Na Boomstie: She is a mixed raced person born in Canada to a Romanian father and a Chinese mother and holds a British Citizenship nothing more and nothing less.
James King-Nickol: Whaaaaat? The British haven’t ‘claimed’ her, she’s chosen to be a British athlete. I don’t know why her choice should leave a bitter taste in your mouth especially since it’s not like she came to the UK last year and decided to be British on a whim. ‘Nothing to do with Britain’ – well this is so completely wrong. She has lived in the UK since she was 2, she goes to school here, all her friends are here, she has grown up in this culture. And with her tennis, she has developed under the LTA – the UK tennis institution that made sure she got the development she needed. That claim of ‘Nothing to do with Britain’ is soooooooo completely wrong. Now her wiki says that she goes to Romania, loves the culture, visits her grandfather etc. But that does not mean she will choose Romania. And my Romanian girlfriend has told me what support Simona Halep has had from Romania and that should leave a far more bitter taste in your mouth that Emma Raducanu choosing to be British (her choice, not ‘claimed’). Compared to the support the UK tennis scene has given her and the UK fans give, Romania isn’t exactly an enticing alternative. Bună seara și multă baftă
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Na Boomstie: Is a mixed-race person with British citizenship nothing more and nothing less. If my kids born in Japan and grow up in Japan they don’t turn Japanese. David pickup Japanese culture and we’ll have Japanese friends but there won’t be Japanese I don’t understand why is it so difficult for you to understand this. Just because she studied her and she has friends here and she livef here all her life that does not make her a British person. She is British national and a citizen and that’s about it. If both of your parents are from Africa and you born in Britain that does not make you British that makes you and every can person with a British citizenship. Lewis Hamilton claims that he’s black which is another lie, but everyone is quite happy with this I am not Lewis Hamilton is a mixed race person he’s not black and he’s not white and just because he feels black that doesn’t change the fact that he’s mixed raced the same goes for Obama also claims to be black.
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James King-Nickol: Those were not my points, and they weren’t yours either. You said she had ‘Nothing to do with Britain’ when she very obviously does. Just as in your children in Japan example, you couldn’t claim your children had ‘Nothing to do with Japan’ if they’d lived there for most of their upbringing, had been educated and developed there. And if ‘David’ had chosen to represent Japan as a sportsperson, that’s also not ‘Japan claiming David’, that’s everything to do with David’s choice. You’re also confusing ethnicity with nationality. When athletes represent their country, in most sports it is defined by their nationality and citizenship, not by their ethnicity. Nationality is ‘legally’ belonging to a country, their country of citizenship. Ethnicity is more genetic and to some extent cultural. British is a nationality. White-British is an ethnicity. As is Black-British, British-Asian and many more. There are many ethnicities that belong to the nationality of Britain due to immigration from India, France, the Carribean, Australia and so many more places. And it’s not just a British thing. You have moved to Austria, there are many ethnic Hungarians in Romania, ethnic Russians in Ukraine, the list is endless. There’s also precedent with sportspeople including tennis. Martina Navratilova chose to become a U.S. citizen. And if, in your example, David who’d lived in Japan all his life and became a tennis player, he would need Romanian citizenship to represent Romania. If he didn’t already have it and legally only had Japanese citizenship at that time then he would need to get Romanian citizenship. Emma Raducanu is a British citizen, therefore she is regarded as a British player. The bitter taste in your mouth is because someone who you think is not ethnically British is claiming to be British for a sport when that’s a matter of nationality and citizenship, not ethnicity.
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Na Boomstie: I must admit you thought me a lot and I would like to say thank you very much and you are absolutely right. I was confused and was somewhat disappointed that it was never mentioned that her father is Romanian and her mother is Chinese all I hear on BBC that the British player the British player the British player so I educated myself so I was rather confused why this information was never mentioned . But you educated me you took your time and explained in a manner which I completely understand and you are totally right. But since you are smart and dedicated man could you please explain me why most mixed-race people call themselves black. In particular in Lewis Hamilton’s case if I would be his mother I wiould be very much disappointed. Now I have 3 mixed mixed raced children on my own and if they call themselves black when they grow up then I’m not sure I will be respecting them because that means that my race would be completely ignored by them I really would like to hear your opinion about this. Puzzle since you explain it in a way which is educated and not abusing I would like to offer you my friendship because I’m only interested to talk to people for whom I can learn something and those ones are extremely hard to find. you respected my opinion but put things right so that is very important to me. I’m very happy to be wrong and if I’m wrong I put my hands up but most of people abusing me for my opinion and I don’t appreciate that. Everybody should have an opinion regardless if it’s wrong or right.
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