The hyphenated racial and religious modifiers to American need to stop.
Either youre an American or not. Race and nationality are separate constructs. Therefore, applying a racial modifier to your nationality implies you wish to be viewed as an outsider or a special interest group, and not a full American.
It's OK to be BLACK, and youre not an "African-American" unless you were born in Africa and moved to the USA.. LEGALLY.
I mostly agree, but there's a time and place where it's appropriate. I refer to myself as "American" almost all of the time, especially if directly asked what nationality I am; but there are situations where it's contextually appropriate to note that I'm "Italian American," or an "Italian Jew (I usually just say 'pizza bagel')"
For instance, I went to a greek restaurant once and got to talking to the owner, who was obviously very proud of his heritage. Based on my first name, and looks, it was reasonable for him to believe I was Greek, or from a family from Greece, so he asked me, and I told him I wasn't and that I was Italian-American, to which he said "close enough." If I had just responded that I was American, it wouldn't have answered his question or made sense
I don't think he's African-American... he's a black guy from the UK raised in Saudi Arabia. Don't make the Hillary Clinton mistake.
The hyphenated racial and religious modifiers to American need to stop. Either youre an American or not. Race and nationality are separate constructs. Therefore, applying a racial modifier to your nationality implies you wish to be viewed as an outsider or a special interest group, and not a full American. It's OK to be BLACK, and youre not an "African-American" unless you were born in Africa and moved to the USA.. LEGALLY.
I mostly agree, but there's a time and place where it's appropriate. I refer to myself as "American" almost all of the time, especially if directly asked what nationality I am; but there are situations where it's contextually appropriate to note that I'm "Italian American," or an "Italian Jew (I usually just say 'pizza bagel')"
For instance, I went to a greek restaurant once and got to talking to the owner, who was obviously very proud of his heritage. Based on my first name, and looks, it was reasonable for him to believe I was Greek, or from a family from Greece, so he asked me, and I told him I wasn't and that I was Italian-American, to which he said "close enough." If I had just responded that I was American, it wouldn't have answered his question or made sense