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You pride your self that ancestors “Revolutionaries” which were largely white colonist, and call it “American” as if there the original people, the native don’t matter and every one else are immigrants, And every else aren’t all Americans.
That's funny. I never said any of that.. I guess that means you made it up.
Your suggestion is that my ethnicity is "Caucasian," but that is a race, not an ethnicity. "European" is also not an ethnicity. I might as well say I was from the northern hemisphere.
@ Chiatldal, I think you're making a lot of assumptions about a big group of people. You say Le Roi said things that he never even said to begin with....How can anyone debate with you when you are just making things up to suit your argument??? Unlike you most likely, I actually know a lot of those people that would just call themselves "Americans" and the vast majority have no qualms with others. In fact many argue, myself as well on occasion, that they wished everyone would just call themselves Americans and not be hyphenated Americans such as Irish-American, Italian-American, etc. etc. etc.
It sounds like you have a major chip on your shoulder that is clouding your judgment. It's always easiest to point to one group as the bad guys but not always the most accurate. Go travel a little more dude.
Generally you don't go around calling people American, because in America, it is sort of a given, I dont think I have ever called a specific person an American.
blacks and whites are considered American, but if you're Latino or Asian people will ask "Where are you from?"
That's not always true, but it certainly happens. I find the question: "No, where are you really from?" said to an Asian American to be pretty demeaning. I've never heard that question said to a Latino, but it doesn't surprise me that it's said.
Isn't the whole "African American" usage nowadays a way to sound more 'PC' than just saying "black"? Usually when people use "African American", they are really trying to discuss the person's race. So rather than just calling them African (which would be pretty confusing) or Black (which they think some people MIGHT be offended by), they just use that. Really though, "American" has no place in identifying ones race. I think people tend to assume people who look like they're not immigrants (ie Black and White people) in this country are "American. Others are asked to clarify--"I'm American, my grandparents were from Japan". I also think more 2nd/3rd generation immigrants are more connected to their ancestral culture, so it may compose a larger part of their identity compared to people whose ancestors came here from Europe many generations ago so they no longer speak the language, eat particular foods, etc.
In Australia, it's common for other ethnic groups, even those that are second or third generation or whatever, to refer to White Anglo-Saxon Australians as 'Australians' and themselves as Italian, Asian.etc, even though these people are Australian too! Not all do, but quite a few. It's because the stereotypical Aussie is some stockman or blonde surfer, and because of the White Australia Policy, immigration was restricted alot until recently.
But in America, a Black American, an Italian American or an Asian American are all equally 'American', at least it seems that way. Do you ever hear anyone refer specifically to white Americans of northern European ancestry as being 'American', with the implication that other groups are somehow 'less' American? In effect they are making some sort of distinction, either because they don't feel as accepted or want to distance themselves from mainstream Aussie culture. It annoys me, because it subtlely implies that they are the 'most' Australian, or are 'more' Australian. Of course compared to the aborigines/native Americans they are just as much immigrants.
I noticed that most White folks in the U.S see themselves as American first and White second. Where most Black folks in the U.S will see themselves as Black first and American second.
Your average Black American would feel more comfortable at a party where everybody is Jamaican and they are the token American than they would at a party where everybody is a White American and they are the token Black.
Likewise, however, I think most white Americans would be more comfortable at a party with, say, white Europeans as the token American than a party with black Americans as the token white person. Actually, I think this is more likely the case than the other way around like you described simply because whites outnumber blacks in this country.
I think Germans, Irish, French, Dutch, Jewish and Scandinavian Americans are at this point so Anglicized that generally speaking they wouldn't be referred to as hyphenated Americans unless the subject of ancestry came up.
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