Hyphenated Americans

There is no such thing as an African-American, Antartican-American, Asian-American, Australian-American, or European-American.

There are only Americans and non-Americans.


What does African-American mean? Does it mean that he/she has citizenship in an African country and an American country? Or does it mean that they are descended from both Africans and Americans?

How about Asian-Americans, or English-Americans?



It is the opinion of the author that there are almost no African-Americans, Asian-Americans, European-Americans, or any other type of -American.

African implies that the person has citizenship in an African country, while American implies that the person has citizenship in an American country. While some countries like dual-citizenship, others don't, like the United States.

Therefore, if an organization is only allowed to hire U.S. citizens (for example), then they should not hire people who have citizenship (or imply that they have citizenship) in another country by saying that they are a -American.

I encourage all companies involved in U.S. national security to only hire Americans, specifically those who are U.S. citizens. It is more important to know whether or not someone truly considers themselves a U.S. citizen than if they are a U.S. citizen.

Saying that they are a -American is one way of saying that they don't truly consider themselves a U.S. citizen. As such, they should not be hired.

I am not European-American despite the fact that I am descended from Europeans. I also do not hold citizenship in a European country. Most self-identified African-Americans are descended from Africans, but do not hold citizenship in an African country. They are Americans, not Africans, and most definitely not a mix of both.


For the record:
I don't care what skin color you are (e.g., a white person says they are European-American should be treated the same as if a black person says they are African-American), but if you are a -American, then you shouldn't be hired.

I do think that all companies who do hire based off of this policy should say so, somewhere (but not advertise it) such that those who don't consider themselves to only be American citizens don't see it while those who truly believe that they are American citizens will see it.

I don't know of a way to do that though.