Hyphen the Terrible

Yes, I know it's a terrible pun and yes, I "borrowed" it from the title of a contest in the Washington Post some time ago...but I couldn't pass it up because it so perfectly fits the topic about which I wanted to write.

One of the things that really irritates me is hyphenated Americans. You know what I mean: the people who aren't satisfied to be Americans, citizens of what is arguably the greatest country in the world. They are the people who find it necessary to be hyphenated Americans, stressing a national, geographic, ethnic, or cultural component they believe is more important than simple American citizenship. We find ourselves overrun with Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, and my personal ubiquitous non-favorite, African-Americans.

What nonsense is this?

There was a time when people came to this country because they wanted to share in the American dream. They sought the equality of opportunity and justice represented by a unique nation. My paternal grandparents came to the United States from Hungary after World War I, learned English, and became Americans. I never heard the modifier Hungarian- attached to it. Pride in one's homeland is not a bad thing. But if you left it to come to America, you became an American.

Today, though, it seems that many people can't accept just being Americans. They use hyphens to make political statements.

I'm tired to death of reading the term African-American a million times a day. Yes, your ancestors many generations back may not have come here by choice. But their tragic misfortune and suffering has allowed you to be Americans, and to enjoy a smorgasbord of freedoms and opportunities you are unlikely to find in many parts of Africa. I find the term African-American offensive.

Many years ago as an undergraduate at Penn State University, I was required to fill out a questionnaire as part of term registration. This questionnaire sought data about my ethnic background, and was required so that the university could prove it was sufficiently ethnically mixed. In reading down the list of various hyphenated combinations of ethnic and geographic backgrounds (including such gems as Afro-American, not Hispanic), I discovered that the category into which I fell was ... Other. Yes, as an American citizen in my own country, I was an Other. The questionnaire helpfully provided a write-in space for those who were not covered in the vast array of possible mix-and-match backgrounds, and so I wrote myself in as Hungarian-surnamed white American. As you might expect, I was accused by the university functionary who collected the questionnaires of failing to take seriously this critically important survey.

What a crock.

You are an American, or you are not.

Being an American used to mean something. It meant respect for the rule of law and the separation of church and state. It meant equality of opportunity and concurrent equality of responsibility. It meant the opportunity to succeed as well as the possibility to fail.

Today, it means something less. Today, the hyphenated modifier is often more important than the American. Today, being an American for many people is more about what you can get than what you can give. It's a quest for reward without responsibility.

Hyphens. Leave home without them. Stand tall and be an American, free of what you left behind.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo