Thread by @tweetraychang

The first time I remember hearing “go back to where you came from,” I was in school. I was in a new school and one of five Asians.

At that age, I didn’t know how to process it. Though I was born and raised in the U.S., I assumed where I belonged was “back in Korea.”

“Go back to where you came from” was said to me because of how I looked.

It couldn’t have been because of how I acted because I ate like “everyone else,” talked like “everyone else,” and did what “everyone else” did.

Who you say “go back to where you came from” communicates who you believe belongs and doesn’t belong.

But more, it communicates a lack of humility and an abundance of pride that you have a monopoly on how things should be - on who should be included and who should be excluded.

“Go back to where you belong” shows where attitudes of racial supremacy and dominance reside.

Sadly, you see this within Christian spaces as well.

But always, it rests in an unwillingness to change so others can experience belonging.

Christians will say this about churches and Christian organizations. They will say, “you should go somewhere else” when they seek to maintain racial and cultural hegemony despite having shared theological convictions.

Worse, they find all sorts of ways to justify their hegemony.

People who most often hear “go back to where you come from.”:
- foreigners
- Asian Americans
- Middle Eastern Americans
- Latino Americans
- African Americans
- Eastern Europeans with accents

You can only say “go back to where you came from” if you believe this a church, organization, or country belongs primarily to you and people who look like you.