by Bob Zimmerman

Created on: November 18, 2009   Last Updated: November 20, 2009

I was happy to see this topic finally be brought up. I am a white, or as all the paperwork says, Caucasian male living in the United States of America. I have the privilege of just being called an American. Why is it that because my skin lacks the amount of pigment others may have, that my heritage is not mentioned when people describe me? I wonder if some people think my ancestors began here in the united states? I am a Swedish American. My family came to this country as mercenaries during the Revolutionary War. Why am I not then called a Swedish American?

I'll tell you why I'm not called a Swedish American. Nobody cares where I came from because I didn't come to this country by force. My family wasn't oppressed for hundreds of years into slavery. My family didn't sell other Swedish people to the young Europeans and other various ethnic groups founding this country. So because my ethnicity felt less oppression, I am just an American.

If we are all truly equal, why do we segregate ourselves on paper? Why do we still have affirmative action? If you want to have the origin of your ancestors tacked on to the front of American, you are not an American. The only true Americans are native and we shipped them all to reservations. I myself am sick and tired of people bringing up the fact that they are Hispanic American or African American. If your so proud of your heritage, go back. See you later. We don't need you whining about how your mistreated anyway. If your willing to let things move forward, then stay and we can work together for a better future.

We all came from foreign soil, that was a long tome ago. We have been a legitimate country sine 1776, don't you think it's time to just be Americans? To my knowledge the Caucasian Africans are still just Africans, so why are we any different? Britain shipped thousands of convicts to Australia in the 1800's but nobody calls them Britain, we call them Australian. Why the global hypocrisy?

Whether we came to this country as slaves, murderers, illegal immigrants or just explorers, we are here and we are Americans. To call ourselves anything but Americans is unpatriotic. Most people don't see in color anymore so why do we write and speak in it?

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