When I heard the term European American something sounded wrong. I could just see some white person who was feeling left out somehow saying "Oh yeah well you may be African American, but I'm European American, so there." As if they could somehow get in on the oppression Olympics as a target if they said that. It's absurd the whole idea that we as white people who haven't been concerned with our ethnic identity as a whole in a long time if ever suddenly need our own label.
Well I was right about my hunch. This whole European American thing has been picked up by Americas poster boy for tolerance, David Duke. He even has a web site espousing "White Civil Rights." It would be hilarious if it weren't so pathetic. Seriously, when have we as white people in this country ever had our civil rights trampled on? It's this kind of nonsense that people are swallowing right along with reverse racism that makes me afraid. We are so frightened that we are bound to lose something in the process of people of color achieving things that we make up stuff like reverse racism and white civil rights as a way to justify our ignorant beliefs.
So I am begging you as enlightened people reading this blog who also happen to be white, don't allow yourselves to be labeled as European American. Have some pride, don't allow these ignorant people to drag you into a fight that doesn't exist. And for sure don't call me European American, I have no wish to be grouped in with the completely ignorant, incompetent, rejects that go by that label. I have more pride than that.
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I refer to myself as a European-American because I have Scandinavian, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Franco-Norman blood. Several of my ancestors arrived in North America from Europe as early as 1620, and others as late as the mid-twentieth century. Needless to say, "European-American" is far less cumbersome than "Norwegian/Scottish/English/French-American," and certainly more culturally significant than "White-American."
The fact that so-called white nationalists happen to fancy the term is of no concern to me; I shall not allow a vocal minority to tarnish a perfectly useful term. My own adoption of the term was certainly not born from a desire to join the ranks of the oppressed; I am quite content with the race card I've been dealt.
Just as most African-Americans have mixed intra-African lineages, many European-Americans have mixed intra-European lineages. So tell me, is it offensive that I should be rightfully identified as a European-American?
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