![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Twitter Conversation
Inspired by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katherineokelly's comments in my latest Linkfest, I threw a question out to the Twitterati:
what if, instead of using the term "white", we used the term "European American"?
(ETA: Since tweeting this, 4 people have re-tweeted it, including @vonslatt, THE Jake von Slatt of the Steampunk Workshop.)
The responses are various. I will introduce folks as we go along. Maybe.
castusalbuscor @jhameia Ohh but that would devalue the "white american citizen", I am up for it!
Inventrix @jhameia What's wrong with Caucasian?
(I don't really know who this is. S/he started following me one day after I made a Girl Genius tweet.)
jhameia @Inventrix "Caucasian" could apply to an European source-lander, who don't really consider themselves "white".
jhameia @Inventrix also, "European American" indicates an emphasis that this individual is American, with European origins.
Lthemick @jhameia Won't 'European American' undermine the racial identities of Irish-German-Dutch-Italian-French-Polish Americans?
(I don't know who this is either. He introduced himself as Liam, and he found me through blogs.)
jhameia .@Lthemick I don't know. What do the Irish-German-Dutch-Italian-French-Polish Americans think?
jhameia @Lthemick Also, what would the English-Japanese-Native-Polish-Spanish-French think?
vonslatt @jhameia I'm a tri-euromix myself so European American works well for me.
jhameia .@Lthemick what's wrong with qualifiers?
Lthemick @jhameia This Irish-German-English-Welsh-Scot thinks it would be great if we didn't need any qualifiers.
jhameia i identify as Malaysian-Chinese because it's important for me to acknowledge my ethnicity / point of origin as well as nationality.
Lthemick @jhameia I think they carry the same risk as any other label: people make assumptions based on the label rather than the individual.
jhameia .@Lthemick names are important; being able to name ourselves can be empowering. it's not a case of being labeled and judged by someone else
jhameia .@Lthemick as it is acknowledging our histories and cultures through what we call ourselves. it's not for other people, but for ourselves
Lthemick @jhameia I agree: Names are important. But often there's a dichotomy between what a name means to us, and what others make of it.
Lthemick @jhameia It's that disconnect I find regrettable.
jhameia @Lthemick at some point we have to learn when other people's opinions matter, and when they don't. :P
jhameia .@Lthemick I'm already judged by my appearance, but what i call myself is mine.
Inventrix @jhameia Um, I think you're mixing up Caucasian and European. Caucasian indicates ethnic type, European indicates location of ancestry.
jhameia @Inventrix Asian also indicates location of ancestry, as does African.
Inventrix @jhameia Sorry, I didn't realize you were going for an entymological theme. :P I'll just go back over here to my corner of the internet.
jhameia @Inventrix it's all right! a friend who's proud of her Norwegian ancestry suggested it. it seems a nicer label than "white American"
jhameia .@Inventrix I've been using "neo-European" but a lot of people resist that label for some reason.
Inventrix @jhameia Ha, that makes me think of Neo-Victoriana. xD It sounds kind of science-fictiony, actually, although it sounds backwards to me.
jhameia @Inventrix 'neo-European' was used in an academic text about Eurocentrism in global cinema. it's quite interesting.
Inventrix @jhameia My brain reads it as a new European, i.e. someone who has recently become European, as opposed to European ancestry.
jhameia .@Inventrix LOL "new European". okay, *definitely* using "European American" then XD
atlasien .@jhameia: I kinda like "European-American", but don't expect nicer white ppl to use it, since the racists claimed it first, unfortunately.
(atlasien is a Japanese-American blogger who writes at Racialicious.com often. She writes a great deal about adoption issues.)
atlasien .@jhameia: Google "European-American rights" and you will dredge up all kinds of nasty stuff from the internet.
(Aha, Kat! This might be the possible reason you'd get flak for using "European-American"!)
jhameia .@atlasien Fascinating! it seemed to me that "European-American" would be *less* racist than the "white/black" dichotomy
jhameia .@atlasien also, the microaggressive racists these days would probably argue against the use of anything other than plain ol' "American"
jhameia .@atlasien since that term would allow them to erase perceptions of racial divides, and thus ignore racial inequalities that still exist.
DaisyDeadhead @atlasien I used to use "European-American" in discussions, until I realized who else was using it, and quit. But that's accurate label!
(I used to read Daisy Deadhead a lot; she was around for Second Wave feminism, so it's interesting to read about her ruminations on how times and her perspectives have changed.)
atlasien .@DaisyDeadhead: Yes, it's too bad those people ruined a perfectly good term. Perhaps Caucasian-American as a replacement?
atlasien Caucasian is kind of misleading though... since real Caucasian (geographically) people are a discriminated-against minority in Russia
jhameia .@atlasien But "Caucasian" is such a broad term, which applies to Europeans, Asians, Africans. Hmmm...
atlasien Caucasian as racial term is a strange, awkward word that many people use simply because it sounds more scientific than "white"
jhameia .@atlasien @DaisyDeadhead I guess it would be up to those of European descent to decide. I'm just speculating on better terms than "white"
atlasien I always notice black people using it in mixed company to refer to white people, so that white ppl won't get offended by being called white.
atlasien Maybe that's a Southern politeness thing.
atlasien .@jhameia: I think the division is that cryto-racists insist on "just plain American" and constantly decry "hyphenated Americans"
atlasien .@jhameia: when they cross into white supremacy, they embrace hyphenation (European-American) to reinforce a separate white ethnic identity
jhameia in M'sia we used "Caucasian" around white folks, "gwailo" when they're not present.
jhameia .@atlasien Aaah! they're everywhere! interesting thought; what about African- and Asian-Americans who embrace hyphenation?
atlasien .@jhameia: a friend of mine told me a fascinating difference btwn African- and Asian-Americans who embrace hyphenation.
atlasien .@jhameia she claims (as an AfA) that African-Americans embraced hyphenation to reinforce cultural difference. To paraphrase:
atlasien .@jhameia: "we may speak your language, share your country, BUT we have our own separate cultural roots in Africa"
atlasien .@jhameia: whereas Asian-Americans did it for the opposite reason: to claim similarity. "We are Americans too, not perpetual foreigners."
jhameia .@atlasien That is FASCINATING. do you use the AA term that way?
atlasien so the historical stress is AFRICAN-american but asian-AMERICAN. Her argument made a lot of sense to me.
atlasien .@jhameia: yes... I primarily use the term Asian-American when distinguishing Asian-Americans from non-American Asians.
jhameia in M'sia, we use "Malaysian-Chinese" +variations to express "nationality first, race is secondary"
atlasien .@jhameia: very interesting, I wonder if the word placement was in response to particular historical events in Malaysia?
jhameia .@atlasien yes. you can google "May 13 1969 Riots" for some historical basis. racial divides are a big issue in M'sia.
jhameia .@atlasien like in America there's a movement to drop the racial marker altogether to form a "Malaysian race", and a Malay supremacy group
atlasien going to lunch... will read up on Malaysian history later today, very interesting, I know religion (Islam/Buddhism/+) is also in the mix
yeloson @jhameia The tough part is that hyphenation is contextual- it can be used by one group to identify as American, but by another to alienate.
(yeloson isyeloson. I think we run in the same racial circles. I'm not sure. How DO we know each other, yeloson?)
yeloson @jhameia when they want to claim privilege, you're not American, but when you point out inequality, suddenly you are to silence you.
yeloson @jhameia "Aren't we all American"/"Aren't we all human?" is this interesting rhetorical trick-
yeloson @jhameia It's a way of taking the clearly privileged actions out of the dialogue, making them invisible, and blaming those pointing it out.
jhameia .@yeloson exactly. @atlasien was explaining that dynamic to me, and we also have a similar problem in M'sia
vonslatt Mailed off my application for piano lessons, semester starts in January. Looking at digital pianos--any recommendations?
jhameia @vonslatt I have a Casio Privia, full keyboard with weighted keys. Roland also usually has really nice digital pianos. <3
vonslatt @jhameia Thanks! That's one of the ones I was looking at! Thought of your convo when school's application asked for race. :)
jhameia @vonslatt LOL! what did you pick?
vonslatt @jhameia I decide to play nice since they're good folk and it's for federal funding so I checked "Caucasian" rather than using the write-in.
jhameia @vonslatt it's not a bad option. ^_^ keeps things simple for the admins.
jhameia at modelmayhem, models list their skin colour but none of them actually reflect my actual skintone. it's confuzzling.
gooblyglob @jhameia is there an option called "skin colour"? maybe you can choose that :D *smartarse*
(gooblyglob started reading my blogspot a few months back. Like me, she's an Asian woman interested in steampunk. That's... all I know about her, actually, besides the fact that she lives in Australia.)
gooblyglob @jhameia my boyfriend considers himself simply Malaysian even though he is not ethnic Malay
jhameia @gooblyglob i wish! XD but alas, no: brown, white, olive, tanned, other. oddly, we also list ethnicity!
jhameia @gooblyglob a lot of M'sians do. it's the "nationality first" mindset I was telling atlasien about earlier. it confuses me because, once...
jhameia once a malaysian migrates to a different country, are they even malaysian anymore? dun dun dunnn!
vonslatt @jhameia LOL, yeah. Right now I'm trying to figure the intricacies of gender, I'll tackle race later! ;-)
gooblyglob @jhameia my bf family would consider themselves both Malaysian and Australian *shrug* I dunno... they have cute budgies!
gooblyglob @jhameia my bf family are technically not Aust. citizens either lol but they are still "Australians"
jhameia .@vonslatt gender's easy! men catch shit for being men, and women catch shit for being women, transfolk catch shit for crossing genders!
jhameia .@vonslatt and everybody's unhappy until they realize institutionalized behaviours are preventing us all from treating each other nicely.
gooblyglob @jhameia no "oriental" lol... dunno if that's more regressive or progressive! O.o
jhameia .@gooblyglob "Oriental" is a colonial word, so not using it is a good thing! unless using it ironically, that is.
gooblyglob @jhameia erasure of "oriental" = good! because it's racist and colonialist... erasure of "oriental" = erasure of "asians" = bad
vonslatt @jhameia Sounds like you're defining everyone in terms of the binary, tsk tsk! ;-)
gooblyglob @jhameia besides both me and the bf would be "oriental"... except he has dark brown skin and I have beige skin... so that won't work
jhameia @vonslatt that's why I'm feminist. I get to be aware of the travails of the binary while gleefully smashing it! ^_^
vonslatt @jhameia with you 100%!
gooblyglob @jhameia omg... I just realised... I'm almost the same shade as my desk and that's considered "blonde wood"... we are "blonde wood" shades
gooblyglob @jhameia without the cool wood grain patterns of course...
jhameia .@gooblyglob i had no idea there was such a thing as "blonde wood". does it use pantene pro-V? /asshole
gooblyglob @jhameia what colour are you? http://bit.ly/7nQ2V7 | http://bit.ly/5GHbKY - would you like a cabinet... bench or wardrobe...
gooblyglob @jhameia oh dear... there is a paint colour called "pale oriental"
jhameia @gooblyglob at the Dulux site? where?! I'm Midas Touch, I think. hard to tell while my hives havent faded. could be my ego.
More will be added if the conversation keeps going.
katherineokelly's comments in my latest Linkfest, I threw a question out to the Twitterati:what if, instead of using the term "white", we used the term "European American"?
(ETA: Since tweeting this, 4 people have re-tweeted it, including @vonslatt, THE Jake von Slatt of the Steampunk Workshop.)
The responses are various. I will introduce folks as we go along. Maybe.
castusalbuscor @jhameia Ohh but that would devalue the "white american citizen", I am up for it!
Inventrix @jhameia What's wrong with Caucasian?
(I don't really know who this is. S/he started following me one day after I made a Girl Genius tweet.)
jhameia @Inventrix "Caucasian" could apply to an European source-lander, who don't really consider themselves "white".
jhameia @Inventrix also, "European American" indicates an emphasis that this individual is American, with European origins.
Lthemick @jhameia Won't 'European American' undermine the racial identities of Irish-German-Dutch-Italian-French-Polish Americans?
(I don't know who this is either. He introduced himself as Liam, and he found me through blogs.)
jhameia .@Lthemick I don't know. What do the Irish-German-Dutch-Italian-French-Polish Americans think?
jhameia @Lthemick Also, what would the English-Japanese-Native-Polish-Spanish-French think?
vonslatt @jhameia I'm a tri-euromix myself so European American works well for me.
jhameia .@Lthemick what's wrong with qualifiers?
Lthemick @jhameia This Irish-German-English-Welsh-Scot thinks it would be great if we didn't need any qualifiers.
jhameia i identify as Malaysian-Chinese because it's important for me to acknowledge my ethnicity / point of origin as well as nationality.
Lthemick @jhameia I think they carry the same risk as any other label: people make assumptions based on the label rather than the individual.
jhameia .@Lthemick names are important; being able to name ourselves can be empowering. it's not a case of being labeled and judged by someone else
jhameia .@Lthemick as it is acknowledging our histories and cultures through what we call ourselves. it's not for other people, but for ourselves
Lthemick @jhameia I agree: Names are important. But often there's a dichotomy between what a name means to us, and what others make of it.
Lthemick @jhameia It's that disconnect I find regrettable.
jhameia @Lthemick at some point we have to learn when other people's opinions matter, and when they don't. :P
jhameia .@Lthemick I'm already judged by my appearance, but what i call myself is mine.
Inventrix @jhameia Um, I think you're mixing up Caucasian and European. Caucasian indicates ethnic type, European indicates location of ancestry.
jhameia @Inventrix Asian also indicates location of ancestry, as does African.
Inventrix @jhameia Sorry, I didn't realize you were going for an entymological theme. :P I'll just go back over here to my corner of the internet.
jhameia @Inventrix it's all right! a friend who's proud of her Norwegian ancestry suggested it. it seems a nicer label than "white American"
jhameia .@Inventrix I've been using "neo-European" but a lot of people resist that label for some reason.
Inventrix @jhameia Ha, that makes me think of Neo-Victoriana. xD It sounds kind of science-fictiony, actually, although it sounds backwards to me.
jhameia @Inventrix 'neo-European' was used in an academic text about Eurocentrism in global cinema. it's quite interesting.
Inventrix @jhameia My brain reads it as a new European, i.e. someone who has recently become European, as opposed to European ancestry.
jhameia .@Inventrix LOL "new European". okay, *definitely* using "European American" then XD
atlasien .@jhameia: I kinda like "European-American", but don't expect nicer white ppl to use it, since the racists claimed it first, unfortunately.
(atlasien is a Japanese-American blogger who writes at Racialicious.com often. She writes a great deal about adoption issues.)
atlasien .@jhameia: Google "European-American rights" and you will dredge up all kinds of nasty stuff from the internet.
(Aha, Kat! This might be the possible reason you'd get flak for using "European-American"!)
jhameia .@atlasien Fascinating! it seemed to me that "European-American" would be *less* racist than the "white/black" dichotomy
jhameia .@atlasien also, the microaggressive racists these days would probably argue against the use of anything other than plain ol' "American"
jhameia .@atlasien since that term would allow them to erase perceptions of racial divides, and thus ignore racial inequalities that still exist.
DaisyDeadhead @atlasien I used to use "European-American" in discussions, until I realized who else was using it, and quit. But that's accurate label!
(I used to read Daisy Deadhead a lot; she was around for Second Wave feminism, so it's interesting to read about her ruminations on how times and her perspectives have changed.)
atlasien .@DaisyDeadhead: Yes, it's too bad those people ruined a perfectly good term. Perhaps Caucasian-American as a replacement?
atlasien Caucasian is kind of misleading though... since real Caucasian (geographically) people are a discriminated-against minority in Russia
jhameia .@atlasien But "Caucasian" is such a broad term, which applies to Europeans, Asians, Africans. Hmmm...
atlasien Caucasian as racial term is a strange, awkward word that many people use simply because it sounds more scientific than "white"
jhameia .@atlasien @DaisyDeadhead I guess it would be up to those of European descent to decide. I'm just speculating on better terms than "white"
atlasien I always notice black people using it in mixed company to refer to white people, so that white ppl won't get offended by being called white.
atlasien Maybe that's a Southern politeness thing.
atlasien .@jhameia: I think the division is that cryto-racists insist on "just plain American" and constantly decry "hyphenated Americans"
atlasien .@jhameia: when they cross into white supremacy, they embrace hyphenation (European-American) to reinforce a separate white ethnic identity
jhameia in M'sia we used "Caucasian" around white folks, "gwailo" when they're not present.
jhameia .@atlasien Aaah! they're everywhere! interesting thought; what about African- and Asian-Americans who embrace hyphenation?
atlasien .@jhameia: a friend of mine told me a fascinating difference btwn African- and Asian-Americans who embrace hyphenation.
atlasien .@jhameia she claims (as an AfA) that African-Americans embraced hyphenation to reinforce cultural difference. To paraphrase:
atlasien .@jhameia: "we may speak your language, share your country, BUT we have our own separate cultural roots in Africa"
atlasien .@jhameia: whereas Asian-Americans did it for the opposite reason: to claim similarity. "We are Americans too, not perpetual foreigners."
jhameia .@atlasien That is FASCINATING. do you use the AA term that way?
atlasien so the historical stress is AFRICAN-american but asian-AMERICAN. Her argument made a lot of sense to me.
atlasien .@jhameia: yes... I primarily use the term Asian-American when distinguishing Asian-Americans from non-American Asians.
jhameia in M'sia, we use "Malaysian-Chinese" +variations to express "nationality first, race is secondary"
atlasien .@jhameia: very interesting, I wonder if the word placement was in response to particular historical events in Malaysia?
jhameia .@atlasien yes. you can google "May 13 1969 Riots" for some historical basis. racial divides are a big issue in M'sia.
jhameia .@atlasien like in America there's a movement to drop the racial marker altogether to form a "Malaysian race", and a Malay supremacy group
atlasien going to lunch... will read up on Malaysian history later today, very interesting, I know religion (Islam/Buddhism/+) is also in the mix
yeloson @jhameia The tough part is that hyphenation is contextual- it can be used by one group to identify as American, but by another to alienate.
(yeloson is
yeloson. I think we run in the same racial circles. I'm not sure. How DO we know each other, yeloson?)yeloson @jhameia when they want to claim privilege, you're not American, but when you point out inequality, suddenly you are to silence you.
yeloson @jhameia "Aren't we all American"/"Aren't we all human?" is this interesting rhetorical trick-
yeloson @jhameia It's a way of taking the clearly privileged actions out of the dialogue, making them invisible, and blaming those pointing it out.
jhameia .@yeloson exactly. @atlasien was explaining that dynamic to me, and we also have a similar problem in M'sia
vonslatt Mailed off my application for piano lessons, semester starts in January. Looking at digital pianos--any recommendations?
jhameia @vonslatt I have a Casio Privia, full keyboard with weighted keys. Roland also usually has really nice digital pianos. <3
vonslatt @jhameia Thanks! That's one of the ones I was looking at! Thought of your convo when school's application asked for race. :)
jhameia @vonslatt LOL! what did you pick?
vonslatt @jhameia I decide to play nice since they're good folk and it's for federal funding so I checked "Caucasian" rather than using the write-in.
jhameia @vonslatt it's not a bad option. ^_^ keeps things simple for the admins.
jhameia at modelmayhem, models list their skin colour but none of them actually reflect my actual skintone. it's confuzzling.
gooblyglob @jhameia is there an option called "skin colour"? maybe you can choose that :D *smartarse*
(gooblyglob started reading my blogspot a few months back. Like me, she's an Asian woman interested in steampunk. That's... all I know about her, actually, besides the fact that she lives in Australia.)
gooblyglob @jhameia my boyfriend considers himself simply Malaysian even though he is not ethnic Malay
jhameia @gooblyglob i wish! XD but alas, no: brown, white, olive, tanned, other. oddly, we also list ethnicity!
jhameia @gooblyglob a lot of M'sians do. it's the "nationality first" mindset I was telling atlasien about earlier. it confuses me because, once...
jhameia once a malaysian migrates to a different country, are they even malaysian anymore? dun dun dunnn!
vonslatt @jhameia LOL, yeah. Right now I'm trying to figure the intricacies of gender, I'll tackle race later! ;-)
gooblyglob @jhameia my bf family would consider themselves both Malaysian and Australian *shrug* I dunno... they have cute budgies!
gooblyglob @jhameia my bf family are technically not Aust. citizens either lol but they are still "Australians"
jhameia .@vonslatt gender's easy! men catch shit for being men, and women catch shit for being women, transfolk catch shit for crossing genders!
jhameia .@vonslatt and everybody's unhappy until they realize institutionalized behaviours are preventing us all from treating each other nicely.
gooblyglob @jhameia no "oriental" lol... dunno if that's more regressive or progressive! O.o
jhameia .@gooblyglob "Oriental" is a colonial word, so not using it is a good thing! unless using it ironically, that is.
gooblyglob @jhameia erasure of "oriental" = good! because it's racist and colonialist... erasure of "oriental" = erasure of "asians" = bad
vonslatt @jhameia Sounds like you're defining everyone in terms of the binary, tsk tsk! ;-)
gooblyglob @jhameia besides both me and the bf would be "oriental"... except he has dark brown skin and I have beige skin... so that won't work
jhameia @vonslatt that's why I'm feminist. I get to be aware of the travails of the binary while gleefully smashing it! ^_^
vonslatt @jhameia with you 100%!
gooblyglob @jhameia omg... I just realised... I'm almost the same shade as my desk and that's considered "blonde wood"... we are "blonde wood" shades
gooblyglob @jhameia without the cool wood grain patterns of course...
jhameia .@gooblyglob i had no idea there was such a thing as "blonde wood". does it use pantene pro-V? /asshole
gooblyglob @jhameia what colour are you? http://bit.ly/7nQ2V7 | http://bit.ly/5GHbKY - would you like a cabinet... bench or wardrobe...
gooblyglob @jhameia oh dear... there is a paint colour called "pale oriental"
jhameia @gooblyglob at the Dulux site? where?! I'm Midas Touch, I think. hard to tell while my hives havent faded. could be my ego.
More will be added if the conversation keeps going.
no subject
Norwegian/Scottish/Irish-Canadian here.
But I do like European-Canadian.
no subject
no subject
no subject
(I'm ethnically Malay, by the way -- technically half Javanese, quarter Chinese, and a mix of fractions that add up to a quarter of both Indian and Siamese Malay).
Malays in Malaysian society have the privilege of thinking of themselves as just Malaysians. Even "real" Malaysians. Everyone else can be considered a "pendatang" (immigrant / newcomer / interloper) or can be safely ignored, like the Orang Asal (lit. "the original people" -- the first inhabitants of our peninsula).
Note that this is all Peninsular shit. The East Malaysians have a problem with us not thinking about them.
no subject
I'm technically part-Caucasian but would never be regarded as such :P
no subject
no subject
Why, were you hoping for something titillating, a family scandal? That's just buying into the stereotype, and rather rude.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
as I explained to fantasyecho
...and, judging from this thread, there's still that strong stereotype of "Caucasian" meaning "white", even though as far as I know none of my family tree comes from Celtic, Anglo, or other Euro sources. The Arab, North Indian, and Uzbek lines may be a bit muddled, but that's about it.
Re: as I explained to fantasyecho
Re: as I explained to fantasyecho
Re: as I explained to fantasyecho
When you entered your race for documents, did you put in Bengali if the Lain-Lain allowed you to specify?
Re: as I explained to fantasyecho
Re: as I explained to fantasyecho
Re: as I explained to fantasyecho
Re: as I explained to fantasyecho
no subject
EA
"Caucasian" is wrong to me for all sorts of reasons. If you get into the details of its definition, "Caucasian" simply isn't accurate. If you ask the layman, s/he won't realize this, but if you asked the layman, "What DOES Caucasian mean?" You'd probably get the answer, "Uhhh... White?" To me, the labels are interchangable. "Caucasian" sounds more politically correct, but it still lumps all white people together by skin color and doesn't acknowledge country/continent of origin.
My intent for using labels like "Irish American" or "European American" is to allow white folks to celebrate a cultural heritage rather than a skin color, and to acknowledge where they come from (because, yes, it does make a difference. I loved celebrating Norwegian Christmas traditions in my house growing up.) I think it would be a positive reminder that we are all foreigners once (except for indigenous natives) and I think it could inspire more understanding between European Americans and people of color to get, "Ohh, yeah. Maybe they'd want to celebrate their heritage, too."
Sucks to hear that "European-American" was 'stolen' by racists. Looks like the term "Anglo-Saxon" fares no better. From the Wikipedia page on Anglo-Saxon:
In Victorian Britain, some writers such as Robert Knox, James Anthony Froude, Charles Kingsley and Edward A. Freeman used the term "Anglo-Saxon" to justify racism and imperialism, claiming that the "Anglo-Saxon" ancestry of the English made them racially superior to the colonised peoples. Similar racist ideas were advocated in the 19th Century United States by Samuel George Morton and George Fitzhugh.
Not having to identify yourself ethnically is part of your privilege.
Absolutely 100% true. At the same time, it's a shame that no one gives a shit about your ethnicity if you're white. Even if you wanted to identify yourself ethnically and it's important to you, the opportunity to share seldom arises and is usually dismissed. There's a cultural vacuume in white America. People are so out-of-touch with their cultural roots, I wonder sometimes if it's envy that causes so much white resistence to PoC celebration of heritage. ("I have no heritage of my own, so I don't want you to be allowed one either!")
I really resonated with this:
"we may speak your language, share your country, BUT we have our own separate cultural roots in Africa"
I may live in this country, but I have my own separate cultural roots in Scandinavia. I don't know about the "speak your language" bit in that quote, though. Assuming all white people come from English-speaking countries? Hmmm...
no subject
Not making me want to join twitter back again, though.
What was the consensus when we had our conversation? When you want to emphasize the spectrum between the Caucasians and the Asians, we'd use Caucasian-American; but when we want to emphasize the power differential we'd use European-Americans?
Something like that.
no subject
no subject
no subject
"Pale oriental"?!
no subject
More about Caucasian race from Wikipedia
There you go - North Africa (the Arab states mostly), Central Asia, South Asia. Huge chunks of my family tree originate from there (there's also some Sino-Mongolian influence thanks to Genghis Khan and his Mughal warriors).
But nothing in the contemporary vein of "Caucasian", and besides I'm an inbred brat anyway (parents are first cousins). I'm also the absolute opposite of an indigenous person.
Re: More about Caucasian race from Wikipedia
HOLY CRAP the Afghan dude looks EXACTLY like my father when he was my age.
bah the picture didn't work