Oh, your MEXICAN but you don't speak a word of Spanish? You're AFRICAN but you've never been to Africa? You're CHINESE but you didn't know that the official name of that country is the People's Republic of China?
And what about NATIVE-Americans? Sure, many years ago this was the perfect way to differentiate the "Indians" from the immigrants....but does it still make sense?
I mean, I was BORN in the Unites States, so am I not, by definition, a NATIVE American? But, if I were to go around calling myself a "Native American," people would get offended. And people would think I was loony if I went around calling myself "Irish American" these days.
Why can't we just be "Americans" without all the extra qualifiers? Let's leave the multi-nationality names to people who actually came from someplace else TO the United States? In an age when more and more people are trying to unite US citizens and improve our country, aren't these qualifiers just maintaining the divisions between the diverse people of our country?
Really, it's good to be proud of where you came from, but in truth, it's not so much a "where" as it is a "who." So, when people ask you "Where did you come from?" your answer shouldn't be Japan or Italy or Puerto Rico unless you were actually BORN in one of those places! Your answer should be "Well, my great grandparents were farmers and my grandpa was a business owner and my grandma worked a factory during WWII," or something along those lines.
Hi, my name is Sarah, and I'm an American.
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