How someone looks doesn't tell you where they are from, nor their ethnicity

[CreekDog]

Sorry if this is a tru-ism for those who live in areas where everybody takes this for granted, but there are many places where people do assume how one appears (skin color, etc.) is indicative of their nationality, their national identification, etc.

One of the most exciting things about the United States is that this has been true for generations (that is not being able to judge one's background/nationality by their appearance). But I think it's even more common around the world and in the USA like never before.

You see a black person with a white person and not only might they be related by marriage, they may be related by blood. You see someone who appears to be Chinese, and their relatives arrived in the US in the 1800's before my white ancestors. But are they treated as such or are they treated according to how they look?

The reason I bring this up is that I'm tired, tired of the natural assumption that so many people have that people who look a certain way aren't as American or aren't Americans --because of how they look. This is wrong. We are reminded that Obama, of two racial heritages, is treated by some as un-American somehow. And it's related to his name and how he looks.

And likewise, in Arizona and in Southern California, where many Latinos and their families have called the region home for longer than the later-arriving white population (for the most part) --are considered foreigners.

Ultimately, the point is, it should not matter what you look like --it should matter what you call and consider yourself. In the USA and hopefully in the world of the future, your identity should be your choice and reflect the things and people you identify with and not be imposed by what others think you should be according to how you look and where you are from.

I'd like to have us discuss this more on DU. For those of us in multi ethnic and multi racial communities, this is no big deal. Yet there are many largely white communities that feel threatened by what I'm describing. I think we need to advocate for this among the people who feel threatened by it to tell them:

"This is a GOOD thing, it's a wonderful accomplishment, exemplifying what America is about --that you decide what you are, not other people."

If we get there, this will solve a lot of our problems.

(and I say this not to minimize anybody's racial or ethnic heritage, such identities are valuable things, but their value should be to those who choose to identify with them rather than imposed with discrimination and judgement by others or by the society at large.)

[MADem]

1. Yes indeed. I have a family that spans the globe!

Rainbow coalition, and all that! We're from EVERYWHERE. And to some extent, we look it, too.

[dkf]

2. Yes yes yes. We have made how people look the end all and be all.

Do not classify people nor yourself.

[SheilaT]

3. Oh, yes.

I have any number of times learned that lesson.

The stories connected to this are a tad complex, but suffice to say that every so often when I thought that someone, based on race, gender, ethnicity, or whatever, should fit into a particular box, I'd then learn that the person did not fit into that box.

While race, gender, ethnicity are important in certain ways, they are not the only things that define someone.

[CreekDog]

4. thanks!

[Raine]

5. People can never figure out what I am

which is just the way I like it.