Do Americans Discriminate over who is an 'American'?

Do not mean to insult anyone's beliefs. But I would just like to know the opinion of people, over who is truly an "American." People of African descent have been here for many years yet they are not considered Americans, but "African" Americans. People of latin America who are not white are seen as Hispanics, or Mexican-American if mexican. Yet someone who came from Europe and is second generation here, will never be seen by the government as European-American. To simply be an "American" does one's skin color determine it?

Do Americans Discriminate over who is an 'American'?
The term American to white people means White Americans. The assumption is that anyone not white is less of an American than they are. And until most 2nd world Europeans -- Bosnians, Polish, Italians, et. al came to andd were assimilated within America, they were considered non-whites as well. When was the last time you heard a second generation Italian, German, Polish, or Bosnian American speak their native tongue. Part of being an American is dropping anything that will make you different than a white American. However, for a person of color, whether they have been here two generations or twenty, they cannot escape their skin color and therefore are never allowed to fully integrate into the AMERICAN system.
Reply:Those groups actually chose to cal themselves by their heritage first and then American, it was not put on them by the government. If you are born in the USA you are American. Your skin color or ethnic background has no effect on that.
Reply:That is not true. Italians are referred to as Italian-American. Irish are Irish-American, etc. These labels are basically imposed on anyone who isn't a WASP. Everyone is American regardless of their skin color or country of origin. Just because the government likes to impose labels on people that doesn't mean that we all have to accept them. I always refer to myself as American and that's it. Who cares what anyone else thinks. And all black people are not African American. I would never refer to myself as African American. I have never even been there.
Reply:These are not monikers imposed by white people, but white people are asked to use these names.





To me, everyone living as a US citizen is an AMERICAN, and furthermore, as we've seen people on this page complain so much,


We should note that:





All peoples living in the American Continents have a right to the name: American.

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