Why can't we be just Americans?

SPC(P) Jay Heenan — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 00:46:55 -0400

I really mean no disrespect, but I am so tired of everyone having to be [fill in the blank] -American. It is probably the one thing that annoys me so much. Can't we all just be American? I get it, learn about your heritage, be proud of your heritage but at the end of the day we are all just American's. As Americans, we are so quick to label ourselves and then get pissed when someone else labels us, it makes no sense. My heritage is Irish, matter of fact, my Great Grandfather immigrated to the United States. I am still American and I am EXTREMELY proud to be an American. Look at all we have overcome. Are we perfect? Not even close. Yet people make careers out of trying to tear us apart. People come from all over the world to get a piece of the 'American Pie'...be proud of who we are collectively and never be ashamed being 'just' American!

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Nov 1 at 2014 1:33 AM

SFC Mark Merino — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 01:33:42 -0400

In a perfect orld, I couldn't agree with you more. EO. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 did so much to eliminate segregation but it came with a price. We have to classify ourselves into group x, y, and z so we can maintain statistics of unfair hiring/firing/promotion statistics, etc. I believe the reason is scientific. "Numbers don't lie." However, the door swings both ways.

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978) was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. It upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. However, the court ruled that specific quotas, such as the 16 out of 100 seats set aside for minority students by the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, were impermissible.
Although the Supreme Court had outlawed segregation in schools, and had even ordered school districts to take steps to assure integration, the question of the legality of voluntary affirmative action programs initiated by universities was unresolved. Proponents deemed such programs necessary to make up for past discrimination, while opponents believed they were illegal and a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. An earlier case that the Supreme Court had taken in an attempt to address the issue, DeFunis v. Odegaard (1974), was dismissed on procedural grounds.

When do we take away the rights of the individual to ensure the fairness to the group? This is where certain activists see oportunity to sweep in and stir the pot and sling mud and point fingers and continue to make us take giant steps backwards. There is good money in it.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 1 at 2014 1:38 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 01:38:14 -0400

I totally hear you! When I was a restaurant cook, I had a manager who had Mexican ancestry. His family had been in the US for 6 generations. He was routinely called "Mexican" or "Mexican American". My family has only been in the US for 2 generations, my 4 grandparents all immigrated from Europe. 2 generations, and I am an American. 6 Generations and he is a "Mexican American".

I think I will start calling myself a Germanic American

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 1 at 2014 2:50 AM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 02:50:55 -0400

What's sad is, every day someone is offened of an American being American.

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 1 at 2014 12:55 PM

CW5 Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 12:55:48 -0400

Good question, SPC(P) Jay Heenan. I could not agree more that we should all just be Americans.

Response by SSG Laureano Pabon made Nov 1 at 2014 12:58 PM

SSG Laureano Pabon — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 12:58:14 -0400

My take on this is that its not here in the USA that this happens, it in other countries as well.
Sure I'm Puerto Rican born in PR, but even in Puerto Rico with in only are they not considered as Puerto Ricans but as black and white. Yet you can have some one whom is Irish born in the USA go to PR and he is American.
Now anyone of us can go to another country and we are not anything but just Americans.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 1 at 2014 1:47 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 13:47:07 -0400

If you are a US citizen then you are an American. If you have papers that say you are a citizen then you have every right to be considered an American!

Response by SrA Marc Haynes made Nov 1 at 2014 5:08 PM

SrA Marc Haynes — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:08:34 -0400

Well I suppose since my family has Irish, Native American, English, Bohemian(?) that makes me a Mutt American?
And damn proud of it!

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Nov 2 at 2014 2:01 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 14:01:48 -0500

Labeling, classifying, segregating, equal opportunity, quotas, call-outs, statistics, percentages, special interest groups, caucuses, lobbyists - they ALL need to go. You are an American, you earn your place on your merits and nothing more.

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Nov 2 at 2014 4:04 PM

Capt Richard I P. — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 16:04:09 -0500

SPC(P) Jay Heenan it turns some people from the past agree with you. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19151014&id=jrogAAAAIBAJ&sjid=i2kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3102,746070

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 2 at 2014 4:46 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 16:46:26 -0500

I am Ginger-American. One out of every three hundred are blessed with that designation!!!

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 2 at 2014 8:00 PM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 20:00:46 -0500

I came to the States when I was 5, when people ask me what am I? I say American. But then they say "no really but where are you FROM? "
"New Jersey motherf*cker!"

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 11 at 2015 12:22 AM

CW5 Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 00:22:28 -0500

Amen, SPC(P) Jay Heenan. Well said!

Response by SSG (ret) William Martin made Jan 11 at 2015 12:34 AM

SSG (ret) William Martin — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 00:34:56 -0500

I grew up in a small town in Arkansas. Most people were not content with me answering with American when asked, "What are you" or "Where are you from". My mother wanted to me grow up "American" so if I learned anything about what its like to be Asian, it was learning indirectly from her. Its funny though how some folks would appear offended if I repeatedly told them I was American and avoid giving them a more specific answer like "Asian-American".

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Jan 27 at 2015 8:05 PM

CPT Jack Durish — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 20:05:59 -0500

"Why can't we just be Americans (and lose the hyphens)?" Sorry, no. Today's politics are based on dividing and conquering the hearts and minds of the masses. We are separated into groups and then set against one another to facilitate the political agenda of one party or the other (especially by those who are adverse to our traditional American paradigm of a land populated by free, self-governing people.

Again, sorry. I don't like it, not one bit. It's just the way we've allowed things to become...

Response by SPC Stewart Smith made Jan 27 at 2015 10:23 PM

SPC Stewart Smith — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 22:23:11 -0500

I actually don't understan ______American myself. I personally was born in America, so by the very difinition I am Native American.
If you go by our ancestors, how far are we supposed to go back? If you go back far enough, we are all African American. So I honestly am not trying to rustle feathers, I simply just don't understand why I cannot put native american as my ethnicity.

Response by BG Edward Burley made Jan 27 at 2015 10:26 PM

BG Edward Burley — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 22:26:35 -0500

Remember our Nation's original de facto motto - "E pluribus unum," "Out of many, one." It is our diversity as a nation that makes us great!