Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Foreign Devils Left My House

I've lived in assorted countries as a student & teacher; over 28 years as a foreigner! (About 14 years in Japan & Korea as a racial minority). This could be characterized as miserable or wonderful - mostly it's been good. There are many thousands of people such as myself: highly skilled global migrants who regularly learn to enjoy new tastes & experiences. Our numbers are increasing.

Mixed-race people are also increasing in number (I've Hawaiian, Chinese & European roots). In comparison with citizenship, racial ancestry is less likely to be public knowledge and is often misreported: U.S. President Barack Obama is regularly termed "Black" when he's as much Caucasian as otherwise. Racial groupings and definitions are imprecise and often used as a mechanism for exclusion...

I've lived in Sweden since 1995, and was a foreigner until a couple of months ago, when I joined my American-born wife as a naturalized Swede with multiple citizenship. Now I feel more interest as a local stakeholder, and more empowered. It's nice.