<p>Never in my life have I heard a non-white person say something like this:</p>
<p>"Well, I'm, like, Dutch and, like, Irish and British. Also, I'm, like, Italian and, like, Swedish as well.
"Where were you born?"
"Erm... New Jersey."</p>
<p>If you were born in AMERICA, you are AMERICAN. Not Italian, not Dutch but AMERICAN.</p>
<p>you tell em.</p>
<p>They believe their ancestry has the same connotation, you should tell them off.</p>
<p>Wow, who cares. What they mean is their ethnic heritage, not their nationality, and that is obvious from the context of what they’re saying. Of course they know they’re American if they’re born in New Jersey. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a particular ethnic makeup. I think there are bigger things to get upset about.</p>
<p>Yea, it weird. Most people don’t think or know their American.</p>
<p>Most people that are of multi-ethnic European descent are white.</p>
<p>= Geography</p>
<p>I am of Czech, Russian, Polish, Austrian, German, Slovakian and French descent…woo.</p>
<p>Yeah I mean I’ve never heard of African-Americans. At all.</p>
<p>“Never in my life have I heard a non-white person say something like this:”</p>
<p>You’ve never met someone not born in India call themselves Indian? You’ve never met someone not born in China call themselves Chinese?</p>
<p>wutizafrica? srsly***isanafrica?</p>
<p>This is BS. If an asian is born in America, is the asian “American”?</p>
<p>I’d think not. We may use the term “Asian American” to describe them, but to just call them “American” would not only understate and deprive them of their inherited culture, but also offend conservative groups who have a more restrictive view of what is “American.”</p>
<p>But I’m Martian…?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Difference being, they are, in my experience, directly Indian/Chinese. The Asians I met usually were born in Asia or immigrated to the US, or that their parents were born in Asia and they were born in the US. On the other hand, the white people talked to:</p>
<p>a. born in the US.
b. parents born in the US.
c. They claim to be 50 different European nationalities because their great grandparents immigrated to the US. IMO, not a valid way to claim yourself as ‘multi-national’.</p>
<p>yeah i see what you mean. i consider myself korean, but i was born here (parents immigrated). in my opinion, if the culture in which you were raised is American, you are American.</p>
<p>ie, those white kids were raised watching football and eating mayo, so they are american (no racial of course hahaha)</p>
<p>however, i was raised in a korean household with korean values and culture so yes, my nationality is American, but my race and culture is 100% korean</p>
<p>Your criteria seems arbitrary. How many generations back is the tipping point? Why that number?</p>
<p>mine? i have no tipping point. thats why i subscribe to the familial culture idea. if you families culture is japanese, than you can safely say you are japanese but a second generation (or 1st)</p>
<p>agree with md5hash. My friend, who was adopted from China as an infant and grew up with very southern parents, considers herself white-- she never grew up with any chinese people, there were like 4 asians in our whole grade.</p>
<p>“American” isn’t really an ancestry per se… So while I am American I claim to be of English (Northern Irish) and Italian decent. Though as my father was born and raised in Belfast I’m quite close to these roots.</p>
<p>This thread makes me laugh and mad at the same time.</p>
<p>Who cares? Honestly. Get a life.</p>
<p>i always say im half black even though i never been to africa</p>