Declaring Ethnicity

[DimesDan]

I'm not sure being American is much of anything to take pride in these days.

But taking pride in your colonizing ancestors makes sense?

Exactly, I'm sure as hell not proud of what Britain did in the name of Empire.

According to my other half who cares about these things more than I do (in the sense that I am not interested, but she is) I have ancestory from Germany and Holland going back a few centuries and my fathers dad was Welsh, but I don't identify with any of those groups. Not many people here do.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah. I find my family history interesting but I wouldn't exactly be proud of it.

Hell, my father's mother's side comes straight from Southern plantation owners. My great (x4) grandfather had a huge family and plantation, owned a bunch of slaves, and lost all but one of his sons in the Civil War. (They fought for the Confederacy, in case that isn't obvious.)

I'm not proud of this country and I'm definitely not proud of my heritage.

 

[Melakon]

I've not met anyone who's proud of being descended from the Welsh.

One of the few things I am proud of is the grandfather I knew may have given Jesse James directions to the town bank.

 

[Green Shirt]

Some aunts traced the family tree so that they could join the Daughters of the American Revolution, but I never saw a certificate or anything.

Screw the cert, how about their secret handshake?

 

[Nerys Myk]

My traceable ancestors came to the United States from England about 130 years before it was the United States, around 1640. So I always mark 'White' on those types of questions, since there's usually no option for English ethnic background. I don't celebrate traditional English holidays, or have John Bull images or Union Jacks on the walls or anything, though a lot of that stuff came about after 1640.

So let me get this straight, you were born in America, your parents, grand parents, great grand parents and every generation since then and all ancestors you know about have been in what is North America for the better part of four centuries and yet you identify ethnically with the English even though in that better part of four hundred years, your genes have been populated with any number of different ethnicities.

I find that hard to believe since majority of the colonist would have married other Europeans if they weren't do that they were having children with the Native Americans or African slaves or former African slaves.

Why is it hard to believe? There were a lot of ethnic enclaves in American where one married people from the same ethnic background as yourself. This was true in rural areas, cities, towns and neighborhoods.

 

[May 20]

Race: Human
Ethnicity: American

At what point does that become an option? Sure, my ancestors came from Europe like 200 years ago, but neither my parents nor I identify with that background whatsoever.

This. Fwiw, "American" is an option in many counties and a few states, just not where I live, and from the sound of it, not where you are, RoJoHen.

I choose "Other" and write in "American" when I have to declare ethnicity for myself and my kids. (The school district overrides me every year, and every year I write a letter in protest.) I refuse to be classified by the amount of melanin in my skin. It's as ridiculous as dividing people up by eye color. And, yes, I know about the other arguments already posted. I read them. I've lived through many of them. If I am to be the example for my children, I intend to be the best I can be. I am proud to be American. I don't give two figs about being pinkish-white.

 

[Nick086]

Do they get special treatment if they select a certain ethnicity? Does it prepare in the interviewer what to expect? Better pay and privileges? I remember someone telling me at one time they use to ask a person what faith do they follow.

 

[Melakon]

I remember someone telling me at one time they use to ask a person what faith do they follow.

Besides religion, job applications also used to ask for age and marital status. The ones I hated included a short essay question on any subject, but their actual purpose was for the "science" of handwriting analysis. One job I applied for wanted your logins and passwords for sites you visit. No one gets stuff like that from me.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

My great-grandparents all came from Germany, but I must confess that I don't feel a lot of connection with it - I do respect Germany and its people, but I haven't experienced it directly and so I don't really know what it's like to be German. I've never even been there, although my dad has - he was stationed there in the Army Medical Corps (in fact I was almost born there, he and my mom came back to the US right before).

I am, OTOH, very proud to be American. Why shouldn't I be? My country isn't perfect, of course, and I'd never claim that it was. But I grew up here, and I don't feel in any way ashamed to be an American. Whatever questionable things my country has done, I'm not responsible for them, nor can I be made to feel so. America has done some bad things, but also some good things. I choose to concentrate on the good. What's wrong with that?

I mean, I'm not ignoring the bad parts about my country's history. I do want to learn from them. But I choose to try and make things better from within, as it were. I don't want to destroy the system - I want to BE the system. Just make it better.

 

[Nick086]

So let me get this straight, you were born in America, your parents, grand parents, great grand parents and every generation since then and all ancestors you know about have been in what is North America for the better part of four centuries and yet you identify ethnically with the English even though in that better part of four hundred years, your genes have been populated with any number of different ethnicities.

I find that hard to believe since majority of the colonist would have married other Europeans if they weren't do that they were having children with the Native Americans or African slaves or former African slaves.

Why is it hard to believe? There were a lot of ethnic enclaves in American where one married people from the same ethnic background as yourself. This was true in rural areas, cities, towns and neighborhoods.

I was referring to someone claiming only one ancestry or only being of that ancestry since their ancestors came to the United States since the early days of colonialism. At some point they are going to marry someone out of their ethnicity or have children outside of their race. I'm sure if you're an American like me then you already know about American history what was accepted and what was not back in the past.

 

[Nick086]

I remember someone telling me at one time they use to ask a person what faith do they follow.

Besides religion, job applications also used to ask for age and marital status. The ones I hated included a short essay question on any subject, but their actual purpose was for the "science" of handwriting analysis. One job I applied for wanted your logins and passwords for sites you visit. No one gets stuff like that from me.

Did they ever ask for someone's sexual orientation at one time? It makes me wonder if they allow openly gay, bisexual, and Lesbian men women to teach in the classrooms.....?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I suspect that was considered too taboo to directly ask, so they would try and figure it out other ways (questions about whether you were married probably were also designed to ferret that out).

Of course, it isn't illegal to fire someone because they're gay in many states, so those states might openly ask the question these days.

 

[Nick086]

I suspect that was considered too taboo to directly ask, so they would try and figure it out other ways (questions about whether you were married probably were also designed to ferret that out).

Of course, it isn't illegal to fire someone because they're gay in many states, so those states might openly ask the question these days.

I suppose their mannerism gave them away, but I assume most teachers knew who was and who wasn't but really didn't care because they're friends and good Kollegin.

 

[T'Girl]

pinkskins?

(It actually would have been an interesting character moment for Hoshi or Travis to call him out on it)

I've thought for some time that the Andorian eye works differently than ours, maybe in infra-red, and as a consequence all Humans regardless of race are "pinkskins."



However, I would still tell Shran that I was "mocha" and if he persisted on referring to me as pinkskin I would point out that to my eye his skin was malibu-blue and from that point forward I would only refer to him as "Commander Malee -boo."

 

[Crusher Disciple]

Soy Mexican.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I find that hard to believe since majority of the colonist would have married other Europeans if they weren't do that they were having children with the Native Americans or African slaves or former African slaves.

Why is it hard to believe? There were a lot of ethnic enclaves in American where one married people from the same ethnic background as yourself. This was true in rural areas, cities, towns and neighborhoods.

I was referring to someone claiming only one ancestry or only being of that ancestry since their ancestors came to the United States since the early days of colonialism. At some point they are going to marry someone out of their ethnicity or have children outside of their race. I'm sure if you're an American like me then you already know about American history what was accepted and what was not back in the past.

Well he did say all his traceable ancestors were from England. So it looks like his ancestors were from England based on research. My own ancestry, from what I could track down, is primarily British (Scots, English and Welsh) because the area my ancestors lived in was settled by the British. To my knowledge no one married anyone "outside of their race" prior to my Aunt who's husband is Hispanic and myself, who's married to a woman of Italian/Mexican/Irish ancestry. That happened because we moved out of the area my ancestors first settled.

Yeah, I know what was accepted in the past. Which seems to run counter to your claim that "everyone" who has a colonial background has black or Indian ancestry. As discussed up thread the "Cherokee Princess" claims made by some are usually wishful thinking.

 

[Melakon]

Did they ever ask for someone's sexual orientation at one time? It makes me wonder if they allow openly gay, bisexual, and Lesbian men women to teach in the classrooms.....?

I don't remember an application ever asking for sexual orientation, but the last time I saw a job application was 1995.

In 1971, we had a mid-twenties openly gay theatre professor at college, though he said when he interviewed for the position it was the first time he'd ever worn a suit. I don't know if that means he was trying to hide it or not, but once he had the job he dropped any pretense. After his arrival, about 5 students in the department from the previous semester came out of the closet. To put the nature of the community in perspective, it was in the same town that gave the world a baby named Rush Limbaugh.

It's possible that religious schools might have asked for orientation, there are certainly pressures of conformity in their handbooks.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I choose "Other" and write in "American" when I have to declare ethnicity for myself and my kids. (The school district overrides me every year, and every year I write a letter in protest.) I refuse to be classified by the amount of melanin in my skin. It's as ridiculous as dividing people up by eye color. And, yes, I know about the other arguments already posted. I read them. I've lived through many of them. If I am to be the example for my children, I intend to be the best I can be. I am proud to be American. I don't give two figs about being pinkish-white.

Bravo. I couldn't have said that better myself.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

One part Scottish, four parts Irn bru.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I suspect that was considered too taboo to directly ask, so they would try and figure it out other ways (questions about whether you were married probably were also designed to ferret that out).

Of course, it isn't illegal to fire someone because they're gay in many states, so those states might openly ask the question these days.

I suppose their mannerism gave them away, but I assume most teachers knew who was and who wasn't but really didn't care because they're friends and good Kollegin.

Not all gay people are immediately identifiable by their mannerisms unless that mannerism is "having sex with other guys." I suppose that would stand out.