The Hyphenated American

“There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.”

Theodore Roosevelt

Ouch. As someone who identifies as Cuban American, which is pretty much just American and a little something more, I have to wonder if Teddy would feel the same were he still around today. By now you might have noticed that I did not hyphenate the Cuban American bit in the opening of this post. While a tiny little line may not seem like it makes much of a difference, to a lot people, it actually does. Particularly, if you happen to be one of those “Hyphenated Americans.”

(hy·phen·at·ed A·mer·i·can)

noun

US informal

• an American citizen who can trace their ancestry to another, specified part of the world, such as an African American or an Irish American (so called because terms like African American are often written with a hyphen).

Some people, feeling they belong equally to both their culture of origin and their current country of citizenship, combine both countries with a hyphen, showing that they identify as both simultaneously. On the other hand, some hyphenated Americans choose not to hyphenate the two cultures and use the culture that precedes American as simply an adjective. For example, Japanese Americans use Japanese to simply describe what kind of American they are while a Japanese-American identifies as both Japanese and American at the same time.  

You might be thinking to yourself, “Ok, so what’s the big deal?” The current debate over the Hyphenated American goes a little something like this: One side of the argument is that there is no such thing as Hyphenated Americans at all. Like good ol’ Teddy said, the true American is just an American, anything else is not really American. I guess you can say that it’s kind of like a burger. You can argue that a real burger is made of meat and a veggie burger would be your Hyphenated American. Now, the opposing side of this argument claims that saying a veggie burger isn't really a burger is completely false. The opposing side says the Hyphenated American is an even better burger for its vegginess!

As someone who was born and raised in 'Merica and feels as American as I can imagine an American feeling, I identify as Cuban American. Why? Well, because on top of being a lover of hot dogs, the fourth of July and reality television, I also speak Spanish, enjoy rice and beans and the sight of a cooked pig on Christmas thanks to having Cuban parents.

While I get where both sides of the debate are coming from, I have to agree that I am indeed a veggie burger. I don't feel that makes me any less of an American as the next burger. Also, on behalf of all my fellow hyphenated Americans I'd like to say, "Lighten up!" You better believe I wouldn't trade my fourth of July barbecue for another country just because I have an adjective in front of American. 

[Insert salute to flag here]

If you want to read the actual paper published in the New York Times after Theodore Roosevelt gave his speech, check out the link below. It will lead you to a really neat copy of the actual article. Enjoy!

New York Times Article