Reply to American Ethnicity - Is it possible to be ethnically American?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think there are ethnic groups that have evolved and developed in this country, and are distinct from others of the same ancestry in their home countries.  I'm in that category.  My ancestors are English, and French, and Scottish, and Dutch, but they've all been here long enough that none of the original traditions remain.  My friend's ancestors came over as slaves, probably from several different African nations, with some Native American and white ancestors mixed in, their family culture however, is African American, a heritage/ethnicity that's unique to this country.  Cajuns in Louisiana, are another example of a group with a distinct culture unique to the U.S..

So, I'd consider all these groups to have an American ethnic identity.  However, of all of them, the WASPy ones like me are the only ones with enough privilege to claim that they are "the" American ethnicity or "just" American or "real" American, as opposed to simply one of a variety of wonderful American cultural groups.  [/quote]

The French were not WASPs.  They were Catholic.  And Americans of Hispanic ancestry predate us and will soon be 24% of our population.  You conveniently erased the contribution of other old groups like blacks or cajuns by observing that they evolved.  So did WASPs here, which is why you are more likely to listen to R&B based music than bluegrass, for example.  And it is why by your own admission that your family has dropped its original traditions.  So it is very difficult to see how one group of immigrants, who evolves, is less "American" than another group that arrived at the same time, dropped its own traditions, and adopted a different language.  I get that you might not consider Italian Americans like me to be "Real Americans" in the sense that you are using the term.  But I don't think you really understand your colonial history very well.

America has an English / French political tradition.  It has a very mixed early cultural tradition, which continues to this day.[/quote]

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