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Hyphenated-Americans are a result of well intentioned efforts to reverse centuries of discrimination, abuse and exploitation. The government attempts to identify those who need help and who should benefit from federal programs.

However, the net result is to separate, segregate and classify ordinary citizens. Hyphenating citizens creates opportunities for some people yet closes others off permanently.

Any government assistance given to any one group is perceived as unfair by others. It has great potential for abuse by recipients and no government agency can be trusted to fairly administer the program.

Certainly, they'd never want people to get off the system; their jobs are attached to the total number of people they "serve."

I cannot sit here and claim that there is no reason to continue programs that attempt to bridge the gap between the downtrodden masses, the descendant of former slaves. These COULD be excellent programs, but in reality are dismal failures.

Instead of being a helping hand to get the poor off the floor, Welfare has become a support system that removes incentive and ambition to achieve.

Affirmative Action has allowed thousands to enter colleges that had previously shut their doors to minorities. Unfortunately, it also stains the graduate's record forever.

In fact, some who enter elite colleges on their own merit are still assumed by White classmate and faculty as having received government preference. As a result, they are not given fair treatment and suffer undeserved backlash.

Our modern society is obsessed with hyphenating the population. Look at the current election cycle. Normally, voting trends are broken down by demographic groups. This data is used by the major parties to determine where they're succeeding and where they need to work.

Now we have a White Woman, a Black man, A White ex-POW veteran, and a Christian man as the Final Four. The media, pundits and analysts are filling the airwaves with microscopic dissections of voting trends updated daily, or in some states, hourly.

A reporter used to ask, "Can you tell me how you voted?" when conducting an exit poll. Now they need to know:

- How did you vote?
- What party do you belong to?
- What race best describes you?
- What is your gender identity?
- What economic strata define your income?
- What is you sexual orientation?
- Boxers or briefs?

It never ends. The reality is we ARE all Americans. We all need a fair opportunity to achieve or fail on our own merits without discriminatory interference from society or micromanagement from the federal government.

In an ideal world, every one of us could go to college or compete for jobs without being classified. However, the world isn't perfect and people aren't fair - but it is getting better.

I am Black, male, married, Christian and a veteran - most importantly, I am an American.

Learn more about this author, Morgan Johnson.
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