The 100% American Label--We Are All Americans

The 100% American Label--We Are All Americans
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Americans need to understand that the United States of America (U.S.) is inhibited by Americans. The French are in France, and the Italians are in Italy, etc. If you are an American, you cannot be more or less American. Unfortunately, many man-made labels exist amongst us — these labels perpetuate division. Whether you agree or disagree, ‘labeling’ is counterproductive to our success and harmony.

‘Labeling’ has been forced on groups, and they are expected to accept/defend something that an unknown wordsmith assigned to them as the “politically correct” label for that group. Most Americans could fall into more than one group because the U.S. is made up of many diverse and overlapping cultures. These ‘labels’ are divisive and cause persistent conflict and division. The better approach is to use “American” for everyone; Americans should be equally recognized, embraced, and treated as Americans. The U.S. consists of innumerable blends of ethnicities, cultures, and languages; this blending/fusing has been and must continue to be embraced; this co-existing approach to building our Nation is a globally recognized beacon. This feat has not been duplicated by any other nation; therefore, this success is what makes us Americans.

The U.S. consists of a seemingly endless Alphabet soup of labels: First People (previously American Indians), African-Americans (previously Coloreds or Blacks), Asian-Americans, from all parts of the world (previously Chinese), Anglo-Americans (previously British, Irish, German-Americans, etc.), Hispanic Americans (Mexicans, Chicanos, etc.) as well as Muslim Americans (previously Middle Easterners from all over). This labeling persists because this is how America was birthed, through a tumultuous history, high and low points. The American story is not without serious blemish; nonetheless, in spite of past failures and even practices among labeled groups, we remain proud Americans.

Indigenous Americans, who inhabited what we now know as the U.S. were placed on Reservations to make it easier for the newly arrived settlers from Europe to tame their new nation. Freed slaves endured Jim Crow segregation and overt discrimination; Asians were subjected to grave and unthinkable indignities, the ramifications of the Chinese Exclusion Act as well as the injustices Japanese Americans endured while ‘interned’ during the ward so that their fellow Americans would feel safe. Mexican Americans were not allowed to participate in civic activities and suffered countless incidents of maltreatment. http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415892940/data/8520history520and%20immigration%20timesline.pdf.

Americans reaction to the 9/11 attacks is instructive because it illustrates how, http://www.history.com/topics/9-11attacks, Americans united, as Americans. American solidarity was evinced by this outward display of unity - the 100% American stance, which showed the world that Americans could unite and persevere. Americans responded as a collective and banded together with ‘true grit’ and a resolve that elucidated who we are - “Americans.” We joined together to assist fellow Americans, and we vowed to protect the Nation against outside agitators who clearly do not understand what it really means to be an American.

Currently, Americans are once again at the crossroads — whether to divide or to unite around our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters, or any other group of Americans who have been “labeled” for disparate treatment. Are we going to allow fellow Americans, based on a label, to endure unnecessary indignities? Are we going to set them apart for marginalization? Or, are we going to look back to our tumultuous history to avoid separating fellow Americans? We are a proud people, but we must be as logical — unity is our strength, not division. The Statue of Liberty still speaks for Americans, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free ... Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamps besides the golden door.” This “golden door” is the place where the ONLY label that exists is “THE 100% AMERICAN LABEL.”

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