Citizenship and ethnicity.
Forgive me if this comes off as odd, but I am having a difficult time understanding the concept. And, coincidentally, this entry finds its way to my journal on Mexico's Independence Day: 193 years.
The Host's fiance is, according to society, Korean. However, he is not. He is American. His family is Korean, and they came to America from Korea, but the vast majority of his life was lived in America. The fiance agrees with me.
However, time and time again I have heard people ask him, "What are you?" His response is, "I am American." They reply, "No but you're Asian." And he will tell them, "My mother is from Korea." With a sigh, they will say, "Oh, so you're Korean, okay..."
Well he is not Korean. He is American.
I do not understand the American obsession with ethnicity. If the fiance had been born and raised--even for a month or so--in Korea, then I could understand the assumption that he is Korean. But he was born in Hawai'i, and moved to Korea when he was three. He then stayed until he was seven, and moved back to America. But becuase his physical features differ, he is assumed to be something other than American.
The sister had a discussion with us in regards to that. She said one can claim the nationality of American, but could not claim to "be" American, as there is no true American. (Yes, the Native Americans, but really they came from over the Bering Strait. And research says they were not the first to find North or South America, anyway. The Welsh founded Patagonia and the Vikings left their mark as well. Yet that is another story...I digress.) The sister said that when someone is born as American, they can trace their history back to some other nation. And of course that is true, America is still a very young nation. Compared to the likes of Greece or Britain, America is practically infantile.
How many generations must a family live and die in America to be considered American? I know Koreans are not granted citizenship if born in Japan, even if their parents and grandparents were born in Japan, as well. It is the Korean blood that makes them unable to acheive citizenship. Now, in America, citizenship is relatively easy to obtain. Yet, even as a birth certificate or passport claims one is American, why do others ask, "Yes, but what are you, really?"
This brings up another question: Why the hyphenated labels? Why must one be "African-American", "Asian-American" or "Euro-American"? Why is that a necessary piece of knowledge? If one is born in America, is one not American? Are there "African-Canadians" or "Asian-Mexicans"? I know that upwards of 25% of Peru's population is of Japanese descent. Are they Peruvians, Japanese, or "Japanese-Peruvians"? Really, these are not rhetorical questions. I am aiming to understand.
The Host's fiance is, according to society, Korean. However, he is not. He is American. His family is Korean, and they came to America from Korea, but the vast majority of his life was lived in America. The fiance agrees with me.
However, time and time again I have heard people ask him, "What are you?" His response is, "I am American." They reply, "No but you're Asian." And he will tell them, "My mother is from Korea." With a sigh, they will say, "Oh, so you're Korean, okay..."
Well he is not Korean. He is American.
I do not understand the American obsession with ethnicity. If the fiance had been born and raised--even for a month or so--in Korea, then I could understand the assumption that he is Korean. But he was born in Hawai'i, and moved to Korea when he was three. He then stayed until he was seven, and moved back to America. But becuase his physical features differ, he is assumed to be something other than American.
The sister had a discussion with us in regards to that. She said one can claim the nationality of American, but could not claim to "be" American, as there is no true American. (Yes, the Native Americans, but really they came from over the Bering Strait. And research says they were not the first to find North or South America, anyway. The Welsh founded Patagonia and the Vikings left their mark as well. Yet that is another story...I digress.) The sister said that when someone is born as American, they can trace their history back to some other nation. And of course that is true, America is still a very young nation. Compared to the likes of Greece or Britain, America is practically infantile.
How many generations must a family live and die in America to be considered American? I know Koreans are not granted citizenship if born in Japan, even if their parents and grandparents were born in Japan, as well. It is the Korean blood that makes them unable to acheive citizenship. Now, in America, citizenship is relatively easy to obtain. Yet, even as a birth certificate or passport claims one is American, why do others ask, "Yes, but what are you, really?"
This brings up another question: Why the hyphenated labels? Why must one be "African-American", "Asian-American" or "Euro-American"? Why is that a necessary piece of knowledge? If one is born in America, is one not American? Are there "African-Canadians" or "Asian-Mexicans"? I know that upwards of 25% of Peru's population is of Japanese descent. Are they Peruvians, Japanese, or "Japanese-Peruvians"? Really, these are not rhetorical questions. I am aiming to understand.
posted by Logan Nambiet at
12:06 AM
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