No the dumbest is Americans trying to appear witty by putting down hyphen-americans. Now I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here cooldude. I’m assuming you’re not complaining about Hispanics refering to themselves as Mexican-Americans. I’m assuming you are refering to white peole who are making that distinction.
The reason why someone would refer to themselves as Mexican-american, is because citizen of the United State routinely make a distiction between Amercican and Mexican. You’re not American, you’re from Canada. When you are faced with that, and you need to point out to people that you have every right to speak because you are a citizen, while at the same time retaining you’re cultural heritage, you refer to yourself as Mexican-American.
The fact that someone is Mexican-American has a profound impact on their life. It sums up their cultural heritage quite nicely. I think that it would be great to get rid of all titles, but in a world of racism it won’t happen. How would you have people refer to themselves? As American citizens whose parents are from Mexico? Seems a bit cumbersome. Mexican american says the same thing but without so many words. Should Cuban-Americans who are protesting over Elian not be identified as such? Should the media just report that large numbers of Americans don’t support Elian going back to Cuba? That’s not true, most Americans support him going back. Large numbers of ** CUBAN-AMERICANS ** don’t support him going to Cuba.
Good question. The problem come in when you aren’t sure what country you came from. There is very little that differentiates an African-American from Uganda from one from Tanzania. In that case it makes sense to say African-American. Likewise, saying you are Bhutan-American means nothing to most people. Asian-american does. You use a country specific term when there is a large enough community from your country that can be differentiated from another community. You don’t see peole refering to themsleves as north korean-american. etc. etc.
simply make up names and say they are the newest PC term.
I can see your point. But then again, there is a alot of difference between saying you’re a Moroccan-American as opposed to a South African-American. The religion, lifestyle, cultural heritage, well, almost everything is different.
Basically, African-American refers to the amount of melanin present in a person’s skin…not to any cultural heritage, in my view. As you say, alot of folks don’t know what country in Africa they came from, so how could they know what their heritage is?
Just for the record…there is no “pan-African culture” just as there is no one Asian culture. For evidence, just look at the numbers of different languages spoken in these regions. Now, I know it’s possible to have similar cultures between peoples with differing languages, but ‘the mother tongue’ is a good place to start if you’re looking for cultural differences.
It probably won’t be too long before it changes again, though. In my lifetime, the “proper” name for people of black African descent has changed four times (Colored, Negro, Black, African-American).
So, yes, I have to agree with the OP: Something-Americans are, for better or worse, separating themselves, and that’s divisive by definition.
This is getting hard. Somebody relieve me. (A Wallian exclamation)
They are not refering to their heritage as it was in Africa, many of them have been here for centuries. They are refering to the unique experience of being “black” in America. It’s refering to their heritage as an African-American, not as in African who’s living in America. The same goes for many other racial groups. The Irish or Mexicans in America faced a unigue set of challenges that the French or English did not.
Interesting side note on that, you rarely here people refer to themselves as French-American. Nothing comes to mind when you think of the French Americans. You do have people refering to themselves as Creole, or Arcadians however. That means something, when someone refers to themselves as such you know something of their background, even though they are just French-Americans.
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To the best of my knowledge, I have never heard anybody but a white person make the argument used in the OP. White Americans, such as myself, seldom think about our ethnicity because we are seldom reminded of it, for good or ill.
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Look back a little in our history. Peple weren’t hyphen-Americans, they were simply “Irish” or “Italian” or “Black.” You might see the hyphen as claiming pride in where their family is from as well as where they are right now.
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What exactly is the harm? Division of our country? I think that’s only if I decide to feel insulted by someone’s calling themselves a “Scottish-American” or what have you. Instead of insisting that someone else change, I can simply decide to focus on my personal decision to see us as Americans first.
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If more people followed #3 instead of the line of thinking of the OP, maybe others wouldn’t see a need to hyphenate themselves (especially without a medical professional’s supervision).
Bucky (English-Irish-Scottish-German-Swiss-
Norweigian-Swedish-Chippewa-possibly Jewish-American)
I’m quite happy to call myself European-American. It means a lot more to me than “white”. Rather than seperating myself from the rest of Americans, I actually feel that it brings me closer. Many European-Americans mistakenly think that their culture is “American” and that’s why they get confused and post questions like these.
I have heritage in this country going back hundreds of years. I’m more American than european, but my cultural heritage is very different from other cultural groups. By understanding how my heritage affects my viewpoint I can then begin to undertand Americans better. If I think my background is somehow culturally neutral, then my false assumption would only lead to more misunderstanding.
You know since theres that theory that everyone came from africa… everyones african-american
This issue is quite a bit more complex than you folks are making it out to be. In order to sort it out, the key concepts to understand are mainstream culture and ethnicity.
We need to espouse the idea of a mainstream culture, and the best way to define that is to envision an elementary school classroom. Are most schoolteachers racist? Should the kids continuously be divided up according to every imaginable hyphenated status? Or should they be treated as individuals on the one hand, and members of the group on the other? Whatever activities are appropriate for the classroom should not be dismissed as “European”.
Ethnicity is not simply a recounting of one’s ancestral heritage, but how that affects their behavior. The best example is accents. IMO, in order to be labeled a hyphenated-american, you or your ancestors need to to have arrived from hyphen-land recently enough for there to be a significantly foreign quality about your mannerisms, and/or ties to the old country.
Compare the behavior of a random American of European descent to a European. They would be different, but if you compared this american to an African or an Asian, you would probably notice a much greater difference.
An american of African descent would be different from a an African much but surprisingly much closer than the american of european descent.
There is a crossover of culture. That’s what has made america so interesting. But there are still markedly different cultures.
If someone discriminates against you because of your color, then it makes sense to recognize the source of this discrimination. Pretending that you are not a victim of this discrimination only propagates it.
It is not racist to recognize your heritage or ethnicity or address the societal impacts of your skin color.
It is obvious, and actually quite a shame, that in this country, when someone does not appear “white”, they will undoubtedly be asked, “so, where are you from?” This will hold true even if this person was born and raised here, and there family has been in this country for ages.
The Hyphenated-American designation is not unamerican. It affirms a CULTURAL heritage, while proclaiming that one is from (or feels a part of) the United States. It does not create separation so long as one does not use cultural background to exclude and separate others…or so long as one does not believe that one’s own cultural group is better or has more rights than others. That type of attitude is what causes separation.
As for the OP’s comments…“we take people from all nations and make them part of a greater whole.” Make THEM part of a greater whole? THEM? This seems to start out as basically segregationist by referring to others as THEM. So there is one benevolent group who takes immigrants and allows them to be a part of something that already exists? I thought we all came together of our own free will and learned from each culture. I thought our society was constantly changing and being added on to everyday.
“We all benefit from what each one brings to the table.” Whose table? YOUR table? I didn’t know a table had already been set up. Everyone brings their own table, with their own decorations and their own food. They add it to the long line of tables that everyone else has already brought, and thankfully, all the different meals will not only be appreciated but also passed around and enjoyed by everyone. Maybe someone will decide that the statue of Buddha looks really nice with a sombrero and an applie pie in one of its hands. Now THAT’S American.
You’re missing the point.
Them means people from countries other than the U.S. The “greater whole” is comprised of all the thems that came here before. When you become an American, you take all your cultural and racial atributes and make them part of the greater whole. They are still important, they are very valuable, but to everyone who is, like you, members of the greater whole. Saying I’m {blank}-American implies thet the {blank} is more important then the American part. It dosen’t work that way. You become an American-of {blank} heritage. That heritage is now someting we can all apreciate.
Semantics. I obviously ment “the table” was the existing table, comprised of all the little tables. Each person adds their table too it, and it becomes part of the whole, i.e. 'the table"
Cecil said it. I believe it. That settles it.
OK dave, I see your point. Didn’t mean to take your post out of context.
But I still cannot see how using the hyphenated-American term demeans or denies the fact that you’re, in the end, “American.” Having the word “American” after the hyphen does not lessen its meaning. It doesn’t make the first word more important. Plus, the “American” shouldn’t be more important. It shouldn’t be less important either. Being an American and expressing your cultural heritage are equally important.