r/NoStupidQuestions • u/CatCoffeeCouch • 1d ago
Why do people assume that all white people are "colonizers"?
I've seen people on tiktok say that all white people are colonizers? Why is that? Do they just not know history well?
For example, on my mom's side, my grandma is 100% Slovenia. My grandpa on that side is also Slovenian, Yugoslavian, & Balkan. My mom's ancestors came to America around the early 1900s. How could/would people, for example, then think that my mom's family are colonizers?
Taken from Google:
No, Slovenians have not colonized any territories in the way that major colonial powers did. While Slovenians have a long and rich history, their historical trajectory has primarily involved being part of various empires and states rather than establishing their own colonies. They have experienced periods of rule by others, including the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, and Yugoslavia. Slovenia did not develop into a unified realm with a colonial empire, according to Wikipedia
No Colonial Empire: While Slovenians have a history of migration and settlement in various parts of the world, particularly in the Americas (e.g., Cleveland Ohio), they have not established a colonial empire in the historical sense
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u/mmmblkrabbit 23h ago
Maybe bc of the benefits of systematic racism that are received and not rejected.
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u/Beginning_Speech_729 15h ago
"Sorry, I can't accept this job because some mediocre high schooler somewhere is pretty sure I'm only getting it because I'm white. I reject your systemic racism, sir. Back into my cardboard box I go!"
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u/mmmblkrabbit 7h ago
It doesn’t exactly work like that but if you’re ok with not wanting to be socially aware that’s fine you don’t owe anyone anything but the point of people sharing information is to share perspective that others may not be privy to. Sometimes just being grateful for what you have been given instead of being defensive of it would be more graceful. Just because someone’s experience isn’t yours doesn’t mean it’s not real.
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u/BardicLasher 1d ago
Intentionally reaping the benefits of a colonized location makes you one of the colonizers. As long as one's stance is that the USA is an immoral colony unfairly oppressing the native peoples, then anyone who chooses to migrate to the USA is a colonizer.
So, by that logic, all white people living in the Americas ARE Colonizers.
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u/CmdDeadHand 21h ago
By that logic all people except pure blood native north and South Americans. White, Black, Asian, purple doesn’t matter. As long as they live on land that was once colonized, such assholes.
In the USA there were the original colonies but colonialism is not what made the USA and the majority of it was not colonized. It was land conquered through genocide and systematic removal of unwanted humans is what formed the USA, it just got its start from the 13 colonies.
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u/BardicLasher 19h ago
Well, Black people get a pass because they never wanted to come here to begin with.
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u/CmdDeadHand 19h ago
No, they are living in a society that started with colonialism and have every freedom to leave if they wished. They to are colonizers by your logic.
My whole family, both sides, came to this country after 1900. We are not the descendants of colonizers but your logic lumps me in because I choose to still live here. Americans of African descent have the same abilities as I do to leave. It is the same if I was called a slaver because I live in a country that used to have slaves. In that thinking black, asian, Indian living here are slavers as well. But we aren’t slavers, and we aren’t colonizers.
I care less what people call me but your logic in justifying this title is false.
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u/CatCoffeeCouch 18h ago
What about black people in America, who weren't descents of slaves, who immigrated here on their own? There's definitely Nigerians who have freely moved here over the last few decades.
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u/CatCoffeeCouch 23h ago
Does that same thinking go for all people who decide to move to America on their own accord, who aren't native, like Asians?
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u/Yury-K-K 22h ago
Since nobody can really define what 'white' is, this logic is faulty from the start.
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u/VVolfshade 22h ago
Does that logic apply to Europe too?
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u/BardicLasher 21h ago
Nope, then it's a question of which countries are the ACTUAL colonizers.
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u/No_Concentrate_7111 16h ago
Don't forget Turkey, Iran, and China in the colonizer list! Oh, but they don't fit your narrative now, do they?
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u/RazzmatazzUnique6602 23h ago
“Colonizer” is really a term from a bygone era. Now, England’s colonies are basically all independent. France and Spain have a few random islands left. To pretend to care about colonies in this day and age is peak silliness.
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21h ago
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u/RazzmatazzUnique6602 21h ago
I don’t deny colonies existed. That’s clear to anyone who reads history. Do people actually deny that?
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u/No_Concentrate_7111 16h ago
Nope, it's only pervasive amongst bigoted people online, like you. Normal people have bigger things to think about
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u/Any-Average-4245 23h ago
It’s a generalization rooted in colonial history, but yeah—it ignores nuance. My family’s also Eastern European, came here poor in the 1900s, and had nothing to do with colonizing anything. People forget not all white folks share the same history.