Last week was a newsworthy week, and I'm not talking about the royal wedding here. I'm talking about the release of President Obama's birth certificate. Ever since the 2008 election, there has been a bit of a ruckus over whether or not Obama is a natural born citizen, sparking the birther movement. Donald Trump, who may seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012, suggested Obama was born in Africa and challenged him to show his birth certificate. Finally, Obama released the long form of his birth certificate, thus proving he was born in Hawaii and that indeed, he is a natural born citizen.
I am utterly disgusted by the birthers, Trump, and anyone else who questions Obama's citizenship and allegiance to the United States. I'm sure that all of these people would say they're not racist, but I find this hard to believe. After all, has any other president been challenged to show his birth certificate? Have we questioned any other president's citizenship status? As of right now, 11 state legislatures have introduced legislation requiring presidential and vice presidential candidates to prove that they are natural born citizens by providing a long form birth certificate. Arizona was the first state to pass such legislation. Funny how none of this ever happened until we elected a non-white president.
Newsflash: People of color are U.S. citizens too. Yup, it's true. You don't have to be white to be a U.S. citizen. Seriously.
I know how it feels to have your U.S. citizenship questioned. When I lived in Minnesota, there were people that thought that I couldn't possibly be from the U.S. Over the years, I learned how to detect this skepticism. People would ask me where I was from, and even though I would answer Minnesota or Rochester, they would say "No, where are you REALLY from." WTF? I'm not lying, you assholes. Some people tried to be more subtle, but I knew what they were really asking. These people would say "So, have you lived here all your life?" Um, yup, pretty much, you moron.
Despite my midwestern accent, many people couldn't believe that I actually considered myself to be from Minnesota. Obviously not my family and not my friends, but perfect strangers who had the audacity to ask me deeply personal questions about my life. They probably thought there was nothing wrong with this, and maybe they were genuinely curious and interested in my life, but when you are asked these questions on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, it gets old. And it's not flattering. It's offensive.
These questions are so offensive to me because white people get to be just white. They don't have to have a race or an ethnicity. And they get to be just U.S. citizens. I, on the other hand, because I'm not white, have to have a race. I'm Korean-American or Asian-American. I don't get to be just American. Believe me, I've tried, but people insist that I add in the qualifier to denote that I am not white and that I'm supposedly different.
Living in Southern California, I'm not a minority, and it's so diverse here that I don't deal with people questioning my citizenship. (well except the time that the former president of the UC Regents insisted that I learn to speak Korean simply because I am one, but that's another blog post.) But I dread the thought of living in a non-metropolitan area and dealing with people who don't think I speak English, who assume that I'm well versed in Asian food and culture, and who will not believe me when I say that I really am from Minnesota. I just hope I won't have to start carrying around my passport.
I am utterly disgusted by the birthers, Trump, and anyone else who questions Obama's citizenship and allegiance to the United States. I'm sure that all of these people would say they're not racist, but I find this hard to believe. After all, has any other president been challenged to show his birth certificate? Have we questioned any other president's citizenship status? As of right now, 11 state legislatures have introduced legislation requiring presidential and vice presidential candidates to prove that they are natural born citizens by providing a long form birth certificate. Arizona was the first state to pass such legislation. Funny how none of this ever happened until we elected a non-white president.
Newsflash: People of color are U.S. citizens too. Yup, it's true. You don't have to be white to be a U.S. citizen. Seriously.
I know how it feels to have your U.S. citizenship questioned. When I lived in Minnesota, there were people that thought that I couldn't possibly be from the U.S. Over the years, I learned how to detect this skepticism. People would ask me where I was from, and even though I would answer Minnesota or Rochester, they would say "No, where are you REALLY from." WTF? I'm not lying, you assholes. Some people tried to be more subtle, but I knew what they were really asking. These people would say "So, have you lived here all your life?" Um, yup, pretty much, you moron.
Despite my midwestern accent, many people couldn't believe that I actually considered myself to be from Minnesota. Obviously not my family and not my friends, but perfect strangers who had the audacity to ask me deeply personal questions about my life. They probably thought there was nothing wrong with this, and maybe they were genuinely curious and interested in my life, but when you are asked these questions on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, it gets old. And it's not flattering. It's offensive.
These questions are so offensive to me because white people get to be just white. They don't have to have a race or an ethnicity. And they get to be just U.S. citizens. I, on the other hand, because I'm not white, have to have a race. I'm Korean-American or Asian-American. I don't get to be just American. Believe me, I've tried, but people insist that I add in the qualifier to denote that I am not white and that I'm supposedly different.
Living in Southern California, I'm not a minority, and it's so diverse here that I don't deal with people questioning my citizenship. (well except the time that the former president of the UC Regents insisted that I learn to speak Korean simply because I am one, but that's another blog post.) But I dread the thought of living in a non-metropolitan area and dealing with people who don't think I speak English, who assume that I'm well versed in Asian food and culture, and who will not believe me when I say that I really am from Minnesota. I just hope I won't have to start carrying around my passport.
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