The different meanings behind ‘where are you from?’

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on January 17, 2018.

“What’s in a name? (Would not) that which we call a rose, by any other word smell as sweet?” Not if you are like many Canadians who continue to make an “other” out of those born in Canada with last names which reflect ethnic origins not of the British isles or of France. In southern Alberta one might also add German to that exclusive list.

How many times do those with names like Bullard, Smith or Robertson get asked when they first meet someone if they are British? Very few, one would hazard a guess. The question seems absurd, in fact, given how long most of those families have been in Canada. But how often does someone with the name Brakowski, Rajpinder or Papadoulos, whose families have been in Canada equally long, get asked that same question? Phrased something like: “You said Brakowski? Where are you from?” The answer to which might be: Gull Lake, Sask. But that doesn’t seem to satisfy the asker in most instances, and they press the point by making clear they mean your family’s ethnic origins. It happens more often than you might think.

The question is mostly innocent and likely phrased out of simple curiosity, and most who experience this unspoken bias take it in that more positive light when encountering it. So why is it a problem? It makes manifest the idea that there are still two different classes of Canadians despite how fluently you express yourself in your English mother tongue or how long your family has been in this country. Is it as pressing a problem as the sometimes overt racism or prejudice expressed toward new Canadians who might have an odd accent when they speak? No, obviously not, but it is still an underlying dynamic of Canadian society.

So when President Donald Trump asked a long-time U.S. intelligence agent, who happened to be Korean-American, earlier this week where she was from? She returned the answer in a New York accent: “Manhattan, the same as you.” Of course he pushed the point and asked: “I mean where are your people from?” This does not reflect any special racism or prejudice on the part of Trump; the man’s other actions and words of the past few weeks may arguably speak much louder to that perception. Rather, Trump is just reflecting the same unpre-meditated bias many Canadians and Americans continue to have.

There is nothing wrong with curiosity. There is nothing wrong with asking family origins as a jump-off point to other polite topics of conversation. Just make sure when you do ask such questions it is truly coming from that place of kindred hope and polite curiosity, and not because of an unconscious prejudice.