Questions of race, and where a person belongs come up quite often in one's life. This is my closest experience, and view point of what it means to be a certain ethnicity, race, or to be a citizen of a certain ethnicity:
I am a permanent resident of the States, however I have yet to receive my citizenship here in the United States. The literal status of my citizenship is that I not yet a citizen. However, I enjoy the same music, the same show, and the same hobbies with many of my friends. My friends, who are citizens by birth, and I enjoy eating the same food. We visit many theme parks together, Not only that We debate about current political events that will possibly affect our life. We have many educated debates, and many silly conversation about nothing. My life is no different from theirs, the only difference is that I can't vote, and still missing some citizenship rights. But that doesn't change much, they can get a driver license and so can I. This is why I have always viewed myself as a citizen of the States. In the same sense, I feel like a person has the ability to choose to enjoy the culture from any ethnicity he or she wishes. Race simply shapes the way a person looks, but the big picture that is important is culture. No one is ever bounded by a certain race, we all have the ability to explore and love a certain culture if we wish to. As the result, what it means to be a certain race/ethnicity is simply means that a person has the opportunity to explore that culture, and many others if he or she wish to do so. Here in America, we're all melt together into a pot, and we all are American.
- Huu Pham
I am a permanent resident of the States, however I have yet to receive my citizenship here in the United States. The literal status of my citizenship is that I not yet a citizen. However, I enjoy the same music, the same show, and the same hobbies with many of my friends. My friends, who are citizens by birth, and I enjoy eating the same food. We visit many theme parks together, Not only that We debate about current political events that will possibly affect our life. We have many educated debates, and many silly conversation about nothing. My life is no different from theirs, the only difference is that I can't vote, and still missing some citizenship rights. But that doesn't change much, they can get a driver license and so can I. This is why I have always viewed myself as a citizen of the States. In the same sense, I feel like a person has the ability to choose to enjoy the culture from any ethnicity he or she wishes. Race simply shapes the way a person looks, but the big picture that is important is culture. No one is ever bounded by a certain race, we all have the ability to explore and love a certain culture if we wish to. As the result, what it means to be a certain race/ethnicity is simply means that a person has the opportunity to explore that culture, and many others if he or she wish to do so. Here in America, we're all melt together into a pot, and we all are American.
- Huu Pham
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