How Much of an Ethnicity Does One Have to Be In Order to Be Able to Claim It?

[seoulsearch]

Curious about the 'banana' term. You said you identify with the term. Was that a funny friendly kidding term you threw and received with friends, who may have been asian too? I'm guessing you just find it funny, and aren't offended by it?

Back in the day, Asian adoptees among white families were quite rare. But now, especially in certain areas of the USA, it's much more common, especially with China having opened its policies to intercountry adoption several years ago.

"Banana" is actually an official term adopted by those populations, though it's more urban culture than anything, and of course, not all adoptees identify with this term. There are most definitely people who are downright offended by it.

As for me, I figure if the label fits me, how can I deny it?

Similarly, there is also the term "Oreo" for members of the black community who were raised among whites.

I do find it sad though that the reverse is not accepted in that white people who are raised among black communities aren't allowed to say that they identify more as black. One of the worst forms of racism I witnessed in my own hometown were my white friends who were married to, and had children with spouses who were black.

Now I'm certainly not saying that just anyone should be allowed to pass as black (or any other race they claim to identify with) -- as I've said earlier in this thread, I identify as white socially and culturally, but I would never claim to be white.

All I'm saying is that I think the culture/people/majority of influence that someone was raised in and around should be factored into their identity just as much, or even more than biological race.

But that's just my opinion.

 

[Lanolin]

thats so interesting Seoul
well I dont know in the US probably its becausee of the animosity between the races that is STILL there with slavery. They didnt have apartheid but they had segregation.

My neighbour who is mixed, sometimes says shes mulatto. She had a black Jamaican father and a white English mother. The Brits also practiced slavery in the west Indies and Guyana, where she lived for a while as a child. How she ended up in NZ? He daughter came her to live for a new life, I think she experinced a lot of racism in England. Then her mother decided to join her. She didnt know much about nz before she came but I think things must have been bad to leave a country, I found out that her son ended his life and shed been married and divorced twice.

not to say there isnt racism in nz...there is! I have experienced it. But its not so bad or its a bit different from the overt racism in say the US. Thats because reconciliation between parties did NOT happen. Here at least the effort is made.

My business teacher who is white (shes blonde as anything, very pale) is married to an african american husband. There are not many african americans here but I am not sure that couple would be accepted in some parts of the US, while here, its not a big deal.

Some parts of NZ are very white though, and very snobby towards people of colour. As you grew up somewhere that as all white, you probably experienced this. There is a phenomen of ,white flight which has happened...I work in a school where there are few white children , the ones there are in the ones in the minority.

I grew up as the only chinese amongst the few asians in my school. Sometimes that made me feel special, other times it was like. what nobody else has cha siu bai for lunch! I dont connect to China or Hong Kong because I wasnt born there, but I do sort of think in a non western way. Eastern or Asian. And my asian friends, we dont have to explain ourselves, like every time I meet anyone, they always ask me where im from even if I live in the same town and am just down the road. But they mean what country, It is annoying, but sometimes it just because they are being curious.

 

[Lanolin]

There Mothers Bridge of Love -you can google them
I dont know if theres something similar for Korean adoptees, but they used the bridge metaphor too.

 

[Lanolin]

Just want to add in Australia they actually have a National Sorry Day.

You can google that too.

I dont know much about the Korean war its not talked about much here but I can imagine theres a lot to it that we dont know. I knew a few Koreans some came to my Bible group and christianity is big there. In the south. I cant say I am a really a fan of kim chi tho! Do you like it?
And obviously their was the war between North and South where the US intervened. So a lot of families actually did get split by that war.

 

[Lanolin]

I meant to say there was just the one war sorry but it involved some parties, esp the US
Not sure why. I think NZ did send some troops there as well. But I can imagine the long lasting effects its had on the people of Korea. They were one country before that.

 

[jennymae]

Digging into the bloodlines are for sure interesting, but like it’s been already pointed out here the tests aren’t accurate enough to actually offer a good answer. One of my great grandmothers was a Native American, which makes me 1/8 Native American. The rest of me is, to my knowledge, a mix of Finnish, Sami, Irish and Scottish.

 

[Lanolin]

Its the whole nature vs nuture debate when actually its a bit of both.

A lot of people try and pit one against the other. Im thinking of South African apartheid which was the worst imaginable where they made up all these rules of what you could and could not be.

 

[Lanolin]

This article will give you a headache

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid

but it just goes to show how horrible it was. They had racial identity cards and everything (although it seems 'ethnic' is a polite term for everyone that is not white) . Asians were a problem so they were just seen as 'honorary whites' ? !

Like if you looked like THIS you had to live HERE. Its a crime to mix. Im like whatever. It was so bad that it caused riots in NZ because Maori werent allowed to play rugby on tour to South Africa as they were not white.

 

[Lanolin]

I read this book

Its called American Harvest, God, country and the Heartland by Marie Matsuki Mockett

You might find it interesting about a woman whos mixed, she has a white father and a japanese mother. She goes joins the white side of her family on a wheat harvesting gig riding the combines and pickups trying to understand her white heritage, which includes Mennonites and Anabaptists.
She actually owns some family farmland in Nebraska, despite her dad dying and not really wanting to leave her the farm, though shes married to a Scot and lives in the city of San Francisco.

In one instance, she thinks she can pass for Native American and join a sun dance. But when she does, she finds out she doesnt understand that culture at all and does a huge faux pas by sipping water in full view of everyone fasting. Likewise while joining the harvesting crew she cant do anything because shes a city bred writer who doesnt know how to fix a machine and never grown a field of wheat in her life (shes an absentee landlord) and she also, does not really 'get' Christianity, is it about God, or church, or is it about Jesus?

She shares she did spend time in Japan and is bilingual so it seems she idenitifies more with her mother than her dad. Being mixed, she was treated as special one by her grandmother. But she also feels excluded for for not being white.

Thinking that all white people are the same too is also a mistake.

 

[jennymae]

I read this book

Its called American Harvest, God, country and the Heartland by Marie Matsuki Mockett

You might find it interesting about a woman whos mixed, she has a white father and a japanese mother. She goes joins the white side of her family on a wheat harvesting gig riding the combines and pickups trying to understand her white heritage, which includes Mennonites and Anabaptists.
She actually owns some family farmland in Nebraska, despite her dad dying and not really wanting to leave her the farm, though shes married to a Scot and lives in the city of San Francisco.

In one instance, she thinks she can pass for Native American and join a sun dance. But when she does, she finds out she doesnt understand that culture at all and does a huge faux pas by sipping water in full view of everyone fasting. Likewise while joining the harvesting crew she cant do anything because shes a city bred writer who doesnt know how to fix a machine and never grown a field of wheat in her life (shes an absentee landlord) and she also, does not really 'get' Christianity, is it about God, or church, or is it about Jesus?

She shares she did spend time in Japan and is bilingual so it seems she idenitifies more with her mother than her dad. Being mixed, she was treated as special one by her grandmother. But she also feels excluded for for not being white.

Thinking that all white people are the same too is also a mistake.

I can relate to that. I grew up in the aftermath of the civil rights movement era and it was a well hidden secret that my great grandmother was a Cherokean Choctaw. In addition to that my mother’s parents were indigenous people from Scandinavia. They were white, but a different kind of white. I won’t even start on the Irish part. So even though I looked like the typical gulf coast girl, red hair, freckles and blue eyes I knew I was different. Today I like that, but back then it felt like a curse.

 

[Lanolin]

I dont know any further back than my grandparents. China was pretty closed off to foreigners before that although there are actually different dialects within China in different regions.

War and immigration does cause people to mix.

I was reading another book in which the narrators mother was English and the father was Irish. The grandmother did not approve of this match and called her mixed grandchildren 'dirty khaki' meaning green for Irish catholic and Orange for English protestant.

I think its horrible to deride children for being a mixture when they cannot help being a product of their parents. I think it makes life more interesting rather than homogeneous. Its not like its crossing a horse with a donkey and getting a mule. Its more like different breeds of horses. Humans are a pretty diverse bunch.

anyhow would those DNA tests pick up on whether you had any vampire blood in you. Thats what I want to know.

 

[G00WZ]

Dunno if a person can claim 50 percent i guess or have a family member to be able to claim them is how most people would accept them.

I know with me im the product of multiple races but i just tell people im black to keep it simple because my skin is brown.
The last time i tried to explain my family tree to someone i got tired and gave up because 2 of the ethnicities they never even heard of.

 

[Lanolin]

How about

I am human, just like you lol

 

[Lynx]

How about

I am human, just like you lol

Are you a speciest?

It's okay. Everyone's a little bit speciest.

 

[NestForASparrow]

As a mixed-race individual (half Mexican and half Caucasian), I say a quarter....after that, it's hard to really say you're of a certain ethnicity.

I find it weird when people who are of an extremely low percentage of a genetic profile (from those popular DNA tests) make a huge deal of being of that race....if it's say less than 5% chance you are of a certain race, it does not necessarily mean you are 5% of that race. I have a cousin who works for one of those genetic companies and told me that when it gets down to the the really low percentages on those genetic tests, it's more-than-likely not factual.....it's a guess, but those lower percentages on your DNA tests tend to be the most unique and people gravitate towards those results....aka if the test says you're 70% Anglo Saxon, 25% Gaelic, and 5% Jewish...you're likely not Jewish at all.

 

[EnglishChick]

I grew up in a border town right next to Mexico. But I was born in Texas. So my family is Mexican American because our ancestors came from Mexico. On my mom's side it was generations ago. On my dad's side I think it was more recent.

Anyways, growing up wasn't easy because I have light skin. My grandma used to say we had some Spanish blood and that is why we are lighter than most of our peers. I was made fun of for being a "white girl" even though I'm not white. I'm Mexican American. I know Spanish very well and grew up speaking Spanish before English actually.

Sometimes I feel out of place with both hispanics and white people. Most latinas have beautiful tans but I look pale when I'm in the sun. Years ago there were a few women talk about me in Spanish. They didn't know I'm hispanic I guess? lol. I had to learn not to call myself "Mexican" because I was born and raised in Texas. Mexicans born and raised in Mexico find it offensive for me to say that. So now I say I'm Mexican American.

When I'm around white people, I feel like I stick out because of my accent and the culture difference. I was raised with different customs and ways of thinking. It was isolating growing up, but now as an adult, I've learned how to better relate to others.

I don't know the answers to your questions, Seoul...but I find this discussion interesting.

You're you. And God rejoices over you with singing! ❤❤❤

 

[EnglishChick]

I don't think there's any set percentage that determines what you can claim as an actual identity (how you perceive yourself ). Obviously there are certain quotas needed for certain things e.g. A previous poster mentioned needing a quarter of Jewish blood to claim Israeli citizenship and I think to be claimed as a member of a native American tribe you need to be on the Dawes Register or something?

But claiming it as a personal identity for self perception reasons I think it's a matter of personal choice? At least in the UK it seems to be very subjective. When you fill in a form they may ask you which ethnicity best describes you but that can be v subjective. It's how you see yourself ? I mean if you are 1/16 Japanese and the rest white, you could claim to be mixed or claim white. You might just want to say you're white if you don't look Asian or don't feel you have a personal connection to it? But if you do either, it's a non issue.

The issue with Rachael Dolezal is that she claimed a DNA she didn't (as far as we know and she knows) have. And claimed to be it. If she had some black blood I doubt there would be this controversy over her? Of course she could do a DNA test and it turns out she is 3% black or something? But I don't think that happened as she sorry would have used it in her defense.

What think is interesting about RD is everyone including her parents labels her white but I read in more than one article that she was about 1/4 Native American. That is a lot of
Native blood and enough may be to be on the Dawes. I bet if she had claimed to mixed race or white with a bit of Native, or part Native, no one would bat an eyelid. At best some might think it a bit odd to claim a culture she didn't have any personal connection too. I myself have exotic things in my heritage (Romany and Jewish as well as Scottish, English and some Viking) that would classify me as quite foreign but I didnt grow up in the Jewish faith and my So many ancestors came from India centuries ago and settled in Scotland and England. I don't even look Indian ! So I tend to say "white other" or "white British" as culturally I am white British . But if someone in my position wanted to claim jewishness or gypsyness, I would have no issue with it personally . The Israeli embassy, it would depend on whether the jewishness was 1/4 or more, the rabbis at the synagogue, it would depend on which side of family it was on! For me, I don't care. Live and let live. We're a him a anyways!

 

[EnglishChick]

I probably would take a DNA test of they were cheaper just put of curiosity in case there are bits of me I don't know about ? I often think there may be Welsh in our family or Irish? But for me it's more a curiosity like playing a game.

I realise as I type this that I'm pretty privileged to be able to see my heritage this way, I do realise that those who look obviously of a more minority appearance or who were raised in that minority culture and therefore dress a certain way etc often suffer racism or feel they don't fit in because of it which must be horrible. For those people it isn't simple idle curiosity

 

[Lanolin]

Jewish is not actually based on blood or DNA
Its based on whether your mother adhered to Jewish traditions and if you are a male whether you were circumcised.

The original Jews could recite their geneology back to Judah. But the Israelites can go back further to Abraham.