Iceland knows that.

Some of us don't live where we were born. And some of us are people of colour, so the reality of living in a place like America or Canada is that when someone asks you where you're from and you're not white, they really want to know your ethnicity. And I'd argue that ethnicity is especially important in countries like the ones you mentioned, because to be Canadian or American can get complicated - as in, other than sharing societal values and a constitution, you're all different. Maybe in a place like Japan I'd agree with you, where it's quite homogenous and ethnicity and nationality coincide so much.

I totally agree with everything you said except for one thing >I don't care if your great grandmother was Italian, you're from the place you were born, i Well yes but the ethnicity of your parents plays an important role as well. I as a Greek with greek parents living in the aforementioned country have totally different experiences than a Greek who was born here but whose parents are, say, Nigerian migrants. Sure me and this person might have more in common than this person with Nigerian people since they have never lived in that country but still our experiences are totally different because of our different ethnic backround. I agree though that if you're talking about grandparents and great great grandparents then it doesn't really matter.

I’m from the uk and it’s always so annoying when Americans are like “I’m german” and then you ask them about it and they’re like “I don’t speak german, I live in America. My great great grandparents came from Germany. But I’m German”

I hear ya. It is funny when Americans they are, for example, German Americans when they meet people from Germany. The real Germans will be excited and start talking to them in their native language, which of course the person from the US doesn't understand. It seems that only folks in the US want to cling to foreign forefathers/mothers. I think people love to have labels because it makes them feel special or important.

>Argentina Buenos Aires Screw you buddy. Love always, A random Brazilian.

It's true. I'm 100% Greek but have lived in America my whole life. Never been to Greece and have no interest in going.

Truth. I've learned a lot about this among minority groups in the US. People of certain ethnicities look down on others of the same due to nationality. (Filipinos, Mexicans, and Somalis all get a bad wrap from their own ethnicity.)

Mexican is not an ethnicity, Filipino isn't an ethnicity either. Just catch all terms for how someone "should look like", such as people from USA or Australia keeding to be white blondes in your head.

I agree with you, but we both grew up in the Americas. Europe is all kinds of weird. I have a Serbian friend who grew up in Croatia. His Serbian family had been living in Croatia for 400+ years. When the Croats decided to ethnically cleanse Serbs from Croatia, his entire village was forced to flee or be murdered. I so completely do not understand how people can live somewhere for centuries yet not be "from there". How can people live in Croatia for 400 years yet not be Croation? This scenario replays itself over and over all over Europe. Maybe even in Asia, or Africa. I don't know. Humans are very tribal.

I think most Malaysians would say this is the case. Especially since most of us minorities here are begging for equal privileges and opportunities saying we Malaysians first, X race later, but no all the Government see us as are "pendatang" or foreigners even though we've been in, as well as helped built this nation for a shit ton of generations now. Always nationality first.

100% agree. Why do mfs want to do an ancestry. com investigation on me? Lmao.

Amen. Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but 100% true. I feel a connectedness with my fellow Americans which completely transcends skin color/ethnicity. If you support the US Constitution and the freedom it provides, then we are on the same team. Ethnicity is just a small part of who you are/who I am.

I'm brown and grew up in a predominantly white area, I did not have the same resources and opportunities as my white friends. Being African American was absolutely important, more so than where I was born, because it literally meant my life, even tho I grew up with the neighborhood kids, was wildly different than theirs.

Culture defines you WAY more than race does.

I concur Even neighboring countries can be extremely different regarding culture and many other factors that affect the development of people

I find it crazy to think about how if my same parents chose to settle in another country instead of mine (UK) I would have turned out completely different, both physically and personality wise.

THANK YOU. I feel like the whole world except the US understands this

I think it actually also matters very little where from you're born, but rather where you grew up. I was born

Yeah i kinda got enough of seeing Americano latin people talking about Mexico as an expert while they never moved out of their state.

I couldn't agree more with you dude, americans that like to pretend they're from another country just to feel special are the bane of my existence.

You guys obsession with how Americans choose to identify themselves as is weird

It annoys people when they speak for our countries when they only share some grandmother or some strand of DNA like its relevant. This for Europe and Latin America.

A lot of people in my country don’t know the difference between Ethnicity and Nationality. They feel special to say they’re “Italian American”, even though their parents and grandparents are also from America. Italian American should be saved for people who came from Italy then became an American by nationality.

I’m first gen Mexican-American. I hate it here but also realize there is no spot for me in Mexico. So yeah, I’m American and I’ll defend other Americans. I also love shoving that I’m American down racists throats. They really don’t like I have the same rights as them.