If you are of European descent…

[Anonymous]

… do you ever think you should move to Europe to “go back where you came from”?

I have started to feel this way. I feel like no matter how much I work to be inclusive and tolerant, there’s no getting around the fact that my presence as a white person in North America is the result of colonization, slavery, and racism. All things I fundamentally oppose.

Sometimes I think it would be better for everyone, including me, if I returned with my family to my ancestral roots (Germany or Norway). Not just because I feel the US really belongs to Native people and the descendants of enslaved people who built the country, but because I wonder if living where my family lived for thousands of years before immigrating to the US in the early 20th century would make me feel like I belonged more.

I just feel like I’m not supposed to be here. It wasn’t my choice to come but maybe it could be my choice to leave.

Does anyone else feel this way?

[Anonymous]

Well I'm an American but British by origin and no, I don't feel that way, that I should move.

Do you have the ride to abode in Norway or Germany? Those are both very appealing options if you have them (better than the UK for sure!)

[Anonymous]

No offense op, but they probably won’t let you in. Other countries have much stricter immigration policies than the US does.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I have no clear way to move to Germany or Norway, and my understanding is that it would be hard. I also speak neither language, and my family immigrated to the US too long ago to qualify for one of the programs that allows you to get citizenship based on recent ancestors.

I do actually have one Irish great-grandparent too, I don’t know if that would help.

I just don’t feel like I belong in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No offense op, but they probably won’t let you in. Other countries have much stricter immigration policies than the US does.

So I belong nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Nope, never felt that way. Plus, I wouldn't know which country to choose: Germany, the Ukraine, or Slovakia. And my kids? Their choice would be even more complicated as half-European descendants half not.

[Anonymous]

Please, OP. Most sane people in the US don't blame you for what white people did hundreds of years ago.

And also, racism is alive and well everywhere, including in Germany and Norway.

[Anonymous]

No, that's racism applied to yourself. And worse, if you apply it to others, you would bar any current immigration as well.

As a French multiethnic national living in the US on a visa and hoping to get a green card and citizenship, I utterly reject your premise. Countries NEED immigration. Just not too much too fast, as it creates cultural integration tensions and shortages in public services. But immigration and mixing of cultures is a GOOD thing.

As I mentioned, I am multi-ethnic. What does your reasoning lead to concerning mixed-race people? Do you think they don't belong ANYWHERE?

So. Maybe think a little before you post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope, never felt that way. Plus, I wouldn't know which country to choose: Germany, the Ukraine, or Slovakia. And my kids? Their choice would be even more complicated as half-European descendants half not.

most white Americans are mutts, and I don't mean to be insulting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:… do you ever think you should move to Europe to “go back where you came from”?

I have started to feel this way. I feel like no matter how much I work to be inclusive and tolerant, there’s no getting around the fact that my presence as a white person in North America is the result of colonization, slavery, and racism. All things I fundamentally oppose.

Sometimes I think it would be better for everyone, including me, if I returned with my family to my ancestral roots (Germany or Norway). Not just because I feel the US really belongs to Native people and the descendants of enslaved people who built the country, but because I wonder if living where my family lived for thousands of years before immigrating to the US in the early 20th century would make me feel like I belonged more.

I just feel like I’m not supposed to be here. It wasn’t my choice to come but maybe it could be my choice to leave.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Your white guilt complex is stunning.

And sad. How did you become so guilt-ridden?

[Anonymous]

I have recent and distant ancestors from various European countries - I have visited sites of ancestral homes in some of those countries which has been fascinating. But no, I'm American and white (or White) and I live here and belong here.

The DMV is a tough place since so many people are not from here, DH and me included, and that recent survey said it's the loneliest city in the US. OP, this is your life this is it. If you're lonely and unhappy, research a better city and move there. Make your happiness. Not in Germany or wherever but here, where you are.

[Anonymous]

no, I hate the weather there. And the food isn't great either. Plus, everyone is in a tizzy about the royals and I think it's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Ha, that assumes Norway would even want to take back a hamburger-eating doofus from Kansas like you.

This "go back where you came from” talk is so toxic, and it's not gonna happen anyway. Let's just figure out how to all get along already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, that's racism applied to yourself. And worse, if you apply it to others, you would bar any current immigration as well.

As a French multiethnic national living in the US on a visa and hoping to get a green card and citizenship, I utterly reject your premise. Countries NEED immigration. Just not too much too fast, as it creates cultural integration tensions and shortages in public services. But immigration and mixing of cultures is a GOOD thing.

As I mentioned, I am multi-ethnic. What does your reasoning lead to concerning mixed-race people? Do you think they don't belong ANYWHERE?

So. Maybe think a little before you post.

I think you are misreading my post. I’m not saying anyone should feel this way, only that I do.

I feel no connection to this country. I’m fourth generation on both sides, but have no sense of roots here. I know people who trace their family in the US to native tribes that predate colonization, to Spanish families who settled in the western US back when it still belonged to Spain, or when it was Mexico. I know people whose story of belonging in the US is traced to ancestors who were enslaved in the US, which I think makes them deserving of belonging in a way I am not.

I’m not anti-immigration. People should immigrate if the want or need to, I understand the value of immigration.

But I did not choose to immigrate to the US and don’t feel like I have a place here. I wonder if living somewhere that I have deeper roots might offer more belonging on some level, even if it meant learning a new (to me) language and culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I have no clear way to move to Germany or Norway, and my understanding is that it would be hard. I also speak neither language, and my family immigrated to the US too long ago to qualify for one of the programs that allows you to get citizenship based on recent ancestors.

I do actually have one Irish great-grandparent too, I don’t know if that would help.

I just don’t feel like I belong in the US.

Welcome to the club! I'm a non-white immigrant's kid. There is no going back. I'm different than my cousins who still live in "the old country." They would be the first ones to tell me so. So I'm staying and fighting for my family.
Maybe you would like to go and fool around in some "white land" where you would be more accepted, but I think the existence of that land is a myth.