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<blockquote data-quote="Fortis" data-source="post: 1078697" data-attributes="member: 7235">I also agree with TK on the whole cultural thing. I am about as African as the average white dude on this forum. I have deeply mixed ancestral. I do see myself as an American. Just to give you an idea of how it can be, I was hanging out with this British black chick. She can trace her lineage back to a certain time and place in her home country. I don't have this luxury and, to be frank, who gives a flying fuck? Me suddenly figuring out that my ancestors were from Western africa doesn't really mean all that much to me. I'm not gonna suddenly don a dashiki and try to ape a western african style and culture. That isn't me.&nbsp;As far as I'm concerned my family's point of origin was in the south. That's the only place you're gonna get black, native and white people hanging out all at the same time.I look back at photos of my great grandparents and they look American to me. A mix of black, white and native blood is readily apparent in them.I am a product of America and I'll always be American first and foremost. I am black, sure, but my ancestral homeland is America. When I think of going home I think of going back to East Coast america. It's in the blood and it's where I'm from. Africa doesn't really figure into my concept of home.&nbsp; &nbsp;A lot of Americans feel the way I do, we just don't really talk about it because it's a pretty bizarre topic. Yes, you may have ancestors from Ireland who came here 200 years ago but you're not culturally all that Irish; you just look like a Celt. I do have some friends who come from families where they have closely guarded european ways of doing things but that is such a small group of people where I'm from.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Fortis, post: 1078697, member: 7235"] I also agree with TK on the whole cultural thing. I am about as African as the average white dude on this forum. I have deeply mixed ancestral. I do see myself as an American. Just to give you an idea of how it can be, I was hanging out with this British black chick. She can trace her lineage back to a certain time and place in her home country. I don't have this luxury and, to be frank, who gives a flying fuck? Me suddenly figuring out that my ancestors were from Western africa doesn't really mean all that much to me. I'm not gonna suddenly don a dashiki and try to ape a western african style and culture. That isn't me. As far as I'm concerned my family's point of origin was in the south. That's the only place you're gonna get black, native and white people hanging out all at the same time. I look back at photos of my great grandparents and they look American to me. A mix of black, white and native blood is readily apparent in them. I am a product of America and I'll always be American first and foremost. I am black, sure, but my ancestral homeland is America. When I think of going home I think of going back to East Coast america. It's in the blood and it's where I'm from. Africa doesn't really figure into my concept of home. A lot of Americans feel the way I do, we just don't really talk about it because it's a pretty bizarre topic. Yes, you may have ancestors from Ireland who came here 200 years ago but you're not culturally all that Irish; you just look like a Celt. I do have some friends who come from families where they have closely guarded european ways of doing things but that is such a small group of people where I'm from. [/QUOTE]

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