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For many years now I have tried to understand the reason for hyphenated ancestry. I guess according to the rule I should tell everyone that I am a Swedish-American. What I don’t understand is what is the difference between a Swedish-American and just an American? To me an American is an American not a Mexican-American, a Chinese-American or an African-American. Are we supposed to treat people differently if they have a hyphenation in their ancestry? I understand the natural pride in heritage as I was a Swede raised in an dominately Italian neighborhood in the south end of Seattle. If I would have called one of them an Italian-American I would have gotten my butt kicked. These were first class Americans and considered themselves Americans not anything else. I don’t know how it got started in the first place but I truely feel it has done more to isolate the Black community from all the rest of America than was done by the segregationist in the south.

I have a very good friend who was born and raised in Hawaii, since she was born prior to Hawaii becoming a State should I refer to her as a Hawaiian-American? I think not, she’d probably shoot me. She and her friends in the Islands are as much or more of an American than most as they lived through the terrible days of the Pearl Harbor attack and their families worked diligently in the rebuilding that followed. In my humble opinion adding a hyphen to ones heritage just isolates them from the rest of us. When my Grandfather was alive he used to preach to all of us that we were to be proud of our heritage but that we were Americans first and foremost. He even went so far as to make all of his children speak only English in the house. I don’t recall either my Grandfather or my Grandmother speaking Swedish other than a prayer that they lead us in at mealtime or when they were angry and didn't want us to know it.

I am not a racist as I am sure I will be called for these comments, it is only how I feel about what I consider a harmful situation. If we were all just Americans and all enjoyed the freedoms provided by our country equally, it seems to me that life would be a lot better. To me the only hyphenated American should be the Native-Americans who were here long before we were. Is it not a fact that the most successful of all people are the ones who assimilate into society and work to improve and advance themselves personally rather than those who hang on to the stereotype lifestyle of their heritage? As my father used to say; “ A man is as good as his actions, his color may be different but it’s what’s in his heart that counts.” My dad always used the word Negro when referring to a Black man. It was never with a derogatory tone or meaning, it was as he was taught in school. It was no different than me being called the Swede by the Italians in my neighborhood. It was never meant in a derogatory way it was what I was. Many of my Italian neighbors died in WWII and Korea. They were among the first to sign up to serve. No they weren’t Italian-Americans then either they were first class Americans all the way. Now it's your turn liberals, give it you best shot, as I know you will turn everything I have said into something entirely different.

And that’s my opinion,
Don

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What is a Hyphenated-American?

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