ThirstyFish

A "native" New Yorker.

Does being a native mean anything anymore? Did it ever? New York City is the most populous city in the United States and approximately 37% of its population is foreign born. As many as 800 languages are spoken in the city.

Everyone living in the United States is ultimately an immigrant. Even "Native" Americans" are the descendents of immigrants who migrated approximately 15,000 years ago. In paleoanthropology, the most widely accepted model of the geographic origin of modern humans is the "Out Of Africa Theory". Just 60,000 years ago, we were all "native" to Africa.

Throughout history, there has been contempt between the descendents of immigrants and recent immigrants. At times, contempt and violence has overwhelmingly targeted "natives", and at other times, the "newcomers". This meaningless conflict continues to this day - in New York City and in the rest of the world...