What Makes Someone British? Debate Over Ancestry and Citizenship

Are you British? I am a British man. I'm an Englishman.

You're an Englishman, you're British. I am British.

Am I British? Well, I, uh, let's have, we can have a discussion about that.

Uh, I believe that to be British is about a lineage in this country, a collective ancestry.

Okay. So what's my collective ancestry? I don't know. You'll have to tell me.

So what do you define to be a collective ancestry?

Ireland- Do my, do my parents need to be born here?

Ireland, Scotland, Wales- So- ... England ... if my parents were both born here in this country, and I am born in this country, am I British?

Well, you have a British passport, but you're not part of the collective ancestry, so- My mom is born in this country. My dad is born in this country.

I am born in this country. Where would you like me to live?

Let me ask you a question then. So, and, and, and I, I think this is always an interesting thought experiment.

Go for it. Ask your racist question. Okay. I'm not a racist, but okay.

You told me I don't belong here. Um- You literally said my ancestry is not from here ... are you, are you gonna, are you gonna chill out and let me respond then?

Sure. All right. Thank you. Let's, sorry. Is a, sorry, is a privileged white male gonna tell me to chill out?

If I went to Bangladesh- Yep ... and then I married an English woman in Bangladesh, and I had a child in Bangladesh, would my child be Bengali?

No, because you're not born in Bangladesh.

So if I married an English woman in Bangladesh, I had an English child, and then my English child married an E- an E- an English, well, when they grew up, married another English person and then had a child, that child would then be what? Bengali.

Both. It's called dual nationality. Well, no. Do you know who would disagree with you?

Who? You. The Bangladeshi community. They, they would think it's hilarious.

You go to China, they would laugh at you.

You go to Russia, they would laugh at you.

For some reason, in Britain, we, we, we just can, anyone can be British, but in every other country, it's very obvious who's of that country and who's not.

So I'm gonna go back to my original question.

Yes. I, according to you, am I British or not? Yes or no?

On paper, you are. No, yes or no. I'm answering your question. Yeah, but there's this thing called nuance in a conversation, and it should be respected. It's how debates work.

So legally speaking, as it stands, yes, you have a British passport, so legally, yes. In terms of- Do you believe I shouldn't do?

I, I don't believe you are British. And that is why white, middle-class men like you should not be telling women of color who they are.