• criitz@reddthat.com
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    11 months ago

    Yeah they were still Europeans when they named them. This should be the Obama award meme

    • lugal@lemmy.ml
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      11 months ago

      They were. The American identity came later. Until the war of independence, settlers identified with the European countries of their heritage

        • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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          11 months ago

          It’s weird. Someone once told me her husband was German after I mentioned I lived there for a while. So I asked where they’re from, maybe I knew. “From Mississippi…”

        • lugal@lemmy.ml
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          11 months ago

          I don’t live in America but I think most would consider themselves Americans. They are proud of the flag and the constitution and stuff. In the 1600s, you wouldn’t have figured a white person when someone said “American”. The whites were Brits or Germans or French, but not American. The natives were Americans.

          • criitz@reddthat.com
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            11 months ago

            Americans consider themselves Americans, but especially in the early days of the melting pot, cultural identity, and specifically that heritage was important. That’s why Americans are always saying they are Irish or Italian or whatever. The actual people from those countries laugh or get defensive about Americans who have never left the US claiming that heritage, but there’s a reason behind it.

    • kemsat@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      They still are. Note how the USA helps Ukraine, primarily white country, but not so much countries that are primarily brown people.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        11 months ago

        They don’t help Ukraine because white.

        They help Ukraine because fuck Russia.

        See also Afghanistan (70s and 80s edition, not the remake)