Why America’s Obsession With Race Feels Odd to Germans | Feli from Germany

👉The first time I was asked about my "race" in the US, I was pretty stumped! I had never been asked this before and couldn't believe that people actually have to state if they're white or black. In Germany, this would be illegal. So, let's talk about race in the US compared to Germany!

▸Mailing address:
PO Box 19521
Cincinnati, OH 45219
USA
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0:00 Race Forms in the US
6:09 German History With Race
10:25 The German Word "Rasse"
13:12 Why the USA Collectes Racial Data
15:21 Same Goal - Different Approach
16:16 Growing up in Germany: Lack of Racial Awareness?
21:49 How Language Influences the Way We Think
24:14 Historical Reasons for Different Approach
25:10 Racism in Germany
26:43 Subcultures & Clichés
28:43 Downside of the German Approach
30:46 Abuse of Race & Ethnicity Data
33:03 Do Racial Categories Create Division?
34:53 Conclusion
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LINKS:
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ABOUT ME: Hallo, Servus, and welcome to my channel! My name is Felicia (Feli), I'm 30 years old, and I'm a German living in the USA! I was born and raised in Munich, Germany but have been living in Cincinnati, Ohio off and on since 2016. I first came here for an exchange semester during my undergrad at LMU Munich, then I returned for an internship, and then I got my master's degree in Cincinnati. I was lucky enough to win the Green Card lottery and have been a permanent resident since 2019! In my videos, I talk about cultural differences between America and Germany, things I like and dislike about living here, and other topics I come across in my everyday life in the States. Let me know what YOU would like to hear about in the comments below. DANKE :)

[FelifromGermany]

▸What are YOUR experiences and opinions on this topic? Have you ever experienced racism? Which of the two approaches do you agree with more? 🤔👇

[daliayassin]

I am an Egyptian who lived in Germany for many years. A few years ago, I moved to the US. When I first arrived, I didn't pay attention to people's skin color. I didn't even notice if the person I was talking to was white, Hispanic, or black. I didn't think it mattered. But over time, I started to notice and now I prefer the way things are done in Germany. I don't think constantly talking about race helps. I believe that if we stop making such a big deal out of skin color, racism will eventually fade away. Ultimately, people should be treated equally and hired based on their skills.

[jb]

As someone who grew up in former Soviet union, I was extremely confused by the term "Caucasian" used in USA as a synonym to those of European race. In Russia and some other ex-Soviet countries this term is used to describe people native to Caucasus region, such as Georgians, Azeris, Armenians, Chechens, etc. In the 1990s there was a lot of prejudice against Caucasians in Russia (and there still is), they were stereotyped as criminals and terrorists, would be attacked by neonazis, profiled by police, face discrimination and were not considered white, some common racial slurs were based on their perceived "non-whiteness" (by USA standards majority of Caucasians would be considered white). Racial definitions can vary a lot in different regions based on various historical factors, and can make no sense outside those regions. So for someone outside USA American racial categories can look very strange and illogical, and so does American preoccupation with race and categorizing people based on it in general.

[dorisschneider-coutandin]

Thing is that I as a German would never introduce myself to another person as "Hi, I'm D., a proud, white, Christian female. How are you?" In the USA, this happens frequently. And in the next sentence you might even hear from them "I work as a XYZ and make about 65, 000 Dollars per year". Mind-boggling.

[Dime]

As a polish person this “race” stuff always seemed messed up to me
Maybe because polish word rasa is used for dog breeds and is rarely used to refer to humans
Even if someone used the word in this context around me I always felt weird because people aren’t dogs or cats

[Zepol]

It does feel weird why I as an American have to sign off for what ethnicity or race I am for employment, it should not be there for any reason.

[merlehendriks]

I was on vacation in NYC in 2019, we were in the metrostation when a man next to us had an epileptic seizure and fell on his head. Blood started to flow out of his head so we went to the nearest emergency pole and called 911. My brother explained what happened and the first question that the dispatcher asked was ‘is he white, black or hispanic?’. The man looked Latino, so my brother said hispanic. (We’re dutch, btw) At first we thought it was for identification, but soon realised that the metrostation was nearly empty (it was late in the evening) so there’s no way they wouldn’t have seen the guy laying on the ground with a pool of blood around him. When they finally arrived 15 minutes (!!) later they only brought a first aid kit and walked over to the man in the slowest pace ever. That was not to ‘eliminate’ racism, that very much was racism. If your first question is what is the persons ‘race’ and not for example ‘how long ago did it happen?’ or ‘how much blood did he lose?’ or anything like that then it really sounds like racism to me.

[beingmeshach]

as a black American i’m subscribing because this video was very informative and we need more people like you educating us about things we may not know

[Alejojojo]

Im from Spain, and that adds a whole new layer when you need to fill the survey. I am very "white looking" im blond, tall, green eyes, blond beard etc so I am confused as German or Anglo. Since I am Spanish I was born in Europe. Thus on the census It's always confusing if I should mark Caucasian White, White Latino etc... according to the Census you are Latino (which also includes Brazil) or Hispanic only if you are born in Spanish Speaking America but if you are born in Europe you have to write Caucasian White. So Spain's position is very odd in the census and in reality you can mark what you like since it contradicts itself, at least in the case of Spain. It doesnt help I am Basque which we do not speak a romance language or are necessarily Latin culturally.

[darthzayexeet]

As a polish guy in Berlin, when I was in school our class was naturally very diverse and no one said anything about it. We had black, asian, slavic, native american and arabic people there but “race” was never an issue or even a topic of discussion. It was way more important which country you’re from or grew up in. Like I remember having conversations with classmates where they were from and they proudly identified themselves being from a certain country (e.g. Ireland, Cameroon, South Korea, Russia etc.) but never their “race”. I never really thought about that either. Concepts like White/Caucasian and Asian are therefore pretty confusing to me bc they’re so wide in their scope and definition. I always thought more in terms of country of origin, rather than race or ethnicity

[marietgagliardi]

I'm an American and I think America's focus on race is bizarre

[hopew]

This is a really balanced and thoughtful take on the topic. I must say though, that checking boxes for race on a form is not where or when American children learn what race they are or are perceived to be. Maybe if you're white but generally, if you're a POC then as a kid you learned what race you are not from checking boxes but from your family, friends, strangers, etc. Sometimes it's a gentle awareness learned from people that love you but just as often you find out from racists saying racist crap to you and you not understanding what it even means but feeling hurt regardless. Then your loved ones have to explain what happened and why.

If you're mixed race, then the box checking could have been a source of stress b/c until a couple decades ago, you couldn't check more than one box and that forced people to choose just one which isn't accurate and basically seems like a denial of part of their heritage. Then they added the "other" box so multiracial people could use that if they didn't want to choose one race. Then they added the mixed race or multiracial option as well as letting you check more than one box. So, it's something that evolves over time.

So yeah, I can see how older kids and adults coming to this country for the 1st time would be shocked at the race question on forms and I can see how that could be the catalyst for them starting to see the world, themselves, and other people through a racial lens that they previously did not. But that generally isn't what happens to kids born here; obviously there's always exceptions. Racial data collecting is not the cause of racism in this country. It's always been here since the colonizers landed. The data can be used for evil or for good, but the data is just data it is neither good nor bad, it's data.

[ivanott]

I visited US a few years ago and I only stayed for 2 weeks. Within those 2 weeks, I was asked EXTENSIVELY where I'm from multiple times. When I said, I'm from Australia, and then they started asking where my parents are from until where's my great grandparents are from. Seriously, I'm a native Australian and I really don't know any further than where's my grandpa is from.

[Gnatz]

what is always confusing with the word "caucasian" is that this region " the caucasus" is not even european^^ its located between the northeastern border of turkey, near russias south border where armenia, aserbaidjan and Georgia (not to confuse with the US State) are located. :D

[fallen-ilze]

As an asian grown up in Germany, I wish that there were some more awareness regarding racism. In school, I was mobbed because of my asian looks and if I were trying to search for help, teachers didn't really do much and didn't even clarify why the mobbing kids are wrong or should not say the things they did (or even think in this way, but that's hard to change if you were grown up in such an environment, but the more it is important to teach students beginning from a young age on). The only thing I was told everytime was "he/she did not mean it maliciously" or "don't take it too seriously" and I was sent away sometimes without even talking to the mobber (I mean, sometimes there were teachers who were also racists and that was a horrendous time..., but also the non-racists were like that because they didn't experienced mobbing or don't know how it would feel like missing kind of an empathy as a social educated teacher).
These early days shaped me so drastically in a bad way, and the worst part is that those (former) mobbers and teachers or any other people related to this do not recognize it...

[eswarjuri]

This becomes weird once you realize it’s 2024 and there are Black people from Europe, whose parents were also born there, meaning they don’t have any connection to Africa or America!

[wilynoppen]

Article 1 Dutch Constitution
“All those in the Netherlands are treated equally in equal cases. Discrimination on grounds of religion, belief, political opinion, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or on any other grounds is not permitted.”

[barrysteven]

I've heard several stories of black British people visiting the USA having to explain that they thought of themselves as British first rather than African British and were definitely not African American as some insisted they must be. I don't think of myself as white British either. I'm just English or British. Or Geordie!!
It is illegal in the UK to ask for somebody's ethnic background on a job application.
Also I remember a funny video made by an American (African American) living in London giving tips to American visitors. One of the things he told his viewers was that the Brits would not regard different coloured Americans as being different from each other. They're all just 'bloody yanks'. 😂

[schildkroete]

As an Asian kid growing up in a predominantly white community in the US, it wasn't my parents or teachers who it in my head that I was racially different from everyone else. It was actually white kids in my own school who were parroting racist sentiments they heard from their siblings or parents who told me that I was Chinese or Japanese, as they were making fun of me for my "slanted eyes". No labeling of my race could have contributed to the racism I experienced in elementary school. If your society already has people who harbor racist attitudes that manifest themselves as actual poorer treatment of minorities, then documenting race in order to track those disparities in quality of living is more beneficial than harmful.

[vpeyhpe]

I was very surprised by the meaning of the term "Caucasian" in the USA. I come from Russia, my ethnic group is Ossetians. Ossetians are a small Indo-Iranian people who live in Russia in the Caucasus region. In Russia, "Caucasians" are people who live in the Caucasus Mountains (Ossetians, Circassians, Chechens, etc.). Very often people from the central regions of the country call us "black" people. They say this not because of our skin color, but because of our eye and hair color. Unlike Slavs, who are mostly blond with light eyes, Caucasians have black hair and dark eyes. We Caucasians often face prejudice and labels in our country. Stereotypically, we are considered stupid (because we often speak Russian with an accent), aggressive and dangerous. Although there are many creative people among Caucasians, famous writers, composers, artists, conductors, dancers, athletes.