For second generation Americans and beyond

[FierceRedBelt]

Does the ethnic heritage of your ancestors mean anything to you? And do you think it has affected your life in any meaningful fashion?

 

[Eazy123]

I'm a citizen of the country I'm a second generation from so yeah it means something.

I learned some of the language and take pride in citizenship.

 

[FierceRedBelt]

I'm a citizen of the country I'm a second generation from so yeah it means something.

I learned some of the language and take pride in citizenship.

Birth right?

 

[Eazy123]

Birth right?

It all depends on the laws of the country. I wasn't born there (was born a year after my mom moved here to marry my dad) but they counted it as me being a citizen.

 

[Darth_Inv1ctu5]

Does the ethnic heritage of your ancestors mean anything to you? And do you think it has affected your life in any meaningful fashion?

Does and has. As an Eastern European I continue to foster many habits I did when I first came here. One of them is distrust of authority. Another is focus on understanding local politics. Eastern Europe teaches you healthy paranoia.

EDIT: I also squat a lot, when I have to and when I don't. Heels on the ground. No sunflower seeds tho.

 

[FierceRedBelt]

It all depends on the laws of the country. I wasn't born there (was born a year after my mom moved here to marry my dad) but they counted it as me being a citizen.

Interesting.

Your father is a first generation American I take it? I guess that's bit of a grey area if your mother is from a foreign land.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

I just like the food from where my parents come. I wouldnt want anything bad to happen to them of course, but sometimes my mothers people can be really cruel, and self centered, and I do sometimes wish harm will come to them just to teach them a lesson.

 

[Eazy123]

Interesting.

Your father is a first generation American I take it? I guess that's bit of a grey area if your mother is from a foreign land.

My father is a third generation American. My mother is a first generation Belgian.

 

[LEGS MAHONEY]

Yeah i was raised by my grandparents too so they gave me an even more old fashioned upbringing from their culture. I think southern Euros raise their kids really well generally. Big sense of putting family first and pooling together to help each other out through out your lives.

Not to say its not here in America but i think theres certainly pockets through out the country where alot of traditional manners and emphasis on family have gone down the toilet.

 

[mmaelitefan000]

of course it will always mean something even if im 7th generation.of course that doesn't mean i'll go prancing around waving the flag of my ethnic heritage or anything.

 

[Peteyandjia]

Yes, & yes.

More than any of that though, I do agree with this:

Spoiler

 

[plataoplombo]

Yeah i was raised by my grandparents too so they gave me an even more old fashioned upbringing from their culture. I think southern Euros raise their kids really well generally. Big sense of putting family first and pooling together to help each other out through out your lives.

Not to say its not here in America but i think theres certainly pockets through out the country where alot of traditional manners and emphasis on family have gone down the toilet.

I agree about southern Euros. From what I've seen, Indians and Koreans are the best at pooling their resources and elevating the family status.

 

[Magooglie]

Yes/No, maybe

 

[ithinktheymad]

Do you mean the child of foreign born parents or the child of someone with foreign born parents?

 

[n...not crazy]

My heritage is me, pretty much. I was happy to learn that my family immigrated to the north, and you know, didn't own slaves or anything. Other than that, I'm just American. Whatever that means.

 

[thetruth2709]

I came to the US when I was 19 so Im first generation however I have LOTS of cousins who are second generation....what I predominantly see is that the way the parents raised them had almost everything to do with their identity and also their identity will change as they age.

When young (teens - early 20s) some of my cousins had almost 0 identification with their parents original country (from what I perceived) while others were extremely identified with it, to the point where I have a cousin who got a tattoo of a symbol of his parents county on his arm (shit I wouldnt even do that shit) Some spoke the language very fluently because their parents MADE THEM speak the language at home, some couldnt speak a word of their parents language... as I said the parents had almost everything to do with this.

What I also noticed now that Im 41 and almost all my cousins are adults too...is that as they became older and adults...100% of them got more identified with their parents country....really I cant think of any of my cousin with whom I didnt perceive this change.... the ones who didnt speak the language LEARNED some basic phrases and try to speak it.... some of them got married with latin men/women (we are latin) and shit one of my cousins who didnt speak the language or never saw any identification from him "danced" with his mother an original dance from my country the day of his wedding.

Thats what Ive seen motherfuckers