I'm procrastinating big time so I'm making a post...
This got me to thinking; the other day an on line acquaintance on another forum asked the question: what is your nationality and don't say white, say which country your from because we're all immigrants. Now for me the Finnish side of the family is easy; all four of my mother's grandparents were born in Finland. The side of the family that I call Scottish is less easy.
My father's side of the family has been in America since 1635. Along with the family sir name we have a myriad of British names that have married into the family such as Jones, Richards, Sheffield, Pembroke, Gates and back over nearly 4 centuries. My point is, after almost 400 years what's the point in claiming any nationality other than American? How many generations do you have to live here before you're American and only American? I could even break it down further and claim that I'm an Ohioan as the maiden names I've listed are all the Ohio marriages going back to 1798.
I think this is one of America's biggest problems. Our citizens are so obsessed with where they immigrated from that they've never really taken the time to develop an American identity. Since we have no identity of your own we've let the rest of the world categorize us as obese, red neck, Wal*Mart shoppers who couldn't find Europe on the map if it was next to a twinkie. I'm interested to hear other perspectives...
My father's side of the family has been in America since 1635. Along with the family sir name we have a myriad of British names that have married into the family such as Jones, Richards, Sheffield, Pembroke, Gates and back over nearly 4 centuries. My point is, after almost 400 years what's the point in claiming any nationality other than American? How many generations do you have to live here before you're American and only American? I could even break it down further and claim that I'm an Ohioan as the maiden names I've listed are all the Ohio marriages going back to 1798.
I think this is one of America's biggest problems. Our citizens are so obsessed with where they immigrated from that they've never really taken the time to develop an American identity. Since we have no identity of your own we've let the rest of the world categorize us as obese, red neck, Wal*Mart shoppers who couldn't find Europe on the map if it was next to a twinkie. I'm interested to hear other perspectives...