Ethnicity, How Important Is It To You?

[dUSt]

My kids:

1/4 German
1/8 Irish
1/16 Bohemian
1/16 Native American
1/2 African descent ??? (Which country in Africa? Who knows--and may have any other type of ethnicity mixed in with somewhere down the line because of white men having sex with black women during slavery times)

[MissScripture]

[quote name='Maggie' post='1347837' date='Aug 2 2007, 06:54 PM']So much of Europe is basically mutt-dom... except for maybe the Irish or the English; being on islands tends to keep the blood "pure" so to speak.

Case in point: My father's family is Romanian on the paternal side and Austrian on the maternal side. But Austria was once a part of the Hapsburg empire, and plenty of my relatives were born in Germany, Hungary, and Alsace-Lorraine, France. Perfect example of a ethnicity that seems clear but actually isn't.[/quote]
That's like my grandparents--both are German, but neither came from Germany (they were immigrants). They both came from different parts of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Croatia, to be exact, but it was all Yugoslavia, at the time).
Not so much "ethnicity" so to speak, is important to me, as knowing the family story. Being a second-generation, I know exactly how one side of my family came here. I can still talk to the people in my family who immigrated. And that's what's important to me. Tied into that would be where we came from, but that's not the most important part of it to me.

[Socrates]

Interesting topic.

I basically fall in the "mutt" category, though my ancestory is largely originally from Northwestern Europe/British Isles, with a bit of Cherokee Indian on my mom's side.

In times past, much emphasis was made on "Americanizing" immigrants, and there tended to be prejudice against any non-WASP ethnicity. "Ethnics" would go out of their way to be "American."

Today, there is a swing to the opposite extreme, with people tending to emphasize their ethnicity, and moves to "multiculturalism" and a breakdown of a common American identity.

I don't think there is anything wrong with taking pride in one's heritage, or even desiring a spouse of like ethnicity, as long as it doesn't become an obsessive or racist thing.

However, I think if you find the right gal, you'll probably not be concerned what ethnicity she's from, and this concern will seem rather silly in retrospect.

[quote name='tomasio127' post='1347535' date='Aug 2 2007, 03:00 PM']In my opinion, this is more of an issue amongst Catholics, who largely stem from later immigrant groups than many Protestants. In many parishes, you have large communities of Poles and Germans and Irish and Italian. There are even parishes oriented towards these groups. There are two Polish parishes in my hometown![/quote]
This seems to be more of a thing in the more traditionally immigrant/Catholic North, than in the newer parishes of the more traditionally protestant South.
A few years ago I visited a Polish-American girl in Connecticut, and the parsishes were all segregrated along ethnic lines (largely either Italian or Polish).
I went to a nice Polish Church, but we seemed to be about the only young adults at Mass.

In my home parish, being the only parish in town, there is no "ethnic" identity, and the parish is thriving, with Catholics originally from all over.

While I think ethnic Catholic traditions are great, I think there is a danger when one's Faith becomes seen largely seen as part of one's ethnicity. As younger generations become more absorbed into the larger culture, sometimes the Faith begins to be seen as some quaint old-world tradition for grandma and grandpa, rather than an active part of one's life.

[isilzha]

I always figured I'm so much of a mutt so I just go with American (which I think is better) than any sort of hyphenated-American. I'm 1/4 German, 1/8 Italian, 1/8 English, 1/4 Norwegian, 1/4 Russian... do the percentages add up? I know there are people out there who are a lot more mixed up than I am, but we never really put much of an emphasis on any of that stuff.

[curtins]

I'm half irish and half indian and like a tiny bit dutch (I know the math doesn't add up, but its basiaclly that). I'm proud of my heritage, especially the fact that I can go around making people jealous cause I'm asian and they're not

but I think we need to remember that we are all AMERICANS first, and what ever else, second. We should retain good customs, traditions, memories, identities etc, BUT we need to assimilate into American culture and remember we're all Americans first. Thats one of the problems with the illegal immigrants.

[tvu_srfan]

I'm half filipino, and I guess the other half would be Scotch Irish, English, and German.

Lately, I've learning more about my filipino culture and I love it! There's something about Filipinos that is just so warm and inviting. The Philippines is definitely very cultural and it's really fascinating.

[jiyoung]

I'm pureblood Korean--I was the first of my family to be born in America; my mom's side of the family all came to America from Korea around the time when I was born or later, and my dad's side all still lives in Korea. I was raised speaking Korean and didn't learn any English until I went to kindergarten. I went to a Korean Catholic church until I was 18, I went to Korean school on the weekends, eat mostly Korean food in the house unless I cook for myself, etc. But in the past couple of years I've felt myself become more American than Korean, and I think that has to do with some of my activities--in high school I was in show choir, which is definitely not a typically Asian activity (like calculus--jk), and I started going to daily Mass and stuff at a normal, non-ethnic church, and I go to Franciscan where the Korean population is me. And maybe a couple other people.

The whole marrying a non-Korean issue was a complete non-issue to me until I realized that it's giving up the chance to bring my own children up with the same language and customs that I grew up with, because I'm losing my grip on them myself--my Korean is getting worse by the day, and that's the least of my problems. I don't care about having my children be pure Korean or anything, but my culture is so important to me and I want to pass it down to my children. Furthermore, I want my children (and my husband) to be able to actually talk to my parents and my grandparents and other relatives--everyone except my own generation speaks very little English, mostly just Korean.

It's sort of an inner struggle for me because I don't care, but I do, and I know my parents really care--they're not really happy about the idea of me marrying a non-Korean. But it all comes down to God's will, I guess--the more important thing is that my children are raised Catholic. I won't refuse to marry a guy just because he's not Korean.

[cmotherofpirl]

My family has lived in the same 200 mile area here in SW Pa, NW Maryland for 300 years - Scots- Irish and German. My family has always been interested in the family tree [DAR etc] so it hasn't been that difficult to trace.

There was a great scandal in my mother's family when my grandpap [ scots presby] married my meemaw [ irish catholic]. His family wouldn't talk to him for quite awhile. He converted on his deathbed [ another great scandal] just in case God had seperate rooms for catholics and prots.

Up until the last population shift, my city had seperate parishes for each nationality - polish, slovak, italian,c croatian, german, greek, and irish.

I guess I identify mostly with being irish, so I didn't mind when I married a 2nd generation irish/polish, and had red-headed frecklish kids.

[jmjtina]

Hispanic is fine.

[IcePrincessKRS]

I think I would say my ethnicity is generally important to me, but I really only feel a mild connection with where my ancestors originated--I'm pretty much 1/4 each, Polish, German, Irish, and Black (not sure if thats African, Jamaican or what... I think African, though). My mom raised us as Americans (her father had always placed significance on where we are from, not so much where our ancestors were from). We are "colorblind" when it comes to ethnicity. We were never the kids who you heard saying "Look at that black lady! or "Look at that Chinese man!" Being a near even split I don't really identify with one over the other (as a result of my upbringing I probably take more pride in being a New Yorker lol), but if you put me in a room with someone Polish (or German, or Irish, or black) I'd totally identify and say something like "Heck yeah! I'm Polish!"

[dUSt]

Oh yeah. I almost forgot. I don't have any Hispanic blood in my family, but I live in TX, so right there makes me automatically 1/8th Hispanic.

[Groo the Wanderer]

Well...when faced with a choice like on a form, I generally check all of the boxes. Partly because I am a mutt, but mostly because I think it is stupid to make race/ethnicity an issue at all. I agree with many of the others - I am an American. Period. Besides - think about it: America is such a mix and people have been mixing for so many centuries, one would be hard pressed to honestly say they are pureblood anything.

In my ancestory, I have Puerto Rican (yay rice and beans!) which could include Spanish, Indian, and African; I have French (boo hiss) which could include Turkish and Frankish; I have English (yay fish and chips) which could include Welsh, Gaelic, Anglo, Frankish, Norman, and Celt; I have Scot (yay claymores!) which could include Pict, Anglo, and Irish.

So...just try to make hyphenated label for me based on that. Just using the major categories, I am a Frankarican-Angscot-American.

blech.


I AM AN AMERICAN.



and a Texan

[Groo the Wanderer]

[quote name='Paladin D' post='1347523' date='Aug 2 2007, 03:48 PM'][size=1]*[b]Question:[/b] His "hispanic" a derogatory word? I heard from one guy it was, and suggested using "Spanish" or "Latino". Doesn't make any sense, but if anyone could elaborate I would appreciate it.[/size]
[b][i]Your ethnicity, how important is it to you?[/b][/i][/quote]

I have asked this question to many groups of people of various descents. Here is what I pretty much find is the standard answer, though it may vary somewhat:

Hispanic is any person who has some descent from someone in Central or South America, including those islands settled by the Spanish or Portuguese. It is not derogatory.

Latino/Latina seems to be used mostly on the left coast and with activist groups and is a failed attempt to group the same peoples as Hispanic. It is not accurate in that it also includes people with no Spanish ancestry at all , but had forebears from Central America (like the German-settled areas of Mexico). It is not derogatory, but is not looked on with favor in the southern United States.

Chicano is a derogatory term that applies to 2nd or 3rd generation children of immigrants of Hispanic descent, born in America who have lost the work ethic of their ancestors and adopted the welfare attitude prevalent in urban America.

Mulatto is a person of mixed Spanish/African descent, generally originating in the Caribbean islands. Not used much any more. Not derogatory.

Mestizo is a person of mixed Spanish/Indian descent, generally originating in the former Spanish colonies of the Americas. Not used much any more. Not derogatory.

Creole is a person of Spanish/French descent, generally found in LA or FL. They make good gumbo and shout Aiiieee!! a lot. Not to be confused with Cajun.

[EAnn246]

I would have to say that ethnicity is very improtant to me. I am a third generation American. My great-grandparents on both sides of my family came to America from Ireland in between 1900 and 1925. My grandmother (on my mother's side) has made sure that we are IRISH-American as well as Irish Catholic. We still keep a lot of the same traditions from the old country. For the most part, everyone in my family has married another Irish-American. It just seems to work out that way. My grandma wants her grandchildren to do the same. I have a friend who is black and is from England. I was worried when my grandparents first met her that they would say something because she is black (They aren't racists... they are just used to suburban life) and my grandma said something because she is from England. It made both of us laugh.

I'm sure that there is a little bit of something else in my family lineage, but I don't know. My grandma probably won't recognize it because we are Irish.

Ethnicity on my father's side isn't as big of a deal. We're Irish-Americans, but there isn't the same importance placed on being Irish as my grandma does.

My grandma is very interested in researching our family lineage. All of it kind of interests me because I like finding out stories about different relatives and stories about why our family came here.

[asAlilyAmongThorns]

My father is an immigrant (legal) from Argentina and his mother is from Argentina and his father is from Spain. I also grew up in Spain so I am VERY connected to my Hispanic heritage. It is something that really shapes who I am today. It gives me a broader perspective on the world outside of America and certainly makes me a lot more interested in other cultures as well. I don't think it's a bad thing to feel strongly about one's heritage as long as that doesn't lead to prejudice or isolation. In my life already I have already been teased or the butt of racial jokes about being "Mexican" (which I'm not even close to being) and some racist terms. But my grandmother's Catholic faith and traditions that she carried with her from Argentina, and my grandfather's, have influenced my own faith and how I see things. I LOVE being Hispanic but I am also Polish-Irish-German-American on my mother's side so that factors in as well. I mean, if you have a heritage you are proud of and identify with that doesn't make you any less American. Pope John Paul II stayed true to his Polish heritage his whole life but that didn't take away from his ministry to the world. I guess when I think of these matters I think of it like that, looking at how he addressed the issue.