White People Have Culture. We're Just Bad At Embracing It.

I wish I had more culture. 

It's not like I don't have culture. I'm German, Swedish, and Irish (and probably other white things). Both of my grandma's parents were immigrants. My family has a tradition of watching The Quiet Man and eating shepherd's pie and soda bread on St. Patrick's day. 

I won't lie, at times I get envious of the community aspect of culture, and the heartwarming traditions that they bring. I feel like I've missed out on that by being a white American. 

I could have culture if I wanted to. But I think there are some systematic problems behind as to why most white Americans aren't super cultured. 

The first is that - concerning looks - it was a lot easier for European immigrants to assimilate. If they were able to knock their accent, they could 'pass' as a native American for the most part. 

Another is that many European Americans were more willing to . . . intermingle with each other. First-gen children often married another first or second-gen immigrant, and the two families cultures had to merge, and it got diluted in the process, until, in many cases, it was lost altogether. 

While there are most likely more reasons, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to go into all of them. (I won't even get to touch the topic of quantifying white American culture.) The bottom line is this: white people do have culture. We have just forgotten it. 

The reason I got to thinking about this is because in art history, we covered the Vikings (Scandinavia) and the Hiberno- and Anglo-Saxons (The British Isles), and I thought to myself, Hey! Those are my people! That's where I'm from! And I was in awe of the art because I felt such an emotional connection to it. Not just because it was beautiful, but because there is a part of that inside me. But I also felt ashamed that I hadn't educated myself on my own heritage. 

I wish my German, Irish, and Swedish culture was more a part of my life, and more a part of my family's life. I wish I could go to these countries and meet some of my distant cousins. I wish I had the rich, multicultural experience that so many other Americans - particularly not-white Americans - have. I wish I was more educated about my heritage. I wish I felt more connected to my German, Irish, and Swedish cultural identity just as much as I feel connected to my American cultural identity.

Instead of appropriating other's culture, let's start looking back to our own. 

~The Wordshaker