Thank you for writing this piece. These thoughts are precious to me and I am so glad other "white" people are beginning to look for their cultural roots. I was born and raised in Scotland but married an American at twenty-one, and have lived here ever since. We spent our first 11 years of marriage in the deep South (New Orleans) where my identity went from being a Scots girl, to a "white" woman. I had been raised in a multi-cultural spiritual community, but in the South my views about race and equality were very quickly silenced -especially at church! Recently I have began to dig into my Scottish roots in a way that I never have before. In truth it was teaching from Native American scholars that inspired me to go back and find my own roots again. Scots culture is thick with dialect, story, song and humor. For the longest time I just accepted my new "white" American identity and went with that narrative, but to be honest it just doesn't satisfy. It takes the thousands of micro-cultures of Europe (and Appalachia, and New York, and countless other cultures) and rolls them into one flat, plain, "Walmart-type" standardized product. This leaves us feeling bland - a people who without roots. No wonder so many young folk are falling for the lie of white supremacy in their eager desire to belong to something and be "someone". I want better for my kids. I recently took them (again) to Scotland, and this time we talked a lot about language, about history, about their ancestors. Please keep doing the work you are doing. I think American white folk imagine it would be beyond difficult for them to connect to their European roots, but it's not so hard if we will make a little effort. There is so much treasure there to discover about the people we came from. Also ... I recently learned more about my great grandmother on my mother's side. She was a Spanish Jew who lived in Istanbul. She spoke another language than me, worshipped with another religion, lived in another culture, but I am her progeny and now that I have my own grandkids I am beginning to see just how connected we all are!
Thank you for writing this piece. These thoughts are precious to me and I am so glad other "white" people are beginning to look for their cultural roots. I was born and raised in Scotland but married an American at twenty-one, and have lived here ever since. We spent our first 11 years of marriage in the deep South (New Orleans) where my identity went from being a Scots girl, to a "white" woman. I had been raised in a multi-cultural spiritual community, but in the South my views about race and equality were very quickly silenced -especially at church! Recently I have began to dig into my Scottish roots in a way that I never have before. In truth it was teaching from Native American scholars that inspired me to go back and find my own roots again. Scots culture is thick with dialect, story, song and humor. For the longest time I just accepted my new "white" American identity and went with that narrative, but to be honest it just doesn't satisfy. It takes the thousands of micro-cultures of Europe (and Appalachia, and New York, and countless other cultures) and rolls them into one flat, plain, "Walmart-type" standardized product. This leaves us feeling bland - a people who without roots. No wonder so many young folk are falling for the lie of white supremacy in their eager desire to belong to something and be "someone". I want better for my kids. I recently took them (again) to Scotland, and this time we talked a lot about language, about history, about their ancestors. Please keep doing the work you are doing. I think American white folk imagine it would be beyond difficult for them to connect to their European roots, but it's not so hard if we will make a little effort. There is so much treasure there to discover about the people we came from. Also ... I recently learned more about my great grandmother on my mother's side. She was a Spanish Jew who lived in Istanbul. She spoke another language than me, worshipped with another religion, lived in another culture, but I am her progeny and now that I have my own grandkids I am beginning to see just how connected we all are!