Because I'm not Caucasian (there IS a place called Caucasia, and none of my ancestors are from there).
While I'm of European lineage, my family has been in America long enough that I don't culturally associate myself with those places, so I wouldn't want to be called european-american.
"white" says nothing about my culture. Besides -- my skin is more peach than white.
hey - I've got ancestors from South Africa (sure they were white missionaries there, but they were there for a few generations), but that wouldn't qualify me to call myself African-American (which I find hypocritical of the whole "political correctness" movement)
I classify myself as "american" because I celebrate american holidays (which are celebrated by pretty much all "ethnic groups" living in america) and I am a part of "american" culture, which also crosses color and ethnic lines. I personally don't understand the desire to classify everyone into groups based on their ancestry and color. I can understand wanting to understand peoples cultures, religions, and propensity towards certain genetic diseases (which is something that tends to follow racial lines sometimes)... but those interests aren't furthered with the labels they tend to use in America. |
