LabeLs

       In the post civil war era in America there was a beginning of unity, or so it seemed, we all were Americans. Then, there were African or Black Americans, segregating or isolating a population by their skin color. It became easy or easier to place or identify individuals and further polarize the people. To further the deviciveness we became IrishAmerican, ItalianAmerican, as well as HispanicAmerican - this title isolated and consolidated every ethnic mixture of Spanish decent. We also have segregated the NativeAmericans and the other European immigrants such RussianAmerican or HungarianAmericans. Even though some of us have been  born on American soil we are first members of the country of our ancestors as in ItalianAmerican. Some of us have been here for genreations and no longer speak or understand the language of our ancestors. And yet we are not considered first as Americans. JapaneseAmerican and ChineseAmericans are also counted as part of the segregated group.

And yet there is one group of American without the label of their ancestors, and this segregation is not questioned or discussed. There is one group among us who has disappeared from the ethnic analysis of the country.

Whether or not they are singled out by their lack of reference as an ethnic group has never been the focus of attention nor has it ever been addressed. They are the behind the scenes Americans, blending into the landscape, disappearing from the vista. They do not exist.

One can suppose that this has been a conspiracy to distract, to preoccupy us with the separation or difference in ethnicity as they carry on quietly, without being noticed, blending into the landscape, disappearing from our consciousness.

So much so that we never refer to them, these are the EnglishAmericans. Do you know any EnglishAmericans, have you ever seen an EnglishAmerican. How come we call no one EnglishAmerican. And we allow ourselves us non EnglishAmericans to celebrate our ethnic roots without celebrating our American roots first .

Why do we, us non EnglishAmericans grasp our isolation and relish in the segregation. Can we be Americans first.

Some of our ancestors helped build the railroads that linked the nation, smelling with the dirt of the earth of American, swallowing the coal from the mines, cementing their lives with the highways and railroads, being buried with the old west and the roaring twenties. They sweat to build this country and make it what it is today and we still do not accept that this is our home. We still live in Africa, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, China, Russia and so on, except for the EnglishAmericans.

There is a meaning here, there is a purpose in the isolation and segregation, there is a good way to prejudice and subjugate and we accept this as the order of business, like whether or not we are male or female. Although we each are individual we no longer fight for nor long for our independence. Like the arms, and legs and head of the body we are all part of the package each with its own task to perform, each cell part of the whole, separate, independent and united, except for the EnglishAmericans. They stand alone.