Am I wrong for thinking who Americans are?

mariner31

In my opinion, you become an Citizen of the United States... you become an American !!

I understand some folks hyphenating their "status" for cultural reasons: Mexican-American, Korean-American, Chinese-American, German-American, Polish-American... BUT

I think you should only hyphenate your American status for the first two generations... then immigrant and their offspring. After that... you are AMERICAN !!

I also feel that the race thing is just getting out of hand... the government should NOT be basing funding, contracts, or jobs on race quotas. Merit only.

I check "OTHER" on the race block (I'm of German, Scots, Israeli, Russian, Persian and Turkish Ancestory) and write in NONE.

misskate12001

When filling out forms, there isn't a choice "American." White people choose "caucasian."

Hispanic, caucasian... those are races. "American" refers to citizenship.

And the form doesn't say "Mexican," or "Costa Rican," or "Columbian" which are other words that refer to citizenship as opposed to racial heritage. It also doesn't say "Irish" or "German" or "English" for white people.

An American is anyone who is legally a citizen, whether that be via birth or through the citizenship process. You are way off base to deny that right to someone who has worked so hard.

scot_in_in

What would you say I am? I was born here but my parents were born other places. By your logic I am not a citizen of a country. I do not belong in Scotland, I belong here.

mnwomen

Citizenship is one thing and race is another. You can be American with a hispanic heritage(race).

djmantx

You're obviously wrong citizenship is what makes us Americans...seems pretty simple to me.

JustMe1982a

"Even if you are born here but your parent are hispanic when you are filling out an application you have to mark hispanic as your race so even if you are an American citizen you are not American."

LoL...Are you trying to say that someone who is hispanic can't be American? I think you are just confusing race and nationality...i hope so anyway. Otherwise you are kind of racist...

The people who are sworn in as American citizens, go through a lot to get there. They even fight in our wars and defend our country. I know a lot of natural Americans that wouldn't defend our country.

tarro

Anyone who jumps through the whoops and gains citizenship is American. I know I'd like to be a "Canadian" if I was lucky enough to migrate there.

Terry

If you become naturalized, you ARE an American - don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Also, when you take your test and the oath, you must swear to give up allegiance to any foreign power - you will not be Dominican any more. You are not entitled to 'dual nationality' - the American government doesn't recognize this status, except in the case where American citizens give birth while abroad; in that case, that child has dual nationality.

You do not have to be born here to be an American, but you do have to pass the tests and swear your oath of allegiance at a Naturalization ceremony.

Ophelia

If you are naturalized, you are an American. If you are born here, you are an American. Regardless of race. Just because you mark your race on a sheet of paper does not mean you are not American. That's just demographics. However, I think some people use the 14th amendment to get citizenship or avoid deportation and I think this is wrong. Children are gifts, not leverage. We should not allow children to be used in any capacity. For this reason, I feel we should seriously consider revising the 14th amendment.

sway_ii

Anyone who is a legal citizen of the united States of America is an American.

clone_commander_cody

American and Mexican are nationalities, Caucasian and Hispanic are races. Your race does not always show your nationality, and vice versa.

I get the drift you are young,and possibley from a ruarl community. I did not look at it much different the you did when i was younger, then I worked around alot of different ethnic backgrounds and came to understand Hispanics that are American citizens do not like to be called Mexicans, in a way it is a insault to them.

Yukaza

American is not a race its a country that calls its legal citizens Americans.If you are a legal and /or a native born here you are an American,your race is another thing all together.I personally don't fill in the forms that ask for race,I don't like the classifications.So I don't check any box and if asked to do so I refuse.I have that right as do you as am American.

Spastic good video with intelligence thank you for sharing it.

katjha2005

If you are an American citizen then you are "American" it doesn't matter where your family came from.. if you don't want to be considered an American then you need to stay in the country you feel you are a part of - because as an American I only want people here that feel they are Americans regardless of their race or nationality. I want my fellow Americans to feel they are a part of this country and not just here to make their lives better without any pride for this country.. so yes I feel you are wrong for thinking that and if you want to be here then you need to be a part of this country and be proud of it.... Americans are mixed so just because you fill out Native American, Hispanic, White, or whatever on a race card you are still considered American...

GreenEYED Beauty

It seems anyone came come to our Country at any time and do what they want and get away with it. Our rights have been taken away,our freedom is going down the drain,our jobs are being taken away by anyone who does not belong here, our homes and businesses are being sold to whoever has the money to buy them. So your thinking is going in the right direction as far as I am concerned.Let them come over here ,go to our collages blow up our buildings,and just take over.That is the direction it is going. Before we know it our Country won't be our Country .So go figure..Glad I'm older and on my way out instead of coming into all this crap. Just sit back and watch what is going on and how it is handled.

Tonatiuh

americans come in all different sizes shapes colors and include hispanics!!!!!!!! sorry to disappoint you!!!!!

gokart121

Um, there's also another box on all those stupid little forms that says 'don't want to say' etc. Also, there's a difference between ethnicity, and nationality. That line's been intentionally blurred by the pro-illegal rhetoriticians who are all about sneaking as many people as they can across 'la linea'. You could be polish-american, apache-american, mexican-american, martian-american(not too many of those running around, just 2 robots ON mars,( can robots be citizens? Hey what about rights for artificial lifeforms?LOL) Bottom line though, we've got too many fancy names for US citizens. Everyone's got this extra-special feel-good hyphenated-american thing going on, they're soooo full of themselves and their ethnic heritage, and think they're 'all that', meanwhile the taskmasters in Bangladesh whip their child slaves into submission and 4,000 sets of sneakers per hour, is it ANY wonder industrial production is moving to Asia? LOL

Yessir, we've become the ethnicity-based Land Of Perpetual Entitlement, while in reality, tomorrow's guaranteed to no one. Nor is a fortune, nor is an education something that's guaranteed to anyone. Politicians make lots of promises, the moral of the immigration story is that the best way to tell when a politician is lying is to observe the facial area...if the lips are moving, keep one hand on your wallet...

Support the US Border Patrol!

girl afraid

If you become an American citizen, you have the right to call yourself American, simple as. Think of it this way. You probably know Misha Barton form the OC right? Her parents are British, she grew up in England for about her first 11 years I think. But she's an American citizen now and I bet you'd call ehr American, wouldn't you? It's about who you choose to be.

Ram

You're simply confusing race or racial identity with nationality or citizenship. It's actually not an uncommon occurrence. And a term like "American" can mean or imply different things depending on how it is used. I can understand how someone who wasn't born here might get them confused. But they are actually two different things. "American" does not imply race any more than "Hispanic" implies nationality.

Please don't be confused on this point. If someone is a legal citizen of this country, then they are also an American (citizen).

United We Stand

If you reside here, your loyalties for the USA should come first. This is not your country that you were born in. We have our own set of laws and standards. If you live here - follow the rules and act like an American. ((Anyone who migrates here legally is considered an AMERICAN.))

nickieali

You don't have to be born here to be an American, you just have to be a legal citizen..and if you are legal then you are an American..and welcome to America..

Americans are, black, white, Indians, Mexicans, Chinese, Americans are many colors and races..American is a title they give you to show that you are a citizen of the united states of America..

justagrandma

Race is one thing, citizenship is another.
Most Americans come from someplace else. They agree to owe their allegiance to the United States when they take the oath.
Race is what group you are born into, and technically Hispanic isn't a race, its a group of Spanish speaking peoples, with similar cultures, which could include people of Caucasian, Black, and Indian descent.
But once they take the Oath of Citizenship they are all Americans.

FREAKZILLA

those applications should just have 2 boxes , white and not white . this would be much easier for them to distribute all the free money to anyone but the white people

DAR

Hispanic is not a race it is an ethnic designation certain Hispanics wanted so they would get 'minority' benefits in loans, employment and education opportunities. We whites didn't come up with it, the Chicano movement of the 60's-70's did.

Many Hispanics are white, which makes it seem a bit silly to some of us.

If you are a citizen, you are an American. If you call yourself 'Hispanic' I will call you that to be polite, but it is your issue, not mine. I hope you think of yourself as an American if you are an American citizen. You do NOT have to be born here.

In my mind it is in your loyalty, but that is hard to test. Some naturalized citizens have been better Americans than born citizens, however.

cynical

I wasn't born here but I'm a U.S. citizen proud of America and considered your question moronic. How would you feel if you were born here but your family wasn't, wouldn't you like to be considered American. I think anybody that lives in American and has loyalty is an American.

Have Your Say

Well, if I'm filling out something it wants me to check that I am white.

saba

wat exactly is "AMERICAN"???? even though ur parents were born here n ur grandparents n ur great grandparents, but still ur great grandparents might NOT have born here. whites are not "AMERICANS". shudnt they write english americans? or irish americans, etc??? so yea u shud also be writing things like that on the applications cuz ur not american either :)

sarah w

America is a melting pot of every heritage combined... There is no offical nationality of america, true "americans" are kind of like muts... a mix of everything. So being an american isnt so much a nationality but a citizenship. If you are a citizen, you're an american.

ellie_2121

i'm native american....and i believe that non native americansshouldnt have say over who belongs in the country or not

Coop

An American could be any of these, or anything in between-
a Native American Indian
someone who lives in the entire Western Hemisphere

The problem is we of the U.S. don't consider Candians or even people in South America "American."

Call yourself an American if you want, just don't come here and wave your home flag like you think it's better than the USA. If you think that then go back.

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