Pride

"More than anything else, what I liked most about Bruce was that he never apologized for being Oriental. In a time when so many Asians were trying to convince themselves they were white, Bruce was so proud to be Chinese he was busting with it.” - Amy Sanbo, writing about Bruce Lee

I don't understand when people get upset when asked, "Where are you from?" The explanation is usually that they feel like they're being attacked like they don't belong. When I get asked this question, I can go on and on about my family history.

The difference is pride.  I'm proud of my family's history, the struggles that we overcame to have the lives that we live now.  I don't assume that someone is attacking me by asking about this history.

If you feel attacked, are you ashamed of where you came from? Why are you assuming the person is not asking out of curiosity?

When you feel insulted, there is always a grain of truth and fear.

If someone calls you a guitar, you would have no reaction besides incredulousness. You only react when you have an insecurity about a concept, if you don't want to be associated with that word. An insult has to attack you where you're already weak.

The opposite of insecurity is pride. This is what "taking back" a word means. Reassociating a previously stigmatizing word with positive connotations. It's similar to Viktor Frankl's quote, "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms— to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way."

When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along. - Carl Sandburg