I have a friend who is an American. He happens to be from China, but he’s no longer Chinese. He’s American. He and his wife became citizens decades ago. Their kids were born here. And they’re all Americans.
Ask him to tell you his nationality and you’ll hear him say, “I am an American”. Not Chinese-American. Not Asian-American. Just American. If pressed, he might say he’s an American of Asian, or Chinese, descent. But being Asian or Chinese isn’t how he thinks of himself. Not anymore. Because he’s an American.
If you ask anyone else to describe him, they’d say he was Asian-American.
I have another friend who is an American. He happens to be from Mexico. But he worked hard, got his citizenship, and became an American. Ask him is nationality and he’ll say “American”. Not Mexican-American. Not Latin-American. Hot Hispanic-American. Just American.
If you ask anyone else to describe him, they’d say he was Mexican-American (or maybe just “Hispanic”).
I have another friend who is an American. He happens to be black. His family has lived in the United States since before it was the United States. He has never been to Africa and has no interest in ever going to Africa. If you ask him, he’ll say he’s an American. Not African-American. Not even “American of African Descent”. Just American.
If you ask anyone else to describe him, they’d say he was African-American. BTW, he absolutely hates being called African-American.
Now, let’s take a look at me.
I’m half Danish on my mother’s side and half Irish on my father’s side. My maternal grandparents came over on a boat in the late 1800s. The Irish side of my family has been here for generations. But, apparently, the length of time one’s family has been here doesn’t seem to matter. And, since half-black people can identify as black, I could rightfully call myself either a Danish-American or an Irish-American. But I don’t. I’m simply an American.
If you ask anyone else to describe me, they’ll also say I’m an American.
I doubt that my friends are anomalies. They’re probably not the only “people of color” who self-identify as Americans. There are likely millions of people who’d also rather not be hyphenated. Yet, us white folks are the only people who get referred to in a non-hyphenated way.
I think that sucks.
I like to believe that I’m a pretty good American. But, I’m not foolish enough to believe that there aren’t many, many people who are better Americans than I am. And a good portion of those better-American-than-me people are “people of color”.
The problem we have today, which is likely at the root of all our other problems, is that stupid little hyphen.
When someone refers to themselves as a hyphenated-American, they’re telling everyone that what’s important to them isn’t the fact that they’re an American. The message they’re sending is that what’s most important to them is whatever is in front of the hyphen, not after it.
Whenever someone refers to someone else as a hyphenated-American, they’re saying that the referred-to person is not quite a true American. After all, I’m not referred to as a subcategory like “white-American” or a “Caucasian-American”. I’m just an American.
When you hyphenate someone, either by accident or design, you’re placing them in a separate category. You’re saying that it’s our differences that are important, and not our similarities.
I say it’s time to drop the hyphen. Because once we start thinking of all Americans as simply “American”, and not some subclass of Americans, we’ll be much better off.
