As an American expat living abroad for nearly 2.5 years now, there are few questions that annoy me as much as, “But where are you from originally?” I’m asked this question all the darned time. “Where are you from, your Turkish is so good!” “Oh I’m American.” Then it comes — the questioner raises an eyebrow in consideration for a minute, then shakes their head ever-so-slightly as they reject the validity of my statement. “But where are you from originally?”
“America.”
“Where’s your father from?”
“America.”
“Well how about his father?”
“America.”
“What about your grandfather’s father?”
“America … my family’s been in the US for centuries.” Whoever I’m speaking with usually gives up at this point, although they also usually don’t believe me. I don’t know why I get asked this question so often, or if this happens to other African American expats as well. It’s not really a shocker that the average Turkish citizen might not know that much about American history (even though everyone seems to have seen “Roots,” a movie I have yet to watch), but I get this question from well educated folks all the time. University graduates, doctors, journalists, etc. …
I don’t know quite how it’s possible that in a city like this one that has been so saturated with American culture, from films and music videos to clothing and television, that everyone still has this idea that “real” Americans are white. Nobody ever asks a white American, “But where are you from originally?” Since I wear a headscarf, a lot of people assume my family must be immigrants and that I’m really Arab or from Sudan or Egypt or something and am just ashamed or don’t want to say so. I just wonder where all these Turks got this racist idea from?
Of course ever since the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, it’s been even harder to explain to people that yes, I’m an American and where I’m from if your family has been there for a few centuries, yerli olarak sayılıyorsun artık. After all of the media surrounding Barack Obama’s election, it’s really difficult to explain to people that Obama is actually not African-American in the same way that I am and that most black people in the United States are; he’s still a Blackamerican, but he’s half Kenyan and half American, the son of an American mother and a Kenyan father, which is not at all the same thing that the term “African American” (problematic as it is) describes for so many people.
I haven’t yet really figured out a way to explain to people in a way that they’ll believe that I’m an American. Oh well, at least I have the passport 
4 Comments
I think they are asking what your ethnicity is.. your nationality might be American but they are obviously referring to your ethnicity.. I don’t see anything racist in it..
Hi, thanks for your comment! The problem is that the question of what my ethnicity is only comes up because I’m black. If the same question was commonly asked of white Americans here, then I wouldn’t be annoyed by the question. But there’s an inference being made somewhere that I’m not really an American, that someone in my immediate family (father, grandfather, somebody) must have recently settled in America. That’s where the problem is, from my viewpoint — you can ask about ethnicity if you want (and most descendants of slaves don’t have the luxury of knowing the answer to that question), but you shouldn’t ask based on skin color.
Wow! I never thought that this could actually be commonplace for black people living abroad. And when I think back to studying abroad in France, I did get this question – but I am actually from somewhere else
I do think that this demonstrates some ignorance among the people asking this question, but I don’t see how to easily make them understand that Americans (ones that have been in America for centuries) come in all shades. Great post!
Thanks for the comment! Yeah, it’s a real stickler, I haven’t thought of any way to explain it to anyone without half an hour of conversation … which isn’t really useful when the question comes up at random times, like at the supermarket
That’s very interesting though that it would happen in France, where I’d expect a better understanding of US history than in Turkey, where I live now. But then again, France has its own immigrant population, so that might explain it…