the real americans?

Question

i was wondering, if America was inhabited by the Indians shouldnt they be referred to as americans. because the 'americans' of today, majority white, are ALL from european ancestry, mainly german, irish, french, british, and italian. So who are the real americans?

this question is basically in response to some people saying whites are the real americans. so just want to clarify it by your answers..

Answer 1

They are native to this country ie: meaning here first. When settlers from Europe first came here it wasn't called America at all. So therefore you get Native Americans. It is more of a respectful term. I am of partial Native American descent and I appreciate the fact that some of my ancestors are recognized as the natives of this country.

Answer 2

Everyone is born here is an American. It is amazing that the ugly head of prejudice sticks up when the dominate people or most numerous people start to feel put upon by the new immigrants. But immigrants, or different ones, have always been the easy ones to blame for everything, and when something is not working very well it is much easier to blame the new comers rather than blame ourselves.
Who has paid the Indians for the land that the white seized? Who has recognized the Indian's natural rights and obligations owed by white Americans to the Indians?
Good question, but don't hold your breath for a civil answer and admission of guilt.
And yes, the American Indians were treated like animals by the new comers to America. In fact they are still being treated poorly.
The Indians in general are owed billions upon billions of dollars for things like oil on their land and minerals and so on. They are not being paid what America owes them, and do you hear anyone complaining about them even today? America is not changing and many more people in the world are aware of the fact that Bush and the narrowest of minds in America are continuing a dangerous and deadly myth now being exported overseas.

Answer 3

What about naturalized citizens? Or those who were born while parents were serving overseas? Why be so fixated on this "born here" thing? Or who came here first?

A guy who came from Canada at age 1 and is a US citizen now is not a real American but someone who was born in the US and left at young age and never went back is a real American then? What about someone who was born in the US but appeared before a US consular office later and relinquished his citizenship? Is the latter more American than the former?

How about those naturalized US citizens who are coming back to the US from Iraq in coffins wrapped in US flags? Are these not real Americans, you will tell me? They died defending American interests. Are you going to insult their memory and tell me that the one who stayed home is more American than these because he was born here. Get a life!

It boils to one thing only- American Citizenship!

Any US citizen is a real American.

Why should we divide people into real and " not real" /unreal Americans? You mean we should have first class/second class and third class citizens? Someone who has more right to be in the US than his neighbor?

For this we have to consult not the opinions of people but the Highest Law of the Land- the American Constitution. It is what solely determines who is a real American and who is not. Not you, not me, not anyone else decides that. People have died defending the Constitution, so please respect it.

The Constitution of the US does not divide people into real and unreal Americans. It says that any person who is born or naturalized (!) in the US is a US citizen. A US citizen equals American. As in *real* American. Anyone who will say that a "US citizen" and " a Real American" are not the same concepts is talking nonsense and is slandering the very ideals that the US was based on.

We are living in times in which all US citizens should pull together, not bicker about who is real and who is unreal.

Who is a real Frenchman? A Corsican, a Parisian? A Breton?

Who is a real Italian? A descendant of Etruscans? A descendant of Arab invadors of Sicily?

Who is a real Brit? An Anglo Saxon, a Norman, a Celt, a Druid?

This can go on and on.

Answer 4

We're all out of Africa if you travel far enough back in human history so I guess all present day Americans could call themselves African American if they were so inclined. As for me, I am a more recently a mixture of Welsh, Native American (Creek), Irish and more and my kids are that plus black, french, polish, Cajun and more. We are all considered White Americans even though my brother, son, and mother are all brown from the Creek genes. And somehow, everyone assumes we are all European. Real Americans? Anyone born here is a real American.

Answer 5

The true Americans are the Native Americans who came over here when the land bridge was still above water. They first inhabited here and so they are technically the first americans. The whites took over America, but they were the first true americans and always will be.

Answer 6

It's all just words. Yes, they were the original inhabitors of the continent of America. Our country is called America. So, anybody who's from this country is an American. Native Americans is just a way of identifying a group because "American" is not specific enough in today's context.

Answer 7

The continents were named after a European cartographer named Amerigo Vespucci in the 16th century. The indigenous nations were here long before that. Why would they want a European moniker?

However, I agree that they are the first Americans and the real ones.

Answer 8

They are native americans. Christopher Colombus thought it was India & called them Indians. So yah. The Native Americans..

Answer 9

Thus the term, Native Americans.

Answer 10

Yes, thats why I don't call them "Indians" but Native Americans