discussing what is an American is an
uncomfortable subject for many in fact
its controversial have you ever been
asked what are you or where are you from
these are common questions you’ll be
asked if you live here in the New York
City metropolitan area and this is
because literally people from all over
the world live here so usually the
responses to these questions will be a
myriad of ethnicities and nationalities
however when I reply to these questions
I say that I am an ethnic American the
term ethnic American is one I developed
after nearly two decades of genealogical
research it refers to those who can
trace their ancestry to the 13 colonies
and today I want to share with you a
short story about how I learned not to
describe myself with a color or with a
hyphen growing up here in the New York
City metropolitan area I didn’t quite
know where I fit in culturally the
majority of my ancestors were from the
United States but I didn’t quite feel
American now I feel this is because the
median textbooks the way they frame
American history is those of us who are
descended from American slaves were
treated as it for nothing we are just a
color we have no ethnic or Geographic
identity that’s why the term
african-american was coined it was coins
of alleviate this situation however in
my opinion this term separates the role
slavery has and continues to have in the
American experience so how did I come to
all these conclusions
it all began several years ago when my
mother and I were watching a doctor
Henry Louis Gates documentary he’s a
very famous American historian in
documentary series he was helping
celebrities like Oprah and Chris walk
uncovered their ancestry in West Africa
inspired by this my mother and I decided
we wanted to do the same so I researched
the company and we ordered a kit we
submitted the sample and a couple of
weeks later we found out that our
ancestry went back to Britain shocked
confused and angry we came up with every
explanation of how these results could
be wrong now this is despite the fact
that we are quite well-versed in how DNA
works we watch Maury every day and we
are big fans of forensic flying shows
but that didn’t seem to matter at the
time we were like you know what let’s do
this again so I researched another
company we submitted another sample and
a couple of weeks later the results came
back Britain again this time we call
customer service and I relate so go on
the record to apologize to the poor
woman who was on the other line because
we were really angry but eventually we
got over it now during this time I was
working in a high school library and one
day while shelving books that came upon
one on indentured servitude and so I
began to flip through the book and as
I’m reading the book I’m realizing
everything I knew about American history
was wrong there was far more integration
of people’s in the colonial period than
we are taught currently American history
is taught from three segregated
perspectives indigenous slave and white
there is rarely ever an attempt to show
how all of these people being forced
together eventually led to the United
States so my ancestry began in colonial
Virginia
now in the 17th and well into the 18th
century people there were having babies
with whom ever indigenous west african
peoples people from england and anywhere
else that landed in the colony were
having children it wasn’t until the end
of the 17th century that we start to see
laws in the colonies that prohibit this
intermixing and from learning about my
ancestry I discovered what ethnicity is
ethnicity is when people either by force
or by choice live within a political
boundary and over time these people
develop things like languages accents
dialects traditions and yes even
prejudices my ancestry woke me up I
realized how much I really didn’t know
and they also realized how much I had in
common with all of human history what
happened here and what made the United
States was far from unique in fact if
you study history time and time again
you will see the same constant pattern
of conquering colonization and even
business interactions leading to new
cultures I now understand why things are
the way they are not just in the United
States but in every country that was a
former colony of a Western European
imperial power by learning my ancestry I
faced racism with a whole new set of
tools that most people I know didn’t
even know they could ever use so the
next time you hear someone referred to
as an African American please remember
that they are simply an ethnic American
thank you
you
uncomfortable subject for many in fact
its controversial have you ever been
asked what are you or where are you from
these are common questions you’ll be
asked if you live here in the New York
City metropolitan area and this is
because literally people from all over
the world live here so usually the
responses to these questions will be a
myriad of ethnicities and nationalities
however when I reply to these questions
I say that I am an ethnic American the
term ethnic American is one I developed
after nearly two decades of genealogical
research it refers to those who can
trace their ancestry to the 13 colonies
and today I want to share with you a
short story about how I learned not to
describe myself with a color or with a
hyphen growing up here in the New York
City metropolitan area I didn’t quite
know where I fit in culturally the
majority of my ancestors were from the
United States but I didn’t quite feel
American now I feel this is because the
median textbooks the way they frame
American history is those of us who are
descended from American slaves were
treated as it for nothing we are just a
color we have no ethnic or Geographic
identity that’s why the term
african-american was coined it was coins
of alleviate this situation however in
my opinion this term separates the role
slavery has and continues to have in the
American experience so how did I come to
all these conclusions
it all began several years ago when my
mother and I were watching a doctor
Henry Louis Gates documentary he’s a
very famous American historian in
documentary series he was helping
celebrities like Oprah and Chris walk
uncovered their ancestry in West Africa
inspired by this my mother and I decided
we wanted to do the same so I researched
the company and we ordered a kit we
submitted the sample and a couple of
weeks later we found out that our
ancestry went back to Britain shocked
confused and angry we came up with every
explanation of how these results could
be wrong now this is despite the fact
that we are quite well-versed in how DNA
works we watch Maury every day and we
are big fans of forensic flying shows
but that didn’t seem to matter at the
time we were like you know what let’s do
this again so I researched another
company we submitted another sample and
a couple of weeks later the results came
back Britain again this time we call
customer service and I relate so go on
the record to apologize to the poor
woman who was on the other line because
we were really angry but eventually we
got over it now during this time I was
working in a high school library and one
day while shelving books that came upon
one on indentured servitude and so I
began to flip through the book and as
I’m reading the book I’m realizing
everything I knew about American history
was wrong there was far more integration
of people’s in the colonial period than
we are taught currently American history
is taught from three segregated
perspectives indigenous slave and white
there is rarely ever an attempt to show
how all of these people being forced
together eventually led to the United
States so my ancestry began in colonial
Virginia
now in the 17th and well into the 18th
century people there were having babies
with whom ever indigenous west african
peoples people from england and anywhere
else that landed in the colony were
having children it wasn’t until the end
of the 17th century that we start to see
laws in the colonies that prohibit this
intermixing and from learning about my
ancestry I discovered what ethnicity is
ethnicity is when people either by force
or by choice live within a political
boundary and over time these people
develop things like languages accents
dialects traditions and yes even
prejudices my ancestry woke me up I
realized how much I really didn’t know
and they also realized how much I had in
common with all of human history what
happened here and what made the United
States was far from unique in fact if
you study history time and time again
you will see the same constant pattern
of conquering colonization and even
business interactions leading to new
cultures I now understand why things are
the way they are not just in the United
States but in every country that was a
former colony of a Western European
imperial power by learning my ancestry I
faced racism with a whole new set of
tools that most people I know didn’t
even know they could ever use so the
next time you hear someone referred to
as an African American please remember
that they are simply an ethnic American
thank you
you
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