Yuri's post reminded me about the racial "tribes" when I lived in the US. When I wrote I've never considered belonging in a "tribe" 2 posts ago I meant that from a purely racial perspective. I've never felt that I was a part of a specific racial tribe. But I have belonged to a particular group of friends that shared common interests and tastes; for all intents and purposes, a tribe. At school kids tend to make groups of friends based on these aspects of tribes. People who like a particular sport, similar sense of humor, likes to go shopping at the mall for days on end et cetera et cetera. Sure some people may group with likewise races (Asians with Asians, Latinos with Latinos, you get the idea) but thats not because they feel compelled to be together because they're of the same ethnic group, it's because they have similar cultural sensibilities they have from their native countries. Ultimately the only thing that bonds these people are their cultures. People who would never become friends in their native country unite solely for their cultural similarity. At my high school a bunch of Japanese kids and Korean kids were grouped together and had formed what we called "the Asian group". They were mostly people who recently came to America, most of them on their 1-5th year there. Their group formed because they had similar cultural differences compared to American culture. If they lived in, say either Korea or Japan they would never form their group like they did in the US. I tried to squeeze into a group of Japanese kids in middle school (the Japanese and Koreans were separated but knew each other then). I figured, "They're Japanese so I'd fit in". I never felt comfortable being with them. After a while I found a group of people who were actually similar to me, and they were people from completely different ethnic backgrounds(including myself, being Japanese), but were united under not race or cultural similarities but similar interest and personalities with our own inside jokes, memes, nicknames, and hilarious episodes.
I guess what this long-winded and pretentious post all boils down to is that, these "racial tribes" maybe what you are, but you shouldn't get it mixed up with who you are.
PS-for a second I thought I saw an insect crawling across my computer screen and freaked out for a sec, turns out it was the Koi pond :/
