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I completely agree with the "You're all American, period" sentiment, but I suspect you haven't had the lovely experience of being asked "Where are you from" and

I completely agree with the "You're all American, period" sentiment, but I suspect you haven't had the lovely experience of being asked "Where are you from" and have your <American location> repeatedly not accepted, usually by the phrase "No, where are you really from," as if it's entirely impossible for me to have been born here. Were I white, the first question would be unlikely to be asked in the first place, its answer automatically accepted, and if the enquirer had poor language skills, it would immediately be qualified with "I meant, What's your heritage" or "Where is your family from." There may be self segregation but some are doing the segregation for us.

RamblingCTO 1y ago
That's wild to me. Wouldn't almost all of black americans that didn't immigrate after abolishment of slavery not know their roots anyhow because it hasn't been tracked? (Or would you? Now I'm curious!) Making this an absolute asshole question? I'll never understand why there's so much distinction between black and white (literally) culturally in the US. I always find it weird when people comment things like "white people do this" and "black people stuff". I get the overall differences in lifestyle and (sub-) culture, but that people feel like they need to differentiate is wild after all these years. I mean, sure, complex story and stuff, but still.
- fallinghawks 1y ago
  I'm option 3: Asian. In this context, Black Americans are assumed just as American as whites because their ancestry was forcibly removed from them. All Asians are assumed to be immigrants -- forgetting, of course!, that all White people were also immigrants. I can pretty much guarantee you, even if their family came to the US 175 years ago, an Asian American will still get asked "Where are you really from". The US has a pretty unpleasant history of doing especially terrible things to minorities who start to succeed, and continues to do bad things to minorities in both subtle and unsubtle ways. The concept of Asians as the "model minority" is actually a way of pitting minorities against each other rather than being a compliment (e.g. your brother is such a good person, why aren't you?).

RamblingCTO 1y ago

That's wild to me. Wouldn't almost all of black americans that didn't immigrate after abolishment of slavery not know their roots anyhow because it hasn't been tracked? (Or would you? Now I'm curious!) Making this an absolute asshole question? I'll never understand why there's so much distinction between black and white (literally) culturally in the US. I always find it weird when people comment things like "white people do this" and "black people stuff". I get the overall differences in lifestyle and (sub-) culture, but that people feel like they need to differentiate is wild after all these years. I mean, sure, complex story and stuff, but still.

fallinghawks 1y ago
I'm option 3: Asian. In this context, Black Americans are assumed just as American as whites because their ancestry was forcibly removed from them. All Asians are assumed to be immigrants -- forgetting, of course!, that all White people were also immigrants. I can pretty much guarantee you, even if their family came to the US 175 years ago, an Asian American will still get asked "Where are you really from". The US has a pretty unpleasant history of doing especially terrible things to minorities who start to succeed, and continues to do bad things to minorities in both subtle and unsubtle ways. The concept of Asians as the "model minority" is actually a way of pitting minorities against each other rather than being a compliment (e.g. your brother is such a good person, why aren't you?).