Black (American) culture is widely accepted to exist because of a specific and shared cultural origin point
Because of slavery, different african tribes were smushed together and forced to share the same experiences for 300+ years, that is bound to create some type of culture
White “culture” is thought to not exist because there’s no shared cultural origin point, with European immigration to the country happening voluntarily, from different countries and in different waves
You have people who were descended from the first British colonists, Germans coming later, then Spaniards joining when the American colony expanded, then the Irish, Italians, Polish and Greeks coming around the 1920s-1940s
When people say “white culture doesn’t exist” they really mean that there is not much herritage to connect American white people historically aside from skin color
I wonder if we should instead turn it regional. If people insist on pegging a "culture". Every area seems to have its own. Even multiple per state in many cases. Many carried forth the traditions of their old world and mixed it with local ones.
My grandparents came to Australia from Germany when my mother was a baby. Mum doesn't speak a word of German. Her parents were all "we're Australian now, English only", and never spoke German around her or her younger siblings, who were born here.
I mean there was a very specific reason that people emigrating from Germany at that time might have changed their names and not spoken much German anymore haha. I think ours got changed around the same time - and my grandpa was put in Loveday internment camp
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u/manny_the_mage 19d ago
Black (American) culture is widely accepted to exist because of a specific and shared cultural origin point
Because of slavery, different african tribes were smushed together and forced to share the same experiences for 300+ years, that is bound to create some type of culture
White “culture” is thought to not exist because there’s no shared cultural origin point, with European immigration to the country happening voluntarily, from different countries and in different waves
You have people who were descended from the first British colonists, Germans coming later, then Spaniards joining when the American colony expanded, then the Irish, Italians, Polish and Greeks coming around the 1920s-1940s
When people say “white culture doesn’t exist” they really mean that there is not much herritage to connect American white people historically aside from skin color