Ain't we all Americans???

Howdy y’all. Well, I’m tired. Getting up at 3:30 this morning was not cool. I went to Kentucky today, but got there and didn’t have anything to do. So I came back, finished my day at work got off at 3:30 pm like normal, and only got 2 hours overtime. I’m not getting any overtime this week because there wasn’t enough work to keep three people busy. I have less seniority so I lose out.

Oh well. Now, a gripe for today. When did we become a country of hyphenated Americans? Are we all not Americans? If a person is born in this country, they are American. If a person becomes a citizen, they are American. It really gets me to hear people referred to as African-American, Latin-American, Asian-American or whatever. They are Americans!!!

We are all something other than American unless we are Native Americans. With this being the case, shouldn’t we all be referred to as hyphenated Americans? America is known for taking in “the tired…the huddled masses yearning to be free,” and being the world’s melting pot. Do we really need to be that much of a separatist? I can understand people having their own sections of communities, such as Chinatown, Koreatown, and other ethnically based communities to help remind them where they came from and to help remember old world traditions, but it should stop there. Many people come here to get away from that very thing in their own countries. They come here for the opportunities that the American free enterprise system offers. They come here to get away from oppression and control. They come here for the freedoms that we all seem to take for granted all too often. Then they get to this wonderful land of freedom and opportunity, and are still separated and never really feel like they belong. This is all they really want.

Our servicemen and women are fighting for these people as well as the rest of us. I am a former serviceman and my brother is in the military, and we took the Oath of Service to protect these people too. So, in my book, anyone who is a citizen of this country or born in this country is an American. So let’s try to treat them as such and, one by one, we can change this stereotypical behavior and truly become “One nation under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All!!!” Bye y’all!!!