What is an American?
 

African Americans.... What a stupid designation for people who have dark skin.

It would be appropriate if a person immigrated from Africa, and was a first generation immigrant.

However, how many people of the so called "Negro" race in the US, do not have lineages at least 3 generations deep of being in the USA? How many people of so called "Negro", or "Hispanic" , or "Asian", or Arabic decent, are labeled by their Color, or Religious beliefs, rather than their Nationality?

Compare that to our current situation where anyone who is light skinned, and from Europe, is simply, and broadly called a "Caucasian". We are not listed as "Irish American", "German American", "Polish American". We are simply "White".

Oddly enough, Almost every one of the so called "Caucasian Races", have been vilified at some point in American History. You have to go to Scandinavia to find a Caucasian who hasn't directly opposed the US at some time.

I don't care what your skin color, or religion is, if your family has been here for more than one generation.... You are by definition an American in my opinion.

-Rakkasan

*edit, signed off with one of my other names.

:rock:

IMHO, being an American has nothing to do with race or color or religion.

It has more to do with what's inside a person.

Being an American, has more to do with how you feel when you see the Stars and Stripes go by in a parade. How you stand up - and stand more erect - and remove your hat and show the reverance that symbol deserves.

It has to do with the feeling you get in your gut when you see the white crosses at Arlington and other National Cemeteries, here and abroad.

It has to do with not feeling embarassed when you eyes well up - and your vocie quivers - as you sing and hear the National Anthem.

It has to do with the pride you have for you fathers and forefathers who fought to keep our country free.

Race, color and religion has nothing to do with being an American....but the issues borught forth regarding race, color and religion will likely be what destroys this great country.

Post of FOREVER Award, CF!! :D

I'm such a sucker for my homeland!!

I got teary-eyed watching the 1/2 time video I posted earler... especially the very end!
It was all I could do to keep my military bearing while observing "Colors" every morning, when I was active duty!
Man, I'd get annoyed with the sailors/marines who would hurry to the building when they'd hear the warning...just to avoid stopping, standing at attention, and saluting while Colors was played! I'd say, "You can't spare 30 seconds to give back to her?"

Well said, Rakkasan and Cabin Fever!!!

:clap: :clap: :clap:

To me being an American means you were either born on American soil..... or moved here legally, and met all the criteria required to become a naturalized citizen. If at anypoint someone does not like the way our founding fathers set up our great country.... dont let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya on yer way out.

It *is* a silly designation.

I am from Africa. I have become an (first generation) American. So by definition I'm an African American.

I am white.

ETA: But in my heart I am a CF-defined American. I love America and wouldn't choose to be anywhere else in the world.

If you attach something before the American you need to choose which one you are, can't be both. American isn't exactly a description. You can be any color or mixture of colors.

Glad to have ya!


Tim

I was hunting in deep south Texas this weekend.

My host was descended from folks who came to Texas from Mexico about a hundred years before my family came to America from Austria.

He is obviously "ethnic" and even speaks with what I would call an accent...not uncommon for folks from the Rio Grande Valley.

Most folks would think he is second generation at best....maybe even born in Mexico.

Looks (and accents) can be deceiving! And as stated above, meaningless in determining if someone is an American.

I'm United States Citizen.American covers too much other ground.

big rockpile

I am a Mountaineer, a resident citizen of West Virginia which Constitutionally makes me an American Citizen although my heritage is much more diverse.

Well I am a North American that is a citizen of the Untied States that lives in Arkansas. Any body that uses American as a description of the United States is only part right. American is anybody that lives in north America or Central America or South America. The United states and Canada make up North America.

Shouldn't it be 'American African' instead of African American? Just sayin'.

I'm second generation American. My heritage is Russian and German. I don't run around saying "I"m Russian American" or "I'm German American". That would be absurd, nicht vahr?

I have always detested the whole African American, Latin American, etc. To me, if you're an American, that should suffice. Why add ethnicity into the mix?

Yes, but only in the USA. Elsewhere, nobody else has a problem with it.

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Does this apply to Native Americans?

That's a really good point WG. :)

But do NA's all identify themselves as Native Americans? I don't think so. Native American is a misnomer. I think that's what other people call them, mainly because other people can't or don't want to recognize the true identities by which NA's refer to themselves. All the NA clans I know of identify themselves by their real tribal and clan designations by heritage, not by some singular and meaningless name that whites decided to lump them all together as. Native American doesn't really mean anything, it's a name stripped of identity. They never called themselves Native Americans before Europeans came to the Americas, they called themselves by their own names. They still do.

If everyone living in North America wants to be correct in how we define ourselves, we should all be calling ourselves Turtle Islanders. :grin:

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So NL, are you Canadian American?

Quote "Yes, but only in the USA."

ONLY in the U.S? Are you positive, beyond any doubt? Been to Russia in the past 10 years? Or Germany? Can you say unequivocally that *only* in the U.S., it matters?

That is what has been explained to me by two friends from different tribes. One, a Flathead from Montana calls himself an Indian or Flathead if there is some reason to identify his specific heritage.

The other friend is the Chairman of the Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation. I asked him once about a t-shirt that he had on that had "Indian" printed on it. He said that "Native American" was a phrase that non-Indians came up with and decided that it was the PC terminology. He said he nor anyone he knows ever remembers being asked their opinions on the subject.

Maybe the same happen when the terminology was changed for black Americans....the PC police didn't ask for the opinion of those affected.

I most definitely am not a Canadian-American. :shocked:

I was once married to an American-Canadian though.

I am a 3rd generation Zaporozhian-Canadian. Zaporozhian is my ethnicity through paternity and Canadian is my national citizenship and I identify as that. Not counting the hundreds of First Nations people, Canada has 26 major ethnic groups and dozens of others that are minority ethnic groups, all identify on the census by their ethnicity plus nationality, there are even Canadian-Canadians in Canada. :hysterical:

There are 6 major ethnic groups in Russia and 6 major ethnic groups in Germany (plus several other minor ethnic groups in both countries) who officially and proudly identify themselves by their ethnicity + nationality. Do you know who they are?

Hint: I'm not your google mommy (as you so often like to tell other people), so you'll have to figure it out for yourself. ;)

Yes, USA is the only country that I know of where there are so many die hard people who make such a big issue about denial of ethnicity and/or race, many of European descent refusing to recognize personal ethnicity as a legitimate part of their "American" heritage and identity. That's why USA is called a melting pot - everybody is supposed to be grey, all blended and all one flavour.

My personal opinion is that it's a form of isolationism and elitism, of distancing themselves from the rest of the world and anything that is different from them.

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Yes, that is all correct.

In Canada, as a racial group for the most part they are all referred to as The First Nations People, or more simply "The People" as they called themselves (not Indians or Native Americans). But it is recognized that there are hundreds of individual tribes (or bands) throughout all of North America who identify with their specific tribe as a separate ethnic entity apart from their race and apart from each other tribe.

Here is a list of all the First Nations tribes in Canada and USA. It is a huge list. I think we have something like 126 individual ethnic First Nations tribes just in British Columbia alone, last I heard. http://www.dickshovel.com/trbindex.html

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I come from the Valley of the "Daughter of the Stars". I am of Dutch, German and Irish decent.

I am an American!

Interesting, I am also Russian(mom)and German.Mom got here when she was 10.

I'm not officially American yet, but I will be in a couple of years. Even though it's not official, I feel American, I feel I belong here... I do mist up at the NA (if it's done well :))

I never mist up to God Save the Queen, but maybe that's because it's a crappy song ..lol. I'm one of many people who think the British National Anthem should be changed to Jerusalem..even though it's a hymn and I'm not religious, I think it's a waaaayyy better song, I like a good tune, what can I say ;) I have no connection to Italy, but I think (along with a lot of Italians) their anthem should be changed to Va Pensiero.

I will always have a nostalgia for my home country, but I'm really looking forward to being officially American :)

The Shenandoah. I live here at the northern end.
I am of Irish, Welsh, English, Scottish and Cherokee and Choctaw descent. My father was raised in the Cherokee Nation. I do not refer to myself as Native American. I say I am 1/4 Indian or Cherokee and Choctaw. My mother is white, but she was born in America. So she is a Native American. She isn't native of anywhere else.:grin:

Very good explanation. My Paternal Grandmother was full blooded Cherokee and she just referred to herself as Indian, if anything at all.

:bow:

Thank you.

BTW I am Native (Cherokee), Irish American....AKA Caucasian ......LOL :hysterical:

I do find it interesting that here at HT, I often read that people are bothered when the term African American is used and yet don't seem to be bothered when someone says something like,"I'm Italian and German..." in the course of any other topic.

It is nice to know where your forefathers came from. A few members of my family had to undergo (expensive) DNA testing in order to even get a broad idea as to where our forefathers hailed from. Count your blessings if you've never had to wonder about your origins because you have a somewhat clear ancestral path to follow. In many ways, we are like adopted children/people in the sense that we always wonder where and who we came from. Anyone who has ever spent time around a lot of adopted children can attest to the fact that many of them actually seek out their biological parents. The difference with African Americans is that there aren't just a few of us wondering about our lineage...we are all wondering.

We are referred to as African American because most of us cannot point to a single country as a place of familial origin due to slavery. It gives us a commonality and a generally wide point of origin. While many Native American tribes were decimated over the years, there are many who can at least trace their origins to a specific tribe. I think that there is some comfort in knowing your past... I wish that there were some clues to follow to learn more about mine... Thanks to DNA, I know that my father's ancesters hailed from Guinea Bissau. I am unlikely to ever have any family stories from their time.

It is highly unfair for anyone to try to tell us how we should feel about the missing branches in our family trees. Some choose to use the term African American to describe themselves and it helps them to feel connected to something larger than themselves. It is one of the few ways in which we can honor our ties to Africa.

My grandpa came over from Norway in the 1870s. His dad didn't. That's as far as I know that side of the family. The other side came from England in the early 1700s, that's as far as I know about them. I know the continent, that's close enough for me.

DW Is a naturalized citizen. She came here in her 20s (legally, with much money spent and many forms being filled out and long waits). She got 100 on her citizenship test, then he kept asking her more questions trying to stump her. When we went to the courthouse so she could register to vote, by some stupid coincidence, that cheesy Lee Greenwood song about proud to be an American was playing on the radio in the office. She was filling her form at the window, singing along, and it made the clerk tear up a little.

They played that music video at my Citizenship Ceremony, and then again at my hubby's.

I disagree most strongly.

Italian-American, African-American, Japanese-American....these phrases are just descriptive. They're not choices. They're not preferences. They're not rank ordered by patriotic feeling. They're not expressions of divided loyalty.

They're just descriptions of ethnic background. I don't understand why some folks find it so off-putting to hear of another person's ethnic lineage.

The last sentence, though, I agree with completely. We Americans come in all sorts of colors and mixtures. Hurray!

Is there such a thing as African Canadian, African Mexican, African South American, etc, etc.?

I once heard a hilarious audio of a politically correct sportscaster talking about a Canadian athlete. He was black. The guy said he is the first African-American Canadia... umm, Canadian African-Amer.. uhh African-Canadian Ammmm.... uhh...

Never really thought about that.
Wonder if there are American Africans?

There probably is. Americans who have immigrated to Africa. There's the Dutch South Africans ( a.k.a. Boers, Afrikaans) who settled in South Africa so I see no reason why there couldn't be American Africans there too.

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My SIL gets annoyed when people refer to her as African American ..she is oringinally from Trinadad.

My Dh is American and until I did geneology had no clue of his ethnic heritage I solved that issue for him. He knows his family name is from an ancetor who cam ehere in the 1720's from Holland , and that most of his family is Dutch with some German.

I know that I am a 1st generation Canadian of British, Scottish,Welsh, Irish and French heritage.

When people ask why I ahve not changed my citizenship I tell them because I don't feel American. My children I raised to be Americans. However my 2 youngest are leaning towards Dual citizenship because they feel the pull of Canada. My eldest is very efinately American through and through.

All South Africans call themselves South Africans, even if those of Dutch descent say it in their language - Suid-Afrikaner. And Afrikaans is the language. (Suid-)Afrikaner is the word you were looking for. Boer means farmer.

That's not to say there is not a divide there - the majority of whites are split into two groups - those of Dutch descent and those of British descent. But they're all proudly South African ;)

And I've never heard of anyone calling themselves an American African. :indif:

I'm Native American as I suspect most of us are.
I was born and raised here to people who were born and raised here by people who were born and raised here, and sonofagun, they were raised by people who were born and raised here.
Everybody came from somewhere else, even those generally considered Native Americans.
I'm an American.
I'm not ashamed to fly the flag, I don't apologize for being American, I love this country, and when people badmouth it or try do tear us down, I get patriotic about it.
This is my country, and I take it personally when some tinhorn dictator badmouths the country he's supposed to be leading.
God bless America.