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I think it is mainly the teens born in the US that socialise with people outside of their ethnic groups, .
Isn't this true of most people. The older one is the less flexible they tend to be, therefore the less open they are to other groups.
In addition those who arrive as pre college age tend to define themselves with respect the country that they live in, rather than the country of origin, as they know little of it.
Tensions between parents and the kids are common to all immigrant groups. Most often these revolve around the disgust that the parents have for the fact that they think that their kids have abandoned their heritage.
In fact Asian Indians go to great lengths to attempt to anchor their kids in the culture of India. And call their kids "ABCDs" (American Born Confused Desis) when they don't.
Africans are likewise, especially as the relations between various ethnic groups back home mightn't be warm. I don't even know that an Igbo parent would relish a Yoruba son in law, much less one who wasn't even directly from the African continent.
Black-Americans are already mixed, with various African ethnic groups as well as with whites, so it's virtually impossible to trace your roots back to a focal point, because the average black person will have droves of tribes mixed within him. Even specific African ancestry tests can only show you your very first maternal/and or paternal ancestor, which doesn't indicate anything relatively recent or dominant within your gene pool.
For example I got an ancestry test from ancestry.com showing that I'm largely from Cameroon and Benin and Tongo. Well, there's hundreds of tribes within those countries that all don't have the same ancestry nor speak the same language. At the end of the day, even though I may be largely ethnically African, I have no idea where I fit in.
I remember hearing situations like in OP, where Africans will call black Americans "gringos" because they are too "white", ancestrally (studies show the average black person in the U.S. has at least one great grandparent that's white) and culturally. And to be fair, it's true. Blacks in the U.S. shouldn't claim Africa. They don't know anything about it. Hell, they can't even tell you what tribe their from, let alone what country. Blacks are still largely foreign at the end of the day.
Isn't this true of most people. The older one is the less flexible they tend to be, therefore the less open they are to other groups.
In addition those who arrive as pre college age tend to define themselves with respect the country that they live in, rather than the country of origin, as they know little of it.
Tensions between parents and the kids are common to all immigrant groups. Most often these revolve around the disgust that the parents have for the fact that they think that their kids have abandoned their heritage.
In fact Asian Indians go to great lengths to attempt to anchor their kids in the culture of India. And call their kids "ABCDs" (American Born Confused Desis) when they don't.
Africans are likewise, especially as the relations between various ethnic groups back home mightn't be warm. I don't even know that an Igbo parent would relish a Yoruba son in law, much less one who wasn't even directly from the African continent.
I saw a movie once where an Indian kid of immigrants got into a bit of trouble, so his parents thought
sending him to India for the summer to stay with his Aunt and Uncle would straighten him out, he had
SEVERE culture shock when he went to stay with his Indian family and they had stereotypes of him as
an American..In one scene the Uncle said: "Since our American nephew is coming should we hide the
silverware since crime is high and Americans are violent" LOL.
I had a Black American acquaintance who married a Nigerian and moved to Nigeria with him for 17 years,
she had never been out of the United States before. Once in Lagos at a party, the African women gave her
flack. They said, "So YOU are the American Negress he married." She said " WHAT?!, Let's get a few things straight "I am a Black American and this is NOT "Gone With The Wind"!" During her stay, she got
the reputation of "her? thats his feisty American wife".
In their mind, she explained to me Not only did he not marry someone from his ethnic group, but an American, a foreigner from a different continent even. even though she was very dark.
Yeah, you're right. You should now go onto the Asia forum and tell all the Asian Americans that they aren't Asian--you know, because they were born here, are likely mixed with lots of different ethnic groups and don't practice the culture and all that.
That's a ridiculous comparison. Most "Asian-Americans" are new immigrant groups that can identify with their country of origin and aren't 'mixed" at all.
Black Americans have been in the United States since the 17th century and were formed from an ambiguous mix of people taken from all over Africa. There is no meaningful connection to any specific African country or ethnic group. A team of genealogist could never give you a meaningful answer as to where your ancestors were from because none were from the same place.
We are just "black" and Americans. There's nothing wrong with that.
The purpose of having an identity is not to achieve political goals or fight "oppression".
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