TCK’s experiences can defy many of our North American assumptions about racism. Identity can be stronger with a racial group other than one’s own, and because of this, the North American “rules” of “race” and colour often don’t hold true for the TCK. ‘The race relations in the United States are not recognized by TCK when they return, and thus they have to learn them at a different stage in their lives. They have not been socialized with the racism and definitions of race like most Americans have.’ (source)
So, is this statement true, false or…? If you’re a TCK, how does this measure up in your experience (whether or not you’re from the US)?
This is absolutely true. And when I try to explain this to others (including academics) who are non-TCK, they cannot figure out what it means. It’s sometimes (or actually most of the time) frustrating that people cannot grasp what it means to be a TCK or an ATCK.
Yeah, it’s really difficult to do, because people have been socialized and educated within the dominant monocultural or bicultural (in areas with higher immigration rates) understanding of race. But the idea that someone white is capable of identifying more closely with another ethnicity and vice versa seems absurd, I’m sure.
What we need is increased awareness in academia, in popular culture, and elsewhere of the TCK phenomenon and the growing TCK population. If TCK’s really are ‘prototypes of the 21st century’ then perhaps it’s time we shed our chameleon skin and become a little more visible in our respective cultures.
I completely agree, with one caviat. I would go even further to say that often, TCKs don’t use “race” as a self-identification variable. I know many TCKs who associate with the various cultures in which they have lived but have a hard time answering the question “what race do you identify with” at all.
Of course these are all gross generalizations, but the essence of the statement is true, there is a dire need for more public knowledge of the TCK experience, especially given the rising number of children who are growing up cross-culturally.
in college I took a job catering (I was in the inner city). I immediately gravitated to the immigrants from Mexico and elsewhere around the world, who were surprised to have a young white woman willing to hang out with them.
I still remain more comfortable with the minorities in the US than the white suburban majority. I cannot relate to the sense of entitlement that flows out of the white middle-class.