When you don't inherit your ethnic culture anymore

I'm a second-generation British Asian, but having been educated to a high level, and not your stereotypical ethnic minority with (in my case) a thick Indian accent, I feel more like a third-generation person. My parents, though very strict with me, didn't really impress upon me my own culture in terms of religion although I have had to absorb the cultural stuff, due to the expectations and interactions between other Asians and myself. They assume I am just like them >_<. I don't know all of it, and I speak my "native" language rather badly, but I tend to feel that my native language is actually English.

I guess all I can do is try to be as aware of the culture of my parents as I already am of British culture. You don't have to choose sides; as long as you show you are not incredibly ignorant of either, people from both backgrounds will still respect you and hopefully understand that not being able to clearly identify with a particular culture doesn't make you any less of a decent human being.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I have to disagree. I think that a lot of problems are in the world because of loyalty to one's own race, often misplaced. It should never be "us" against "them". It is a teaching in a religion you may be familiar with that people should learn more about other cultures as well as their own. Self-segregation by one group only leads to more, reactionary segregation by other ethnic groups. As someone who has suffered at the hands of people with a mindset like yours, however innocent the intentions may be, it is abundantly clear to me that being overly zealous in this regard isn't the answer.

I don't try to see black/brown/yellow; I try to see "good" and "evil". And the only way to do that is to get to know someone and then judge them based on their own merits.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Define yourself by your own actions, rather than what people label you as. You don't have to subscribe to a stereotype.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.