Just who is an American?

The question is prompted by four things: genealogy, Native Americans, Barack Obama, and Muslim extremists wanting to kill “Americans”.

First Mr. Obama. By genes, he has an African father from Kenya, and a Kansas mother from the USA, both deceased. Yet the media calls him “black”, and no one seems to object or laugh at the absurdity of it all. He most certainly is “mixed” in census terms, but accepts the one sided label of “black” even as he runs to be President of all the USA. Go figure.

And on the labels of “black” or “African-American”, keep in mind many people object to any label other than American. Now most know, or have heard, of the histories of why we have labeled in the past. Some were well intended, and some where not. While one can pick on recent Negro things like Miss Black America, there are other precedence’s like Columbus Day. I for one object to the label of anything that is hyphenated American. Labels like “Italian-American” ignore how big Italy is as a country, and a label like “African-American” really ignores how big the continent of Africa is, and how many of the inhabitants of both don’t get along within their space. Yes the intents might have been good and noble at one time, but that time has passed. Go figure.

When we read about the bad guys wanting to kill “Americans”, just how do they identify us? Is it by looks, smell, cultural behavior, jobs, clothes, music, or something else. Perhaps we blend in as part of all foreigners to the various tribes that will fight all foreigners on their land? Are old world clans or tribes part of our American future. Do we still have to carry their water? Go figure.

And there is an argument that Americans are anyone from North, Central, and South America, all New World. For we USA citizens to assume the name of Americans is a little presumptuous to many fellow Americans. That is just like it is, though.

This has become a two-way street vis-à-vis Native Americans in the USA. There are just over 500 Native American tribes within the USA, and in many ways they and their lands are treated like states. Fine. But each tribe has its own definition of what makes a human a member of their tribe. To many this is arbitrary and silly, though all so human. Let us amplify the silliness of it all. If a Viking warrior raids into France centuries ago, and stays and marries locally, are his 1/64 Viking progeny Normans or French as they go about life? In the same vein, if some European comes to America and marries locally, are his 1/64 local Native American progeny Native Americans or Europeans. Right now, there are about 500 answers. Go figure.

Genealogy research requires two independent sources to be comfortable about confidence in one’s heritage. That this is also a common sense approach to crime investigative work is an interesting comparison. There is much in common.

A big commonality of who is an American is our common convergence of ideas, often expressed in a Constitution that levels the playing field within our lands. Now that will make a difficult target for the bad guys, and their misses will do them in. Go figure, and count on it.