Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you're Persian, for instance?

Persia does not exist. How can you be Persian?

It did exist and carries enough historic importance that it is still used today as a descriptor

Prussia existed, too, but people don't say they are Prussian. Or Ottoman. Or Soviet. Cmon. Say Iranian. Persian is not a place any longer.
How long ago did it exist? Seriously.

Well, my family is originally from a country that doesn't exist anymore, and if asked about our heritage, we refer to the country. People referred to themselves as Polish even when Poland didn't exist as a country. Ditto for Lithuania.

Also, Persian is both a descriptor of a group of people and a language. Persian people are an Iranian people who speak Persian or a related dialect. There are about 90 million Persians, and they live in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and elsewhere.

THIS. Persian is an ethnicity. That doesn't cease to exist just because the country has a new name. Similarly, Burmese was still an ethnicity when the country was called Myanmar.

I think Americans really struggle with the difference between nationality, citizenship, and ethnicity, to be honest. I don't really know why, because lots of Americans identify as Polish, or Irish, or whatever. But the idea that someone's ethnic identity might be different than what is denoted by their passport seems really hard for many USians to accept.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that white Americans are the only group not allowed to describe themselves according to their ancestry, whereas there are African Americans, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, Latinos, etc. I think that's OP's point. White is an outdated term and does not describe ancestral origin.

Who is doing this supposed not allowing? I am a white American, and I describe myself according to my ancestry whenever it's relevant. Nobody has ever arrested me or fined me or otherwise stopped me from doing this.

Right? I know lots of people who are openly proud about their Irish, or Italian, or German, or Scottish, or Polish, or whatever ancestry. Have you heard of St. Patrick's Day or Oktoberfest? Were you aware that there is not only a Black History Month and Women's History Month, but also an official Irish-American Heritage Month, during which there is a ceremony IN THE WHITE HOUSE? Or Jewish American Heritage Month? Or German-American Day? General Pulaski Memorial Day? Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month?

This idea that it's whites who are the real persecuted minority is just bullshit. Yes, our existing racial classification system is stupid, but it's not because it disadvantages white people.

I have to assume that the person who thinks there is no pride of heritage among White Americans has never been to a major East Coast city. Why not roll down to Southie in Boston or Little Italy in Baltimore and check out how not proud people are of their various European heritages?

I love studying my ancestry and seeing how many different European countries and Native American tribes my ancestors were from. I embody the melting pot. If this bothers people, that's not my problem.

Hello White people, White people are the ones that came up with the designation of 'White'. It's YOUR designation of yourself.

Why? Because you wanted to distinguish yourself from 'Black'. Because in those times, people were White, Black (also named by whites), Dark skinned (also named by white), Redskinned (also named by whites) or Oriental (also named by whites).

So this designation is of your own making to distinguish superiority in that 'pristine, White, pure, godly' kind of way over POC.

You even decided Caucasian had to be defined as White, even though that is the correct geographical designation of people of from not only Europe but also from Northern Africa, South Asia, Western Asia and Central Asia.

So OP, you're simply complaining about a term that was invented by none other than "White People".

My guess is that now in 2016 you're feeling left out of having a hyphenated term and are scratching to feel like you belong to something more because you are so far removed from your ancestry and culture of origin. But you're probably also one of those people that telling other hyphenated Americans to assimilate already and stop saying "well in my culture".

Forms you fill out only have a category for white/Caucasian, not EuroAmerican. Just because I haven't been to Europe, doesn't mean I haven't been exposed to customs, foods, languages, etc from my grandparents or parents or out of my own interest in my genetic makeup, ancestry, and genealogy. That's like saying Chinese Americans shouldn't call themselves Chinese if they've never been to China. It's like having to call vanilla ice cream white or plain. White is not an absence of ancestry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK I'm white and never say I'm European. I have no claim to Europe. I think my family is from at least 6 different European countries. I think people most commonly relate to the European country that their last name derives from. I hate the word "Caucasian" and prefer just "white."

I don't feel like a boring American because I don't have one specific ethnicity, rather I'm pretty proud to be American and part of the melting pot. I'm only vaguely interested in someone's ethnicity if they have an accent. And then I only ask because the person is usually proud of where they came from and it's a conversation starter.

Oh, ok. So like "Persians" born in America, who have never been to "Persia" because it hasn't existed since 1935 really should just say they are American. Right? I mean, I speak a little Latin, and I am Italian, should I claim to be Roman?

I don't think that "should" applies here. If someone with an ethnic Persian background whose parents came from Iran wants to call themselves Iranian-American, or Persian, or just American, that is their choice.

Similarly if you want to call yourself Italian American, or Sicilian, or just American that is up to you. You can call yourself Roman, but that would tend to make people think your ancestors actually came from the city of Rome. Or will think they misheard and you are Roma.

Mostly it is about context. In some contexts someone can call themselves Scots Irish, but in others it will confuse the listeners. A Jew can all themselves Ashkenazi, but that will confuse most listeners.

Anonymous wrote:OK I'm white and never say I'm European. I have no claim to Europe. I think my family is from at least 6 different European countries. I think people most commonly relate to the European country that their last name derives from. I hate the word "Caucasian" and prefer just "white."

I don't feel like a boring American because I don't have one specific ethnicity, rather I'm pretty proud to be American and part of the melting pot. I'm only vaguely interested in someone's ethnicity if they have an accent. And then I only ask because the person is usually proud of where they came from and it's a conversation starter.

Oh, ok. So like "Persians" born in America, who have never been to "Persia" because it hasn't existed since 1935 really should just say they are American. Right? I mean, I speak a little Latin, and I am Italian, should I claim to be Roman?

OK I'm white and never say I'm European. I have no claim to Europe. I think my family is from at least 6 different European countries. I think people most commonly relate to the European country that their last name derives from. I hate the word "Caucasian" and prefer just "white."

I don't feel like a boring American because I don't have one specific ethnicity, rather I'm pretty proud to be American and part of the melting pot. I'm only vaguely interested in someone's ethnicity if they have an accent. And then I only ask because the person is usually proud of where they came from and it's a conversation starter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do so many Americans always want to pretend they're something they aren't and try to exoticize themselves?
Like "I'm 0.002% German, 25% Italian... bla bla...", but don't even speak the language, let alone ever been to those places. And now "indigenous Europeans"??? Give me a break.
You're American and you're white. Get over it. Seriously, talk to people from other contries, it sounds ridiculous and nobody else does this.

Signed,

A true European (born and raised)

No, they refer to people who were born and raised in Germany as "Turks". Or at least, that's what my cousins in Germany do.

Ah, my German Oma, in German, born & raised, refers to Germans as... Germans.

Yes, my German cousins also refer to Germans as Germans. The question is, how does your Oma refer to people who live in Germany and are Muslim and of Turkish ancestry?

Where do you see that question above? I didn't see it, sorry.

I'm sure she would refer to them as Turkish if they weren't native Germans as Muslim is their religion.

Yes, she would call Germans of Turkish ancestry Turks. Now, what were you saying about people from the US and their ridiculous, unique hang-ups about identity?

Ah, the same thing that Americans do with "Mexicans"? That's a different conversation. I wasn't the one writing that btw.

We're talking about boring white Americans trying to make themselves interesting by claiming some heritage of a country they've never even been to, a culture they didn't experience, and a language they don't even speak.

I've learned not to be too interested anymore when someone tells me they're "German". And I've stopped asking where in Germany they're from because the answer is usually "My great-great-great-great grandmother......"
Never heard a European claim a long gone heritage from some ancestor, and call themselves "Polish" or "French" when they didn't even grow up there, for example.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you're Persian, for instance?

Persia does not exist. How can you be Persian?

It did exist and carries enough historic importance that it is still used today as a descriptor

Prussia existed, too, but people don't say they are Prussian. Or Ottoman. Or Soviet. Cmon. Say Iranian. Persian is not a place any longer.
How long ago did it exist? Seriously.

Those were only states, not ethnicities. Persian is a language (called farsi, not "iranian") a culture, a civilization.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you're Persian, for instance?

Persia does not exist. How can you be Persian?

It did exist and carries enough historic importance that it is still used today as a descriptor

Prussia existed, too, but people don't say they are Prussian. Or Ottoman. Or Soviet. Cmon. Say Iranian. Persian is not a place any longer.
How long ago did it exist? Seriously.

Well, my family is originally from a country that doesn't exist anymore, and if asked about our heritage, we refer to the country. People referred to themselves as Polish even when Poland didn't exist as a country. Ditto for Lithuania.

Also, Persian is both a descriptor of a group of people and a language. Persian people are an Iranian people who speak Persian or a related dialect. There are about 90 million Persians, and they live in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you're Persian, for instance?

Persia does not exist. How can you be Persian?

It did exist and carries enough historic importance that it is still used today as a descriptor

For Iranians who don't want to be associated with current day barbaric Arabs.

YES! I mean what's so bad about saying you're Iranian? I roll my eyes when people tell me they're Persian. Persia is gone.