Hyphenated-Americans

I am Ginger-American . . . we are a dying breed and I'd like my own official sub group, thank you.

LOL! I love this

I'm Scottish, and if asked my nationality I always say Scottish, never British. I have many friends from other racial/cultural backgrounds , however, I don't think they were born here in Scotland so would still describe themselves as Turkish, Italian etc. One Turkish friend now has a UK passport but would still consider himself Turkish. Their children have been born here and are considered Scottish. I guess my friends and their families haven't lived in Scotland for the same number of generations. One Scottish friend had a Polish grandfather, moved here after the war, she is very proud of that Polish heritage but considers herself to be Scottish, never heard anyone use the hyphenated nationality names over here at all. Hope this helps.

Hey, Just wanted to share a quick story. Its a military story, from the Facebook page "Awesome S(tuff) my Drill Sergeant Said" Mike

FT Eustis, VA - AVN AIT 1993

I am not going to bore you with any of the HOOAH stories I have, because they are not going to measure up to the suck you went through. FT. Jackson BCT and FT. Eustis AIT don't exactly scream 'PAIN!!!!!!". Instead, I have chosen to share one of the life lessons that I picked up one afternoon during DS Time. It is a nugget of knowledge that I have reflected upon many times in the years since.

DS K was (and hopefully still is) a man of small stature. Most that were trained by him thought he had some 'short guy' issues, but I think he used his height as a tool to smoke the hell out of anyone that dared look down from the position of attention or parade rest. It was a riot to watch him smoke someone for making eye contact.

Anyhow, one afternoon we are in DS Time. He begins with 'How many African-Americans do I have in here?' Hands go up. He tells them to keep their hands up.

'How many Mexican- Americans or Latin-Americans do I have in here?' More hands go up. Same deal, he tells them to keep their hands up.

'How many European-Americans do I have in here?' A couple of white guys raise their hands.

He has those of us with our hands down fall out to the bleachers on the PT field, and has those with their hands up to fall in on the PT field.

Open ranks...You know the rest of the drill.

He smoked them for the remaining 50 minutes of DS Time while explaining to them in the nurturing way that only a DS can that we are all Americans regardless of our heritage, and that hyphenating is not only pointless, it is dangerous.

I'm Canadian. We hardly ever hyphenate because nobody gives a .... spit. You can be Black/Asian/White/First Nations and it doesn't make you any less Canadian.

And since Canada is a relatively new country it is pretty much assumed that (almost) everyone came here from somewhere else along the way. So when my S-I-L refers to her family as Italian or when I attend a Chinese or Indian wedding I look at it as a celebration of cultural traditions rather than a repudiation of someone's Canadian citizenship.

(And the country of Canada is younger than the Emancipation Proclamation to the South so we don't have that history of slavery and oppression so being black up here isn't really a big deal either.)

Also, more and more, people are hardly ever "pure" anything. Lots of mixed race relationships and children creating an even richer and more diverse mix of Canadians. My kids don't even notice ethnicity as a differentiating factor. If I were to ask them about the ethnic background of one of their friends they would give me a "huh?" because to them the question is stupid. It just doesn't register as interesting in their minds.

Like I said, up here no one gives a......you know.

I wonder which part of Canada you're from....

Not what you mean about Canada not having slaves.... of course we did.

Thats the biggest difference between the US and Canada... the US is obsessed with race, and racism is just "out there" in the open, sometimes blatant and unashamed. In Canada we pretend to live in la-la-land like race doesn't matter and totally deny there is any racism, because we keep it behind closed doors. We're really fooling ourselves. Of course there is racism in Canada, of course we have a very racist past. Of course race and heritage matters here.

I'm American. We're all mutts. Loveable, loyal, beautiful mutts.

I've seen this sentiment a few times in this thread - while white Americans may be all mutts, other Americans aren't, hence the hyphenation necessity for some.

White is a color. American is a nationality. These are two different things.

I am aware, that is why I specified *white Americans*

**smh & attempting to tear down the walls** Nationality is the issue at hand not color. Immigrant Americans are mutts because their nationality dictates they are not a native of this nation & therefore some variation of a hybrid. By virtue of you feeling the necessity to hyphenate yourself, you're just like the rest of us - XYZ-American. A mutt.

Ok, so its semantics, and I disagree. When I hear "mutt" I think very mixed ethnicity/someone who isn't into the cultural aspects that make up all the various ethnicities they have in their background. So someone who is just one ethnicity is not a mutt by that definition (and someone with 2 is simply biracial, still not a mutt). No need to get pissy.

I also don't agree that nationality is the issue at hand - if it was we would all just go by our passports and that would be the end of the story. The hypenation issue regards adding ethnicity to nationality, so Ethnicity-Nationality.

??? Well, as a first generation American, I also have my passport. So I guess this is the end this story. OOF

What is the communication gap here? That is exactly my point, I also have an American passport - so if we were just talking nationality, I'd say American, OOF to you too. But we are NOT, we are talking about hyphenation, which, again, is Ethnicity-Nationality, so I say Indian-American.

Good afternoon everyone,

I'm in school. Currently taking a composition class. Our class project is to write a research paper. I would love to get the opinions of as many of you as I can. Here is the topic:

Mixed racial and cultural groups are growing in the United States. Should each group expect to be treated as a separate entity, or should residents of the United States be considered Americans without the hyphen?

I'm American. The politically correct term for me would be "African-American". However, personally, I have never done my ancestry on my father's side to know exactly if we are "Black" or of "African" descent. But I do know that my mother is White and Cherokee. Thus, leading me to review my thoughts on this and say so, I'm White-Cherokee-African-American? That seems a bit much for my tastes.

I don't identify with either side of my heritage more than the other. I have a friend who, before we were friends and had only spoken on the phone, said she was really shocked when she saw me for the first time. She said by the way I speak, "proper", she would have never guessed I was "Black". And our on-going joke is "Really? I don't know what gave you the impression that I'm Black. I think it's my lovely tan."

Anyway, my first question is American the only hyphenated country? Do the British say "African-British" or "Indian-British" or the Africans say "American-African" or "British-African"? You follow me on this?

Secondly, what is your take? If you wish you can inbox me or post it here. Please tell me the country you are in and/or your nationality if you wish to share it.

Thanks for your input. Have a healthy day!

Namaste,
Nika

I don't think those labels or hyphenated names came about from people's expectation's to be called something like that. I think they came about from "other" people's desire to sort and classify people for whatever reason. The person themselves IMO and in my experience rarely walks around on a daily basis wanting to "claim" all these ethnicities or bloodlines. In my experience those who's physical appearance allows them to blend in with the visual image of an American are the first to shed those nitpicky labels and comfortably refer to themselves as simply "American". It's those who's physical features leave the other person with this face :frown: :huh: during a conversation when referring to themselves as American who have to struggle to find which category they fall under.

Honestly, if you have not done any geneaological research on your family, then you can't really claim ANY ethnicity.

What I would like to know is how do other countries define race? The United States is NOT the only county with a diverse population. How is a "black" British person defined by his/her government? Or is this a demographic that is even defined in other countries?

I thought that all Americans think they're Irish.

Ha ha, totally! If their great-great-great granny emigrated from Cork, they're totally "Irish-American". My Irish uncle was once in the States for St. Paddy's Day. He was in an Irish bar talking to a woman with a big green hat on her head, a "Kiss me I'm Irish" sticker on her t-shirt. When she asked where he was from and he responded "Ireland", she asked him "Oh really, where's that?" :laugh:

In Canada, I think it depends on the ethnicity. I do hear a lot of people describing themselves as "Italian-Canadian" or "Chinese-Canadian". Canada has a rich multicultural diversity, but I think maybe a difference here from the States it that people are actively encouraged to keep those cultural differences. When announcements are sent home from my daughter's school there's usually a note included with at least 6 languages on it. Kids celebrate loads of different cultural holidays, etc.

I personally just describe myself as "Canadian" even though I wasn't born here and I have 3 separate passports (born in the USA, of Irish parents, naturalized in Canada).

Hey, Just wanted to share a quick story. Its a military story, from the Facebook page "Awesome S(tuff) my Drill Sergeant Said" Mike

FT Eustis, VA - AVN AIT 1993

I am not going to bore you with any of the HOOAH stories I have, because they are not going to measure up to the suck you went through. FT. Jackson BCT and FT. Eustis AIT don't exactly scream 'PAIN!!!!!!". Instead, I have chosen to share one of the life lessons that I picked up one afternoon during DS Time. It is a nugget of knowledge that I have reflected upon many times in the years since.

DS K was (and hopefully still is) a man of small stature. Most that were trained by him thought he had some 'short guy' issues, but I think he used his height as a tool to smoke the hell out of anyone that dared look down from the position of attention or parade rest. It was a riot to watch him smoke someone for making eye contact.

Anyhow, one afternoon we are in DS Time. He begins with 'How many African-Americans do I have in here?' Hands go up. He tells them to keep their hands up.

'How many Mexican- Americans or Latin-Americans do I have in here?' More hands go up. Same deal, he tells them to keep their hands up.

'How many European-Americans do I have in here?' A couple of white guys raise their hands.

He has those of us with our hands down fall out to the bleachers on the PT field, and has those with their hands up to fall in on the PT field.

Open ranks...You know the rest of the drill.

He smoked them for the remaining 50 minutes of DS Time while explaining to them in the nurturing way that only a DS can that we are all Americans regardless of our heritage, and that hyphenating is not only pointless, it is dangerous.

Thats awesome LOL

I'd like to shake his hand because he is moving us in the right direction!

Me and my husband have this argument often. He swears he is Mexican. I keep telling him he can't be Mexican if he was born in Texas.

:laugh:

This made me snort!