Am I Caucasian American then?

I was watching WGN news this morning and they reported on the upcoming Senate hearings on Muslim Americans and the rise of bigotry since 9/11. Then last night on a re-run of Real Time with Bill Maher they were talking about the rise of the Mexican American population in the U.S. according to the census. I’m also sure I heard at some point some references to African Americans. When did we stop being plain old Americans?

I’m proud of my Irish heritage and appreciate a lot about my culture but I don’t refer to myself or any of the Irish that I know as Irish Americans. And if they’ve lived here their entire lives they are simply Americans. So why do we have to break this country down by racial or hereditary lines still? I thought those days were gone. Perhaps it’s my big city naiveté. Maybe I’m just a little more used to different types of people hanging out together and don’t really see the problem.

I know this country probably still has a long way to go before we can truly just call ourselves Americans without the epithetic race or heritage identifier before it. It’s only been some forty-three years of civil rights in America and before that it was even worse. But come on everybody, we’re better than that. We’re a country based on the freedom of the individual and we should judge people for what they do and not for what they are.  

I also think it’s time for these groups of people that do identify themselves in this way to accept their Americanism and let go of the petty heredity based or racial titles. I’m looking for someone to stand up and say, “I’m not African American, or Muslim American or even Mexican American. I am American”.  

For too long it has felt like being “an American” was a bad thing or that you’d have to be a middle aged white man to be a simple American. I know that’s not the case and I hope others realize it too. Although there’s a lot of folks that would have you believe that, I want to say that it isn’t true. Hard work and a sense of common decency are universally respected no matter what your background is, and I think most Americans respect that above all race or creed.

As revolution takes hold all across the Middle East and around the globe we should take the opportunities to take a good look at some of the “standard” practices our own country has adopted and take a stand. I want all of us to be unified in the fact that while we all come from somewhere else, we’re all just Americans; doing what we have to do in the pursuit of liberty and justice for all. 

On a side note, are there African Canadians? Muslim Canadians? Mexican Canadians? I’ve never heard anyone say that, ever.