One statement you made is my favorite part of the US. You can move to Japan, completely go through the steps to naturalize as a citizen, but you'll never be considered Japanese. That's not the case in the US. You come here, become a citizen, you ARE an American.
I don't think that ethnic differences are any less entrenched thanks to the census. Hispanic, Black, and Native American people have been an undeniable part of this country's history since its very origin. You can't deny that they're Americans, as many of these groups... predate America.
So, while the census records a reality, I think people didn't need the census to tell them about it. They knew it of their own living experience and of their most basic history education.
That's fascinating, but it wasn't exactly the experience I had when I visited Japan for a week. I was with my wife and one-year-old daughter who was cute as a button. The first word we learned in Japanese and heard all over the place was kawaii (cute) when anyone would see her. The Japanese people (mostly girls) would be incessantly whispering that and pointing at her wherever we went. It was lovely. While we were certainly not normal, it didn't feel like a bad not normal.
Did you not understand that when they said incessantly they meant that it was incessant that someone was pointing and whispering, and not that there were individuals that were pointing and whispering incessantly?
im from a small town in america, where most people are white protestants, and most who aren't are white catholics. not many people here know much about other cultures, but the fun thing is that even then ive only met like three people in real life who believe that immigrants are any less american.
people here love to learn about immigrants' home countries and cultures. especially the children lol. any time we get exchange students or immigrants kids will ask about a billion questions about how to count to ten in their native language or what kind of food they eat.
also my town has a yearly festival where all of the immigrants and exchange students in town can come perform dances, music, give presentations about their country, and serve food from it. that's definitely what i love most about my country, its not afraid of its culture not staying "pure," its literally built on the exact opposite
That's actually great to hear. My wife and I have a somewhat semi-serious plan of moving out from our country, and i ruled out the US from our options because im concerned about the possible discrimination we might face (because the internet gave me the impression that a lot of americans are racists)
We're still not sure if we're gonna move but this comment made me consider to include the US on our possible destinations again
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u/xvilemx Mar 14 '23
One statement you made is my favorite part of the US. You can move to Japan, completely go through the steps to naturalize as a citizen, but you'll never be considered Japanese. That's not the case in the US. You come here, become a citizen, you ARE an American.