When schools teach "you are American", what do they mean by "American"?

Prompted by my earlier question. tbh, sometimes I don't know what an American is. I once heard a second-generation white Usanian tell a group of native Americans to go back to their own country. They were about 5 miles from their reservation, in an area with three tribes and three reservations ringing the city.

I have heard white Usanians tell Bispanic Americans in Arizona to go back to Mexico although they replied that their families had been there since before AZ became a state.

I have seen on Reddit and in other social media multiple disparagements aimed at Puerto Ricans and native Hawaiians, routinely telling them to go home, that they are illegal and they should be afraid etc.

I once overheard a very enthusiastic black Usanain informing an African African American that she was not African American because she did not understand what it was to be an African American since she could not trace her lineage back to slaves.

And of course we have the attacks on Obama / Harris.

So since schools are the first step to creating a society, what do they mean by "American"?

Submitted September 07, 2020 at 11:35AM by liart_h https://ift.tt/2ZgMCx0