Why are they labelled as "british-asians"?

Question

i'm not asian, but i have asian friends(including both south and east asians)

but i never understood why they were called british-asians and asians, but never just british.

if they're a british citizen, they are just brits.

they don't have to be labelled british-asians, but people insist calling them that.

i personally think it's ridiculous and i know some of you will say that it's part of their culture, blah blah blah

but no. i'm of german descent, but would YOU call me british-german?

it's the most ridiculous thing in the world.

Answer 1

Because people are stupid and they couldn't accept differences for the past 3 million years and they won't now.  Just ignore it.  It's their problem.

Answer 2

I don't know what to tell you. I am Native American, and one of my best friends is African American.

Answer 3

Same thing over here in the US my boyfriend is asian but born in the US but people still ask where he is from even after he says New York........

Answer 4

We'd call you anglo-saxon... Saxon meaning German anyway.

They're labelled like that because people can't see past colour. It's the PC way of making distinctions between people.

This really irritates me too- I'm a student primary teacher, and people's attitudes towards these little children is disgusting. As far as they know, they're just as British as everyone else in the country. They were born here, their parents were born here and possibly their parents too. Like every other 8 year old in the country, they like High School Musical and princesses.

It's a shame that they'll have to grow up in a country where they'll be made to feel like terrorists, simply for not being white.

Answer 5

I have to ask my clients at work for their ethnicity ... I hate doing it but I am obliged (because of the funding for my project) to collect statistics ... the categories are those set down by some higher powers-that-be who want evidence that we are reaching all parts of the community ... the "British" Asian and black "British" was added some years ago because of protests from people of foreign descent who have lived in the UK for several generations who objected to being in the same classification as people who have just arrived and it made them feel that they didn't belong ... I'm not sure whether the addition of the word "British" makes them feel more like they belong but it does kind of acknowledge that they might have been around here for a while ... as for you, when I'm dealing with white people of other than British descent, I put them down as "white other" (the categories I've been given are white British, white Irish and white other)... the biggest problem I hit is whether I put Turkish people down as "white other" (because they might be from the European part of Turkey) or "Asian other"

yes it's ridiculous, but Government likes its statistics and the purpose behind the whole thing is to make sure people are included in society