Why doesn't my bf like to talk of his diverse heritage?

Question

He was born in Manhattan(working class ethnic neighborhood) and raised upstate in a beautiful Northern Appalachian area. His father is a Marine Vietnam veteran and NYC union ironworker who is very proud of being an Ironworker(and I must agree it takes big balls to go that many stories above NYC and walkin on beams as thick as your finger), so naturally my daughters bf followed him into Ironwork. We raised her in Conroe TX and are multi gen Texans. Her bf also comes from an old time family having been in New York City since the revoluationary war era on his moms side(whos father was a English and Dutch descent protestant who has pilgrim ancestors and a Catholic mother of French, German, Welsh and Mohawk Native Amer ancestry) and since the 1830s/1840s on his dads side who is mostly Irish and Sicilian descent except one swarthy Eastern European Jewish great grandfather who was born in Brooklyn in 1899, served in WW1 and converted to Catholicism. He has family who have been in New York City, Youngstown OH, Lancaster PA and northern West Virginia for many generations, his family is huge and mostly Catholic and Protestant. He however only speaks with his family in NY and Youngstown. My bf has never registered to vote tho his family are what I call blue collar Reagan Democrats who would not like Tea Party but are old school Dems/Conservatives who liked Bush and not Obama. I'm from east Texas. My family as I know isn't that mixed. They are mainly Scot Irish, English.

Answer 1

I wonder if it has anything to do with the way your talk about it? The phrase that stuck out to me was "one swarthy Jew".



As a Jewish person, this set my teeth on edge. Perhaps he doesn't like the way you have exotisized his past to make him sound like something alien? I have met people who live in places with few or no Jewish people who harbor some odd ideas about what "Jewish" means. Many of them think that they see only positives in the word, but then discuss Jewish people like something very unusual indeed.



I'm not terribly unusual. I'm an ordinary public school teacher living in NYC, raising 2 kids.



I'm Jewish on both sides, but my parents come from very different places. That doesn't make me exotic. Your daughter's boyfriend isn't exotic, either.

Answer 2

Some people don't think about ethnicity as much. For example in the bible it doesn't really focus that much on people's ethnic group I think. It focuses more on who they are as a person I think.

Answer 3

Strange ethnic look? All his ethnicities are white and/or European other than the putatative 'Native american' with is back a good 150 years ago if really documented and not just a family 'tale.'

Answer 4

Some guys don't like to talk about themselves all the time.

Some girls do nothing but talk about themselves and talk about others.

Answer 5

Is your boyfriend a Kirschbaum?