What exactly is the definition of an "Unhyphenated" American?

[Shawn Hopkins]

FYI, I merely brought him up as a minor example to give citation to the use of the term "Unhyphenated American" as an ethnic label. *does a bad Sgt. Gunnery Hartmann impression* Thank you very much.

OK, but if you mention Trump and a racist idea, people aren't wrong to ask if it's a "Trump thing." It sure sounds like a Trump thing.

[Bullet Sniper]

OK, but if you mention Trump and a racist idea, people aren't wrong to ask if it's a "Trump thing." It sure sounds like a Trump thing.

It would only be racist if someone said that it should only be exclusively defined by one ethnicity or one race. Also, aren't there non-Anglo and non-European Americans, like Helen Thomas (of Lebanese Arab descent), who profess themselves to be only just "American" and not "______-Americans" and don't believe in hyphenations because in their view, they consider any terms with "______-Americans" to lead to more divisions of people by race and color in this nation. I heard even a statement from another person of color like Bobby Jindal who does not believe in hyphenated identities either.

[bloodofthegods]

It's just a label or tool to keep the racial segregation alive and well in this country. If you are not native to these continents, you are a foreigner. Fighting over who is more "American" is reductive.

[Crazy Diamond]

It's what people with euro-American ancestry tell everyone else, when they don't want them to claim their own heritage, right before running off to an Irish-American, Italian-American, German-American, etc type of event.

Essentially it's BS used to enforce assimilation and reinforce the traditional power dynamic.

Powerful posting and the truth.

I'm always suspicious of people who complain about "hyphenated" Americans. They don't want to address what led to those labels in the first place.

[Bullet Sniper]

What about this quote from Helen Thomas, former correspondent to the White House during the Bush administration?

We were never hyphenated as Arab-Americans. We were American, and I have always rejected the hyphen and I believe all assimilated immigrants should not be designated ethnically. Or separated, of course, by race, or creed either. These are trends that ever try to divide us as a people.

I don't think it's only just white anglo-saxon protestants or even dudes of western or nordic european descent who dismiss the idea of "hyphenated" identities. The above quote was spoken by an American-born woman of Levantine-Greek Orthodox descent.

[Shawn Hopkins]

What about this quote from Helen Thomas, former correspondent to the White House during the Bush administration?



I don't think it's only just white anglo-saxon protestants or even dudes of western or nordic european descent who dismiss the idea of "hyphenated" identities. The above quote was spoken by an American-born woman of Levantine-Greek Orthodox descent.

If you're going to argue that this racist thing isn't racist you've got a hard, uphill battle ahead.

[Bullet Sniper]

If you're going to argue that this racist thing isn't racist you've got a hard, uphill battle ahead.

Cool strawman fallacy. You seem to be implying that I was endorsing and advocating the controversially default version of the term (which is limiting itself to one race or even one ethnic group) when I was merely pointing out more openly flexible interpretations of what the concept could also extend to.

Not wanting terms and labels that tend to divide citizens of different race, color, and creed to strengthen national unity and identity =/= Not accepting or tolerating people of other race, color, or creed itself to fulfill a rigid criteria of nationhood and citizenship.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Cool strawman fallacy. You seem to be implying that I was endorsing and advocating the controversially default version of the term (which is limiting itself to one race or even one ethnic group) when I was merely pointing out more openly flexible interpretations of what the concept could also extend to.

Not wanting terms and labels that tend to divide citizens of different race, color, and creed to strengthen national unity and identity =/= Not accepting or tolerating people of other race, color, or creed itself to fulfill a rigid criteria of nationhood and citizenship.

Words mean things. That term has come to mean a racist thing. You don't have to like it, but you do have to lump it. Your interest in using it anyway is troubling, it's like white guys asking why they can't say the n-word.

[Bullet Sniper]

Words mean things. That term has come to mean a racist thing. You don't have to like it, but you do have to lump it. Your interest in using it anyway is troubling, it's like white guys asking why they can't say the n-word.

Wow good analogy. It surely makes sense to compare a word meant to debase or insult someone based on a category they're born with to a word that merely negates and detaches itself from anything different being added to it for various reasons right?.

The thing is the term is more fluid and is not restricted to a single interpretation. You're basically conflating the obviously racist "lol you have to be of anglo-saxon descent or white protestant only" view with the "i just want to consider myself american without any special labels, regardless of what I look like or what background I come from" view, just like one is conflating "I should respect someone's opinion by tolerating their right to express it" with "i should respect someone's opinion and hold it in high honor and praise".

[Shawn Hopkins]

Wow good analogy. It surely makes sense to compare a word meant to debase or insult someone based on a category they're born with to a word that merely negates and detaches itself from anything different being added to it for various reasons right?.

The thing is the term is more fluid and is not restricted to a single interpretation. You're basically conflating the obviously racist "lol you have to be of anglo-saxon descent or white protestant only" view with the "i just want to consider myself american without any special labels, regardless of what I look like or what background I come from" view, just like one is conflating "I should respect someone's opinion by tolerating their right to express it" with "i should respect someone's opinion and hold it in high honor and praise".

"Unhyphenated-American" IS meant to debase everyone else but the person claiming it, including people who intentionally use an ethnic identity. That second view you're so enamored of? Almost always expressed when the true motivation is the first.

[Bullet Sniper]

"Unhyphenated-American" IS meant to debase everyone else but the person claiming it, including people who intentionally use an ethnic identity. That second view you're so enamored of? Almost always expressed when the true motivation is the first.

The moment you say something "No matter what race or origin I am from" or "Regardless of color", aren't you directly negating the first view? If that that doesn't contradict the first view, I don't know what does. What is the flaw in not wanting people to call other people this and that race/ethnicity/sex/religion/group in relation to being "American" rather than just call others "American". Take this for example, didn't someone say that Colin Powell was the "best black man" in the US Army or something, but then Colin Powell insisted that he was the "best man period".