Foreign ancestors- origins- roots in the forum! :) (racism, health)
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My brother is Korean - he was adopted by my parents when he was about 2 years old. He was raised in a completely American, westernized manner.
He LOVES kimchee and other Asian foods. Not that that proves much, since I do too. But he does identify with his Asian ancestry. It could be though because he's interested in his own personal ancestry, I don't know.
Anyway, I just think it's personal call and a personal choice, nothing more. I would never ridicule anyone for being interested in their ancestry or feeling a sense of identity with some part of their family's history. But I can also understand a lack of interest as well. It's not some sort of moral issue, it's just a personal preference.
Interesting...how old is he, btw? Wonder if he came over when Korea was still very poor. I suppose it wasn't that long ago. Did he experience any racism.etc growing up? Or wonder why he looked different (of course I'm sure your parents explained it to him early, it's not exactly something you could hide!) If you don't know him you should check out the Korean American (or maybe just American) comedian Henry Cho, born and raised in Knoxville, TN and has a thick southern accent. I guess some people think that's a novelty. I've seen some Asian kids adopted by white Australian parents...I don't really think it's that different to many Asian Australians, but it does vary greatly. I only speak English, for instance, and much of the Malaysian-Singaporean diaspora here does. Of course some of them are more culturally Asian than others, but as a cohort they're different than say Koreans.
Yep...which is why I don't like people telling me what I am, or what I ought to be, or I should be more this or that. I'm an individual first, I've never identified myself primarily as a member of a group, whether that be my gender, age, nationality, creed.etc, but simply as an individual, a multi-faceted and multidimensional personality. I try not to be pressured into doing what I think I should do as a whatever.
Interesting...how old is he, btw? Wonder if he came over when Korea was still very poor. I suppose it wasn't that long ago. Did he experience any racism.etc growing up? Or wonder why he looked different (of course I'm sure your parents explained it to him early, it's not exactly something you could hide!) If you don't know him you should check out the Korean American (or maybe just American) comedian Henry Cho, born and raised in Knoxville, TN and has a thick southern accent. I guess some people think that's a novelty. I've seen some Asian kids adopted by white Australian parents...I don't really think it's that different to many Asian Australians, but it does vary greatly. I only speak English, for instance, and much of the Malaysian-Singaporean diaspora here does. Of course some of them are more culturally Asian than others, but as a cohort they're different than say Koreans.
My brother is 47, and yes, we adopted him when Korea was a very poor nation. He didn't experience a lot of racism, but I'd say that part of it was because HE always made it a point to sort of "play up" his Asian ancestry. That tends to defuse a lot of racism right on the front end.
An interesting aside note is that my daughter and her husband adopted a Korean baby from the SAME ADOPTION AGENCY IN SEOUL that my brother was adopted from, just four years ago! Another darling Korean boy came into our family! And THEN - one of my sons just married a girl from Korea! So...we're not turning Japanesey - we're turning Koreanesy! LOL
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Yep...which is why I don't like people telling me what I am, or what I ought to be, or I should be more this or that. I'm an individual first, I've never identified myself primarily as a member of a group, whether that be my gender, age, nationality, creed.etc, but simply as an individual, a multi-faceted and multidimensional personality. I try not to be pressured into doing what I think I should do as a whatever.
Right on.
You know, I've been a realtor and a personal banker and a bank manager. I've been a SAHM. I'm a cousin, and aunt, a Texan, a libertarian, a health nut, an O+ blood type, a southerner, a soprano, a Methodist...all sorts of things. They're all part of who I am and I don't deny any of them. Sometimes my affiliation with a group suddenly becomes a very important part of my identity (blood type, for instance) - but I'm always the sum of my parts.
My brother is 47, and yes, we adopted him when Korea was a very poor nation. He didn't experience a lot of racism, but I'd say that part of it was because HE always made it a point to sort of "play up" his Asian ancestry. That tends to defuse a lot of racism right on the front end.
An interesting aside note is that my daughter and her husband adopted a Korean baby from the SAME ADOPTION AGENCY IN SEOUL that my brother was adopted from, just four years ago! Another darling Korean boy came into our family! And THEN - one of my sons just married a girl from Korea! So...we're not turning Japanesey - we're turning Koreanesy! LOL.
Not suggesting he got racist reactions, but I doubt when your brother was growing up there were many Asian kids in the deep south or Texas, so I'd guess he got labelled as the "asian kid" and stood out a lot wherever he went.
If you don't know him you should check out the Korean American (or maybe just American) comedian Henry Cho, born and raised in Knoxville, TN and has a thick southern accent.
I had a friend from college who was from Knoxville. His dad was chinese, mom was white. He'd like to say he was "half-Chinese half-Redneck". Didn't seem obviously culturally asian in any way, had a mild southern accent. Recently married a Chinese-American girl who grew up in NYC.
My brother is 47, and yes, we adopted him when Korea was a very poor nation. He didn't experience a lot of racism, but I'd say that part of it was because HE always made it a point to sort of "play up" his Asian ancestry. That tends to defuse a lot of racism right on the front end.
An interesting aside note is that my daughter and her husband adopted a Korean baby from the SAME ADOPTION AGENCY IN SEOUL that my brother was adopted from, just four years ago! Another darling Korean boy came into our family! And THEN - one of my sons just married a girl from Korea! So...we're not turning Japanesey - we're turning Koreanesy! LOL
Right on.
You know, I've been a realtor and a personal banker and a bank manager. I've been a SAHM. I'm a cousin, and aunt, a Texan, a libertarian, a health nut, an O blood type, a southerner, a soprano, a Methodist...all sorts of things. They're all part of who I am and I don't deny any of them. Sometimes my affiliation with a group suddenly becomes a very important part of my identity (blood type, for instance) - but I'm always the sum of my parts.
Yes, I think if you can poke fun of yourself and 'get in there first' with the jibes and show they don't affect you, people will see that their taunts will lose their power. Here it seems if you integrate more and act more like a local they're more accepting. Of course most racism I've experienced has been casual name calling by strangers and whatnot.
Yes that's an interesting story. Actually, I'm wondering why a lot of people are adopting from Korea. Are there a lack of adoptive parents there? I know Korea is getting wealthier, but I wonder if fewer people want to have kids too.
Yep, definitely. We all wear many hats, play many roles...they do make the sum of our parts, yet at the same time, while playing those roles we inadvertantly fall into the pattern of expected behaviour for that role. In a way we are nothing more than our stories, molecules passing through space, a highway for matter, but perhaps also a conduit for something spiritual, or rather, super-physical too.
I had a friend from college who was from Knoxville. His dad was chinese, mom was white. He'd like to say he was "half-Chinese half-Redneck". Didn't seem obviously culturally asian in any way, had a mild southern accent. Recently married a Chinese-American girl who grew up in NYC.
Yep I'm sure it's not unusual to find Asian Americans with thick southern drawls, if they grew up in a small town. I think Henry Cho described himself as a redneck, if I recall lol.
You know the original Siamese Twins, Chang and Eng Bunker (not their original name, they actually didn't have surnames as was typical in Thailand for the time, but took on the name of one of their managers or something)? They settled in a small town in North Carolina shortly before the Civil War and even owned slaves. They married local girls - sisters, in fact (I know, to make it stranger haha) and between them had 22 kids. Needless to say they had many descendants. Every year their descendants will meet for a reunion in the town they lived in, and of course, most of them just look like regular country folk, so I think it's sort of interesting like that haha.
Not suggesting he got racist reactions, but I doubt when your brother was growing up there were many Asian kids in the deep south or Texas, so I'd guess he got labelled as the "asian kid" and stood out a lot wherever he went.
My brother was always a minority where we lived, but my point was that he played it up. To my knowledge, he's never been ashamed of his Korean heritage - he's always seemed proud of it. He didn't get harassed in school. He's very handsome and has never had any issues attracting women either.
By the way, he spent most of his childhood in southern communities adjacent to large military installations (Hampton Roads area of Virginia, Fort Bragg area of North Carolina, Fort Benning area of Georgia) - there were always plenty of Asians around. In fact, all those areas have bustling Asian communities.
Where I live in Texas, we have numerous Asian markets, restaurants, etc, as well as several Korean churches. And KoMart is just an hour and a half away: Komart : Korean Grocery Store
And Fort Hood, the largest military installation in the United States, is not too far away. There's a HUGE Korean community there, as well as in Dallas, and Houston, and Austin.
Not everyone who lives in the south lives in the sticks!
Yes that's an interesting story. Actually, I'm wondering why a lot of people are adopting from Korea. Are there a lack of adoptive parents there? I know Korea is getting wealthier, but I wonder if fewer people want to have kids too.
From what I understand, abortion is not legal in South Korea, unless there are health issues. Also, South Koreans are very traditional generally speaking, and there is a huge stigma attached to illegitimate children. This is why so many Korean babies are put up for adoption.
Our family is the lucky recipient of two of those "unwanted" babies, and we thank God every day that these children ended up in our lives!
Quite a lot of Americans who say they are Scots-Irish think that means they have both Scottish and Irish heritage and know nothing about Ulster and what that term means. So I think the numbers on that are highly inflated.
You may not choose to use those terms to describe yourself but that doesn't mean that there aren't valid reasons for others to do so. Many Americans have grown up in communities that are steeped in ethnic traditions from "the motherland." Heck, right here in Texas there are Czech and German communities which have a distinctly central European vibe - the names, the foods, the architecture, festivals with Czech or German traditional clothing and folk music, etc. Those people feel and foster a bond with the European country their family originates from. Many traditions from "The Old Country" are alive and well in those communities and in their families, and they strive to keep such an identity alive. Yes, they're Americans through and through but that doesn't mean they don't identify with a particular ethnic group outside the US.
Not me - the last ancestor of mine (that I know of) from outside America immigrated here in the 1700s, and the earliest in the early 1600s, so I'm about as American as anyone could be. That being said, my paternal grandmother's family was Scots Irish through and through, and it's interesting that even 200 years after immigrating, there were still some hints of that ancestry in her habits.
I can only speak for my family, but I'm very proud of my Scots Irish heritage. Ours was a quintessential Scots Irish story - immigrating from Ireland in early 1700s, settling in Pennsylvania, then moving south to South Carolina and then Arkansas - always to the wild "west" (what was considered west at the time), to the fringes of society, where the danger lay. The Scots Irish communities of that time fought so fiercely for independence from England that Benjamin Franklin proposed that trade sanctions against Ireland be lifted in honor of their service. This was impractical, but Congress actually sent a letter of apology to Ireland for the necessity that forced them "to cease our commercial connexion with your island."
Am I Scots Irish? In part, yes (like most Americans, that's only one part of my heritage). Do I walk around identifying myself as such on a daily basis? No. But will I proudly don a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" T-shirt on St Patricks Day? You bet I will! And drink a big glass of green beer too.
And yes, I'm aware that the drinking of green beer is not at all common in either Ireland or Scotland. I am also aware that most of my ancestors who lived in Ireland hailed originally from England. But so what - the UK is a hodgepodge of ethnic groups much like the US is. The Roman Empire (and later the British Empire) brought all sorts of ethnicities to the UK. Most of us are mutts.
Ulster Scots people would never do that.
If you have Ulster Scots heritage you don't have Irish heritage you have Scottish heritage especially if your family only lived in Northern Ireland for like 50 years.
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But he does identify with his Asian ancestry. It could be though because he's interested in his own personal ancestry, I don't know.
