what is your nationality @anon9798425?
I mean no disrespect. Just trying to understand your thinking. Is it only where you live that makes your nationality?
Thereâs a similar way of speaking among migrant minorities where I live. 3d, 4th generation migrants referring to themselves by the nationality of their ancestors only. There has been some discussion here to what extent that reflects troublesome integration. Also the display of flags from the countries of ancestors. It is perhaps a bit different in degree from America, since, at least from a European point of view, an American almost always has a fairly recent history of migration. Perhaps ideally, one would start identifying with oneâs actual nationality (passport) as soon as one obtains it. But then again, in general migration doesnât seems to go all that smoothly all too often.
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Iâm from Scandinavia. I donât want to be more specific.
In my opinion itâs where you live and where youâre from. Having parents from e.g. France does not make you French, but if you grew up in France and moved to the US then youâre French and American.
I agree with Tree on this. Being proud of ones heritage is one thing, but identifying with that heritage when youâre 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th generation is a bit too much. I think in the US it has a lot to do with the fact that itâs a young country, and that it will dissipate with time. History moves slow.
On the OP though, I donât think thereâs a problem. Things have evolved since then, I really donât think itâs an issue.
thanks for responding back - by that reasoning nationality wise I am currently American.
Well, of course, itâs not always so simple since things get complicated in the real world. If you had a reason besides just ancestry to call yourself of my nationality, like for instance you lived here for a period as a child, then I wouldnât be annoyed or offended if you did.
My father was military and I had dual citizenship when born overseas. When we got back it was changed to US only. But I lived at least 7 maybe 8 years as a child outside US.
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I was not trying to offend, just to understand. My family history is important to me as our our traditions - my gma always told us not to forget our heritage. May has always been a big celebration month for us and Jul 14, and as a child I remember playing with the dreidel as a kid. I hate that parts get lost as our generations go forward. Itâs not how she would have wanted it and she always hoped to return home.
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Donât worry, you didnât offend me. 
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Iâve told people when asked all my life that I was of German descentâŚnow it turns out Iâm most likely Swiss. Either way just because an American has German ancestry doesnât mean they had relatives even in Germany during WWII. There was a huge wave of German immigration into Philidelphia in the 1700âs that probably never stopped, hence you got the Amish and Mennonite communities.
As for their sentiment during WWII I donât know, I know German immigrants were persecuted during world war one here, playing german music was declared illegal Iâve heard, and they werenât even exterminating anyone back then. I know there were figures such as Charles Lindbergh who was impressed by the Nazi military and came back saying we could never defeat them. I donât know much about it, but have heard who ever was in charge of immigration in the US at the time was an anti-semite and wasnât a fan of granting the German Jews any asylum.
Afterall, the Eugenics movement that culminated in the hollocaust was not a German invention but something that started here in the US and was actually an influential movement during the 20âs and 30âs.
I was born in England to English parents. I have lived all my life in Scotland - I have a Scottish accent but I still consider myself as English.
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Iâm a pretty unusual thing too - Dutch/German ancestry and a Muslim convert. When I go out, people stare at me because they canât believe a white girl would wear a headscarf lol! its very unusual in South Africa. Most Muslims here are Indian or Indonesian ancestry or maybe African, but not European! 
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they were americans my buddy⌠no telling what they thought⌠but Iâd imagine there was some sort of disconnect between them and german sentiments in general beyond friend/familial tiesâŚ
but uh⌠german americanâs got the â â â â out of nazi-land for one reason or another at some point. I mean they didnât approve of something that was going on there.
We are the land of emigrants and we do it better in all ways⌠even with the bulk-load of stupidity we harbor⌠let that be a message about integration in general.
My grandmom is part German heritage and grew up during WWII. She was never anti Semitic or anti black or anti anybody.
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Good for u. You go girl!
I think a large part of it has to do with the racism and xenophobia present in the US. Immigrants who came here were told by Americans that they were inferior, so the reflexive action was to say, âOh yeah, well â â â â you guys. Iâm [nationality] and Iâm proud.â Then they teach their children that they should be proud of being that nationality, and throw it in the faces of the people trying to shame them for it. And the trend continues.
Iâm third generation Syrian American, and after 9/11 I had to deal with a lot of anti-Arab sentiment. I got kicked out of my church youth group because my presence âmade the other kids uncomfortable,â and my reflexive reaction was to buy a Syrian flag and display it proudly. My siblings got it much worse than I did, because Iâm pale enough to pass for white in most circles. When people all around you are telling you to be ashamed of where your parents or grandparents came from, itâs natural to kick back loudly.
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I am so sorry you went through that. My heart aches for you. I think the problem is that because American is such a mix of âlooksâ it makes it harder to unify as one nation which is sad.
We were on a trip one time and I heard a young boy talking about your exact scenario. He was so frustrated because people would walk on the other side of the hall at school to stay away from him. It broke my heart and I had to tell him it is only the ignorant that do such things. Not everyone is like that. But that does not help when he goes through that every day. It is another form of bullying that is not addressed and should be.
In every country we lived we never lived in military area because we wanted to be part of the countryâs culture so we lived in regular villages. We were always welcomed and simulated into the village. Not so easy in America.
Iâm german bloodâŚI love the jews. I consider myself jewish because Jesus is Jewish. I pray to Yeshua instead of JesusâŚthatâs his jewish name.
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