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Humor American-Born Hyphenated-Americanism by Josprel I am American born, but not a hyphenated-American. There are many American born citizens who insist on qualifying their heritage by appending their ethnicity to it. For example, they refer to themselves as French-Americans, German-Americans, Spanish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans – you get the drift. I, on the other hand, am an absolutely de-hyphenated American who happens to be of Sicilian extraction. I have been from the day of my birth. No sir, there never was a moment in my life when I was hyphenated – just extracted. My paternal and maternal grandparents became hyphenated-Americans. So did my father, who sailed from the “old country” at age four and hyphenated himself to America - citizenship papers and all - as soon as he could. My mother, on the other hand, was as absolutely de-hyphenated in her Americanism as I am. She earned this distinction by being born in America. Yes, indeed! My mother is American born, my father came from Sicily at age four, I am not Sicilian born, I’ve never been to Sicily nor do I have a desire to go there, I do not speak Sicilian, and, as a kid, I hated both Hitler and Mussolini during the Second World War. Had I been old enough, I gladly would have fought against Italy and, therefore, against Sicily. Moreover, I subsequently served a three-year stint in the United States Air Force. With the above credentials, how can I be a Sicilian-American, or even think of myself as one? Kaiser Wilhelm once said to someone who referred to himself as a German-American, "There are Germans. There also are Americans, but there are no German-Americans. No such race exists." Apparently, Wilhelm did not believe in hyphenated loyalties, either. Borrowing from his observation, I say, "There are Sicilians. There are also Americans, but there are no Sicilian-Americans. No such race exists." And what of you? No matter where your ancestors hailed from, if you are American born, you are an American-sans-hyphen. There is no American born hyphenated American. No such person exists! © Josprel (Joseph Perrello) josprel@yahoo.com
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