I Am American… I Think.

27.03.07

Posted under: Thoughts

[edit] For all my subscribers, sorry for all the new entry emails. I’m currently converting my files into WP pages and my plugin sends an email anyway. Thanks for understanding! [/edit]

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Are you tied to your heritage? Your culture? Are you prejudiced because of it? Do you feel as if you are placed at a disadvantage for who you are? Does your being of a particular culture define who you are or does it only make up a part of you? Are you proud to be what you are, despite the stereotypes? Do you consciously try to break those stereotypes?

I am an Asian American and although I love being what I am, I know that only in California can I exist in peace. I cannot go to my parents’ home country for in their eyes, I am an American. I cannot go elsewhere in America because in their eyes, I am Asian. Only in California do I feel accepted and appreciated to be this mixture of both, to be looked at as both American and Asian. Am I scared to leave? Yes. I am afraid that if I go elsewhere, I will have to start all over again as a foreigner, never truly accepted and always compared to the stereotype.

But I don’t want people to be blind to my culture or anybody else’s for that matter. We are who we are and we cannot change what is obvious.

Unfortunately though, there are always lost cultures, cultures that no one pays much attention to or no one puts much emphasis on. All the Asians, Blacks, and Latinos are clumped into those three major categories. And only briefly have we started to care about the Middle Easterns. But what about the rest? What about the Europeans, the true Americans, and all the missing people in between? Where do they go and how do we properly acknowledge their existence?

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Tags: americanism, culture, ethnicity, heritage, race

16 Comments »

Amy replied:

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 @ 5:31 am GMT-8

I’m an Asian Australian, and I think that my culture will always be apart of who I am. I might try to deny my culture, or pretend that it isn’t apart of me, but I believe that it shapes my identity, and it’s impossible to get rid of.

We watched this documentary in my Sociology class. They interviewed a few Asians and they talked about feeling like bananas - ‘yellow on the outside and white on the inside’. I thought that was an interesting analogy.

I think that’s one of the things that I love about being apart of a multicultural society like Australia though. My Asian culture is often celebrated and embraced by other Aussies. But I think my inner battle of whether I’m Australian or Chinese will always plague me. I will always know that I’m not Australian or Chinese, but rather something that’s inbetween that’s undefinable.
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Julie expressed:

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 @ 6:11 am GMT-8

YIKES do you really think it’s that bad outside of California? Given in small country towns that are mostly filled with old-fashioned white people (aka rednecks) you might not fit in, but I won’t either. I figure in bigger cities all over the country you’d be fine. Places that are diverse from industry and stuff, that helps. I mean sure I’m white, but I do have a bunch of weird cultural background stuff that people out here in Cali adore, I wonder if that will be the same in Tx… hahah
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Mari wrote:

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 @ 3:36 pm GMT-8

If you live in a redneck place like I do, you’ll never fit in if you claim any ancestry other than “Amuriken” (pronounced “uh-mrrr-ih-kin”. In this area that I live in, if I tell people I’m half Polish-American they start racial slurs and never treat me the same again. Even family has done this to me. And there’s an overwhelming eastern European population here.

I do very much love being able to claim that I’m half Polish-American. Home made pierogies are the bomb. They’re my soul food. And I could easily fit in in a Polish Catholic church or any neighborhood in the suburbs of the city I live near. My favorite part is listening to stories my grandmother tells about how her parents came here.

I’d say being a “half a dumb polack” has prevented me from being prejudiced. I don’t care what color someone is or where they came from. As long as they don’t show that they’re prejudiced I’m fine with them

As for you, you should be fine in a big city on either coastline. Go more than 100 miles inland and you run into hicks, though.

As much as I’d like to deny it, living in a hick area like this really will box me in. I need to move somewhere a little more…urbanized to feel like I fit in, but were I too I’d still stand out as a country bumpkin. So, yeah, what you are and where you live is part of you and you have to work hard to change it even a little.
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Angelica replied:

Thursday, March 29, 2007 @ 10:42 am GMT-8

I’m swedish and I’m really tired of the sterotypes and prejudices about swedes. In many foreign countries swedish girls are thought to be sluts. Blond sluts named Ingrid. And in 99% of all the american movies swedes are portrayed as stupid and weird. “What’s wrong with him?” “He’s swedish” “Ah, that explains it”. And I don’t get where that comes from. Sweden is a wonderful country with our own culture that nobody knows about since it’s such a small country. Most people who think they know something about Sweden are wrong. They don’t. Ingrid is not a common name in Sweden, we’re not all blond, we’re not stupid (hey we’re in fact number 5 on the list of world welfare!) and we’re not sluttier than the rest of europe. o
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Stockton Boy declared:

Thursday, March 29, 2007 @ 5:31 pm GMT-8

I would repeat all the brilliant things I said to you but my wisdom is only for you. I told you everything you need to know. I love being as smart as I am.
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Faith commented:

Thursday, March 29, 2007 @ 8:43 pm GMT-8

I sympathize, my family is predmoninantly Mugat & Romungro/Roma, and we now live in the middle of WarOnTer, USA. Well, when we first moved here, I didn’t know what these people were like and I went to church with a my neighbors the first Sunday after we’d moved into the house, and like curious people do, I got grilled as to where I was from, where I was born, how the weather was there, ect.

Eventually, the conversation came to “Now, what’s your nationality, honey? You look French or something.” And, like an idiot, I said “Rom Nation” which they didn’t understand. As soon as they found out Roma is Gypsy, they never spoke to our family again and their sons started terrorizing my sister.

This country’s a great, beautiful place - unless you live in Asscrack, Missouri or somewhere else people were never expected to learn or grow up. I think you’d do fine in a blue state ( NYC is beautiful ). I’m a bitter young woman
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Yoru responded:

Thursday, March 29, 2007 @ 10:49 pm GMT-8

Hmn… I guess I’m lucky not to be staying elsewhere other than the country from where my parents are from. On the other hand, you guys are more lucky to be experiencing the “best of both worlds”.
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Lucas answered:

Friday, March 30, 2007 @ 4:11 am GMT-8

I seriously don’t give a crap about what other people think of me. Everybody these days, no matter who you are, where your from, there are always people judging you no matter where you go. It’s something you just need to accept and ignore.

People can hate it and give a big mouth, but it’s not like it will ever stop in this sick little world. Love yourself, be yourself, do not be ashamed of yourself. Don’t give a shit about others. It’s you who is living your life, not them.

You shouldn’t think about other cultures too much either. Just let everybody do their thing. Atleast I wouldn’t bother. It’s you who comes first.
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Angel stated:

Sunday, April 1, 2007 @ 3:05 pm GMT-8

I am half African American and half Filipino. I’ve embraced both cultures and I’ve take on the philosophy of not caring what people think or say. My fiance is white. Do we get stares and looks? Sure, but I don’t let it deter me because they don’t know me. They don’t know what we have or what we share, so I let them revel in their ignorance, and now I am better then them for being able to look beyond boundaries.

I’ve dealt with this my whole life and I’ve learned the best thing to do is just to ignore them and let them live a life of close mindedness. In the end they’ll have to answer to their maker and you to yours.
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Jules wrote:

Sunday, April 1, 2007 @ 11:08 pm GMT-8

I’m agreeing with Deanna Marie on the pierogies thing. I’m half Ukrainian and homemade pierogies are the best.

Anyway, I agree with most of the above. Big cities would probably be the way for you to go if you’re really worried about those things.

I’m also half Irish, and while I love all of my heritage and hearing stories and planning to go visit family in bother Ireland and the Ukraine, I hate the stereotypes. I hate being grouped in with “stupid Polaks” because I live in the same town with people who are too dumb to know the difference, let alone know that Polish people aren’t stupid. I hate people assuming I can drink them under the table or that I spend my weekends drinking as much as possible. It really sucks.

But in the end, pride outweighs everything else.
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Jenny typed:

Monday, April 2, 2007 @ 9:55 am GMT-8

I’m pure bred redneck and damn proud of it. I’m sorry it bothers you. Some people just suck really. If they don’t like who they are, or who other people are, they should choke. Seriously.
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Emz expressed:

Wednesday, April 4, 2007 @ 1:47 pm GMT-8

I’m British born and bred, it’s a shame that America feels obligated to alienate different cultures. Are they that low? Gosh!
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Sai announced:

Thursday, April 5, 2007 @ 9:59 pm GMT-8

I never really dwell on my heritage, I am American born and raised… perhaps thats why. I’ve never really thought about my heritage and what it is like outside of California. Yes, I’m a Californian as well, and never really ventured any farther than that… Haha…

I think sometimes, you just can’t really care about stereotypes and culture and things. Sometimes, its best to just enjoy life as it is.
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Janelle shouted:

Friday, April 6, 2007 @ 5:55 am GMT-8

I can truly relate with what you’re saying. I’m also suffering that mix culture thingie. But I don’t care with what people think or say about me. Live and let live, and that’s just it.

I guess it’s a plus point that I live in the Philippines. It’s usual to see Asian looking girls, Caucasian looking and the like.
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Carrie Szczepanski remarked:

Saturday, April 7, 2007 @ 8:10 pm GMT-8

I am American/Irish, but that makes me no different from anyone else. We were all brought here from one thing (God), that makes us all brothers and sisters in his eyes.

Yes I know everyone has earth parents, but I am talking about who created the human race.

For people who don’t believe in god, I don’t know what to say to them but this is what I think and what I feel.

For people who believe in the Scientific explanations of the world, I have no clue what to say, cause those kind of people drive me nuts.

I feel no one has a right to look or judge anyone by their race/color, if you don’t like what the person looks like or whatever, look the other way and keep your mouth shut.
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Marisol remarked:

Saturday, April 21, 2007 @ 12:58 pm GMT-8

Are you saying that the Europeans are the true Americans? I don’t get that comment. The last I heard, the Native Americans were really the true Americans. And the reason that minorities get so much attention is because of that….they are minorities. When you leave California you WILL meet American people of Eureopean decent and they aren’t left out. There are ignorant people from all over but that doesn’t mean that all people are like that. Just because you live in a place where these people don’t get any attention, doesn’t mean we all do. And Emz, not all Americans are like this. I’m sure in the UK you will meet people who act this way too.
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