"Being Italian doesn't mean you're directly from Italy or know the language"

I'm from Belgium, a much younger, artificial, politically convoluted as all hell country, and yet I don't feel the need to identify as French or Dutch or German, but simply Belgian. The US has been around longer and has a lot more history and yet they're so hung up on their ancestry. Which is ironic since they also like to pretend the US is the greatest god damned country on earth (what's Independence Day again?). Even more ironic is that once not even so long ago, Italian and Irish immigrants were looked down upon and not even considered "proper whites". I've seen pictures of stores that had signs saying "No Irish, No Italians, No N*gros". It was that bad.

I know that's in the past now and it's okay to be proud of your ancestry and be interested in it, but it doesn't make you special. And neither does your nationality.

/r/ShitAmericansSay Thread Parent Link - i.redd.it