How Diverse Is Your Family?

OneEyedDiva said:
I met my cousin Daniel when a group of us headed down to South Carolina by bus for our 2015 family reunion. He came from Germany just to be with us. None of us, not even his grandmother (the excited, brown woman in the video) knew of his singing aspirations at that time. It's a trip that he prefers to be a crooner rather than sing today's music. Daniel is doing gigs in Europe and is working on an album. Not well known yet....but praying he will find the success he deserves. His grandmother keeps me posted about his endeavors. He's a very nice young man and we're very proud of him. His mother and (half) brother are also cheering him on.
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All the best to Daniel - he has a fantastic voice, and is very handsome! I wish my nephew were here to translate the German for me! One of my other nephews has been in the local music scene here since he was in his teens .. not an easy industry to break into, so - all the very best to such a talented young man. I love seeing his mother's joy.
 

Pinky said:
All the best to Daniel - he has a fantastic voice, and is very handsome! I wish my nephew were here to translate the German for me! One of my other nephews has been in the local music scene here since he was in his teens .. not an easy industry to break into, so - all the very best to such a talented young man. I love seeing his mother's joy.
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Thank you Pinky!
 
I am a German/Irish/native American mutt. I married a Cuban. Nephews and nieces are African American.
 

My husband and I have three birth daughters, we adopted two lads with special educational needs, the younger one has Down's Syndrome, we also fostered another boy with DS. Our two younger girls married and have children, our eldest grandson has just had his 18th birthday.

I have three siblings who I don't see very often as they don't live anywhere near us, we keep in touch by e-mail and phone calls. I have a number of nephews and one niece, whom I haven't seem for years, I am a great aunt too. I have many cousins, but only in touch with one of them. I still have one uncle and one aunt who are alive and in their 80s.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I only had one child and he has 5 children. But on my birthmother's side (the family I was raised in by my wonderful parents, her uncle and his wife) my family is very large. On my biological father's side...not so much. I have cousins who's spouses are Chinese, Japanese, both German and American Caucasians as well as Dominican. They all had children. My two great grand nephews' mother is Mexican. My maternal grandmother said we also have Indian (from India) and Hispanic roots and a family historian says we have German and Native American blood as well.

We have diverse religions as well....Christians (Methodist, Catholic, Baptist), Muslims and Mormons. Our occupations vary from laborers and civil servants to doctors, lawyers and entertainers: singers, recording artists, movie/T.V. actors. We don't do the "4th cousin twice removed" thing. If you're blood...you're blood. With our family it's hard to keep track anyway. And my "half sister" and I simply refer to ourselves as sisters when we speak of one another to others.

Tell us about the diversity (or lack of) in your family. Is your family large or small?
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Unfortunately, my family anymore is quite small, as everyone in previous generations has passed away, but I do have many cousins.
I agree with your dislike of the word 'half,' it makes it seem as if either a person or relationship isn't important, so I've never used that term.
As for diversity, though, my family's always been wonderfully diverse- ethnically, racially, and religiously. And as far back as my knowledge goes, those 'differences' were never an issue.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I only had one child and he has 5 children. But on my birthmother's side (the family I was raised in by my wonderful parents, her uncle and his wife) my family is very large. On my biological father's side...not so much. I have cousins who's spouses are Chinese, Japanese, both German and American Caucasians as well as Dominican. They all had children. My two great grand nephews' mother is Mexican. My maternal grandmother said we also have Indian (from India) and Hispanic roots and a family historian says we have German and Native American blood as well.

We have diverse religions as well....Christians (Methodist, Catholic, Baptist), Muslims and Mormons. Our occupations vary from laborers and civil servants to doctors, lawyers and entertainers: singers, recording artists, movie/T.V. actors. We don't do the "4th cousin twice removed" thing. If you're blood...you're blood. With our family it's hard to keep track anyway. And my "half sister" and I simply refer to ourselves as sisters when we speak of one another to others.

Tell us about the diversity (or lack of) in your family. Is your family large or small?
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I envy you! I was raised as an only child. My brother, 15 years senior to me, had Down's Syndrome and was institutionalized before I was born. He had a great sense of humor and loved to dance. Historically, my grandparents and parents were Hungarian. My mother was a Catholic hypocrite and my father was a saintly agnostic. For the good news, neither were racists or bigots. My 3 grand-kids are bi-racial (Caucasian American and African American.) I would welcome more diversity (and more people in general) in my family.
 
Empty said:
I envy you! I was raised as an only child. My brother, 15 years senior to me, had Down's Syndrome and was institutionalized before I was born. He had a great sense of humor and loved to dance. Historically, my grandparents and parents were Hungarian. My mother was a Catholic hypocrite and my father was a saintly agnostic. For the good news, neither were racists or bigots. My 3 grand-kids are bi-racial (Caucasian American and African American.) I would welcome more diversity (and more people in general) in my family.
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Empty, at least there is good news regarding your family. I was raised as an only child as well. A friend helped me find my half sister in 1998, a couple of years after my uncle told me of a half sister who had died and a half brother. It's funny, he never mentioned the sister I wound up meeting first. And I had been seeing my brother for a couple of years but didn't know who he was. He lived in the same senior building as my parents. I always assumed this man was visiting his parent(s) when I'd see him in the elevator. I became quite close with my sister and brother. I had another half brother who lived in south Jersey. My husband and I went down to meet him but we never became close.
 
My late husband was african american. My family of origin is slovak/hungarian as has early origins in asia and africa. My nephew's girlfriend who I think he will marry is of korean descent.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Empty, at least there is good news regarding your family. I was raised as an only child as well. A friend helped me find my half sister in 1998, a couple of years after my uncle told me of a half sister who had died and a half brother. It's funny, he never mentioned the sister I wound up meeting first. And I had been seeing my brother for a couple of years but didn't know who he was. He lived in the same senior building as my parents. I always assumed this man was visiting his parent(s) when I'd see him in the elevator. I became quite close with my sister and brother. I had another half brother who lived in south Jersey. My husband and I went down to meet him but we never became close.
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It would be wonderful to discover an unknown sibling. Unfortunately, there was never any indication that such a person existed in my family. My parents were next-door neighbors who met in their teens.

I had false hope raised in my early twenties when people started telling me that they had spotted me at places that I hadn't been. Evidently, I had a look-alike somewhere! I really hoped it was an unknown twin! I even asked my aunt, who denied the possibility.

How did you figure out that the man you saw for years was a sibling? That is fantastic! Through gene testing, my friend discovered that her brother was NOT a blood relative last year. It was a shock to them both, but changed nothing. ~ Em
 
A mix of English and German mostly. I'm interested in doing an ancestry test just to learn more about my lineage. My gf is Chinese so future generations will have a more varied mix.
 
My immediate family is fairly diverse; my daughter's partner is black but they don't have children yet. I have a grandbaby who is a beautiful Mexican/American mix. The rest of us are assorted caucasian mongrels.
 
C'est Moi said:
My immediate family is fairly diverse; my daughter's partner is black but they don't have children yet. I have a grandbaby who is a beautiful Mexican/American mix. The rest of us are assorted caucasian mongrels.
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In the dog world, it is known that mongrels are generally healthier. I hope that applies to people, too!
 
Empty said:
It would be wonderful to discover an unknown sibling. Unfortunately, there was never any indication that such a person existed in my family. My parents were next-door neighbors who met in their teens.

I had false hope raised in my early twenties when people started telling me that they had spotted me at places that I hadn't been. Evidently, I had a look-alike somewhere! I really hoped it was an unknown twin! I even asked my aunt, who denied the possibility.

How did you figure out that the man you saw for years was a sibling? That is fantastic! Through gene testing, my friend discovered that her brother was NOT a blood relative last year. It was a shock to them both, but changed nothing. ~ Em
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My (late) friend who knew everything and everybody found out my sister was best friends with one of my cousins. My cousin, who never realized my mother (who she grew up very close to) and father weren't my biological parents. She, against the advice of her husband, facilitated my sister and I meeting and the three of us went out for dinner. My sister who is the consummate hostess planned a breakfast at her house for me and my brother. He didn't show. She gave me his number, I called him and using my baby voice, I asked for him by his last name. She was right...he had a voice like Barry White. When he said yes I'm Mr. XXXXXX I told him I was his baby sister. He cracked up and we hit it off right away. The next time she invited us over, he came and was the one who opened the door for me. When I stepped in I said "I know you!!" We laughed and were close ever since. Unfortunately I attended his funeral on my 60th birthday.
 
In case there's anyone who's not aware of this, some c/p from politifact.com/factchecks:


"That’s what the Nazis called Jews to justify the genocide of the Jewish community..They called them untermenschen, subhuman mongrels..

The words subhuman and mongrel were used interchangeably but generally had the same derogatory meaning.

David Myers, a historian at the University of California at Los Angeles, said Adolph Hitler used the word "untermensch" or subhuman in his book Mein Kampf in 1925.

"From that point forward, it was part of the Nazi lexicon," Myers said. "That and ‘mischling’ or mongrel, were intoned with daily regularity by the Nazi propaganda machine."




More than the fact that this term has been used on this forum was the "mindboggledness" over the "Likes" those posts received. Not only is it considered acceptable, but the approach I've heard has become common- a person is only 'choosing to be' insulted by it.. Perhaps individuals who take that approach would have taken the same approach to all the human beings who were 'offed' in Nazi Germany?! I kinda thought most people here were better than that.. but I guess I was mistaken.
 
JaniceM said:
I kinda thought most people here were better than that.. but I guess I was mistaken.
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I guess that's your first mistake. Humans have proven what they can do over & over again. And why us, why would we be better?

Janice, I don't believe anyone using that term here was of ill intent. They were being humorous, IMO. Maybe their humor fell flat for you. I'm a Jew. When I was 13 my family and I were verbally attacked by a full busload of people for being Jews. Long story. Have lots of personal stories on this topic. Think I'm saying I know something about racial hatred. Maybe careless, maybe insensitive, but ............ no more to say on the matter.
 
JaniceM said:
In case there's anyone who's not aware of this, some c/p from politifact.com/factchecks:


"That’s what the Nazis called Jews to justify the genocide of the Jewish community..They called them untermenschen, subhuman mongrels..

The words subhuman and mongrel were used interchangeably but generally had the same derogatory meaning.

David Myers, a historian at the University of California at Los Angeles, said Adolph Hitler used the word "untermensch" or subhuman in his book Mein Kampf in 1925.

"From that point forward, it was part of the Nazi lexicon," Myers said. "That and ‘mischling’ or mongrel, were intoned with daily regularity by the Nazi propaganda machine."




More than the fact that this term has been used on this forum was the "mindboggledness" over the "Likes" those posts received. Not only is it considered acceptable, but the approach I've heard has become common- a person is only 'choosing to be' insulted by it.. Perhaps individuals who take that approach would have taken the same approach to all the human beings who were 'offed' in Nazi Germany?! I kinda thought most people here were better than that.. but I guess I was mistaken.
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Oh, get over it for heaven's sake. I used the term "mongrels" in jest about my own family; there was no ill-intent. You need to find a sense of humor and stop being so dramatic. A mongrel is just a "mixed breed," which I'd venture to say ALL OF US ARE.

And FYI, I am definitely a good person so you don't need to be so disappointed in humanity. Good grief, what a load of B.S. If your mind is so easily "boggled," I truly pity you.

@OneEyedDiva -- sorry the thread was side-tracked.
 

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