Hyphenated Americans

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

Why do certain elements of the US population feel the need to be something other than simply American?
We have African-American, Irish-American and to a much lesser extent Italian-American. I never hear reference to Scottish-American, German-American... or any of the other 150+ nationalities that now reside in the US.
Is it some sense of inferiority that forces them to look backwards?

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

and here I thought you were going to post against hyphenated names!

That only bothered me as mine was a very old hyphenated surname and almost everyone assumed I was married <amongst other things>. Although my married name is not the simplest one out there, it beats hyphenation where I was constantly mis-filed under the second half.

As to your post Keith; we are still very, very young nation in the scheme of things. The resort we will stay at in August is older than my country and I do believe country origins associated with american heritage denotes a sense of pride and history in most instances.

JMHO

[Beaglemom3 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beaglemom3]

My Beagles don't want to be known as dogs.

They prefer "Canine-Americans".

[Steve Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve]

My Beagles don't want to be known as dogs.

They prefer "Canine-Americans".

I absolutely love this response!

This topic reminds me of a line from the Dukes of Hazard. In response to being called Hill Billies, Luke Duke states that they prefer to be called "Appalachian-Americans". It was the funniest line in the movie.

Steve

[rklein01 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rklein01]

Why do certain elements of the US population feel the need to be something other than simply American?
We have African-American, Irish-American and to a much lesser extent Italian-American.

African-American is a special case, relating to a history that can't be addressed in a paragraph or two.

Irish-American, Italian-American and the like are rarely used in everyday speech. They are an echo of the immigrant waves of the 19th and early 20th century that brought these groups into America. Typically the "greenhorns" would settle among their own kind, for family support and the hope of employment. In the 1880s, for example, there were blocks in Manhattan and Brooklyn that corresponded to particular villages in Russia and Poland. So at least for the first generation there would be, say, a Polish-American club or society to maintain the group identity. Most of these groups assimilated (and were able to overcome initial prejudices) in the course of a generation, and excepting maybe what they eat for Sunday dinner or the church that marries and buries them there's little to distinguish one from the next.

Very few Americans of Italian, Irish, etc. or for that matter African descent know anything about the politics or current events of the country their grandparents came from.

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

African-American is a special case, relating to a history that can't be addressed in a paragraph or two.

I assume by 'relating to a history...' you are referring to the slave trade and the way some of them came to be in America in the first place. For those whose history does include that background there may be some basis for defining their origins. The problem though, if that is the reasoning, is that it appears that even those who have come to the US via 'normal' migration use the terminology.
It just seems to me that referring back to their history keeps them seperated from society in general to a greater or lesser degree.

[susieq Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close susieq]

I agree with you Kieth ....... we are all Americans. JMO

Sue

[rklein01 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rklein01]

It just seems to me that referring back to their history keeps them seperated from society in general to a greater or lesser degree.

I'm trying to say it's more subtle than that.
Read this post, below, and see if you can understand how a person can be born here, be a 100% American, and yet take pleasure in "referring back to their history."
"American Paisan"

[rkdrdh Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rkdrdh]

A friend of mine was born in South Africa and came to the USA about 30 yrs ago as a young adult. He felt that only people who had been born elsewhere and had chosen to become Americans were "hyphenated American". He said that he was an African American..born in Africa but now an American. But he thought it ridiculous that people who were born in this country, let alone thoses whose ancestors have been in this country for many many generations, should be anything but Americans.

Made sense to me.

Regina

[Nadonahoe Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nadonahoe]

It is odd, I always refer to my background as Scots-Canadian although I've been a US citizen for far longer than I was a Canadian citizen.

However, I never think of my children, born in the US as anything other than Americans although I have told them they are from a Scots-Irish heritage. Perhaps it's the need to more explicitly define a set of experiences without too many words (a stereotypical Scots trait) Noelle

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

The catalyst for posing the question in the first place was the description of Barack Obama (sp?) on the news as an African-American. My understanding is that his father was born in Kenya but moved to the USA and his mother is white causasian American.
To describe him as African-American is therefore to deny half of his ancestry. This just seems typical of press / news coverage these days. Anything that hooks an individual into an 'ethnic minority' is grabbed with both hands, whilst any caucasian background is viewed as a negative.

[rklein01 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rklein01]

... any caucasian background is viewed as a negative.

I still say this is an area that can't be addressed in a couple of paragraphs.

But aren't you drifting into the territory of the British National Party?
British National Party -- Our Mission

[EAM Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close EAM]

Why do certain elements of the US population feel the need to be something other than simply American?
We have African-American, Irish-American and to a much lesser extent Italian-American. I never hear reference to Scottish-American, German-American... or any of the other 150+ nationalities that now reside in the US.
Is it some sense of inferiority that forces them to look backwards?

Well, in Dubois County, Indiana, there's a German American Bancorp.

[rklein01 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rklein01]

Here's someone who's happy to address the question in a paragraph or two:

Yesterday on his radio show, right-wing host Rush Limbaugh derided Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) -- who is biracial -- for saying, "If you look African-American in this society, you're treated as an African-American."

Limbaugh claimed that this statement meant Obama didn't want to be black and should "renounce it": "If it's not something you want to be, if you didn't decide it, renounce it, become white!" He added, "If you don't like it, you can switch. Well, that's the way I see it. He's got 50-50 in there. Say, 'No, I'm white.'"
Think Progress » Limbaugh: Obama Should ‘Renounce’ His Race And Just ‘Become White’

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

Just renounce the pre hyphen part and simply be an American. Surely the 'locator' part is a double edged sword. It may firm up the links to one racial group whilst at the same time distancing from others.
Is a prospective President not supposed to be for all the people.