Who Is An American?

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Who is an American?

The term “American” is used so freely that no one really knows what the definition of what an American is. Is an American someone who was born in America and lives here? Or is being an American having citizenship? Do all Americans have the same rights? Just because you are an American does that mean that the government will look out for you the same as every other American in this country?
All these questions have been going around in people’s heads for many years. For most people it is a thought that fleets in and out of their minds as the day passes by. But for some people these questions still remain to be answered. These answers are what make life here make sense for some of these people. Who might these people be? Who has been put through so much anxiety over being a “citizen” of America? “Asian Americans” have been put through many tests to see whether they are worthy of the “honor” of being a true blue American.
If we are going to ask who is an American the law would say that anyone that is born in the United States has the right to citizenship in this country. If you were to marry a citizen you could become one yourself also. But was this the story of most Asian Americans? Most Asian Americans did not even have enough say in the country to fight what they were being put through. If a “whit” American lady were to marry a Filipino man she would lose all her rights to be a citizen in America. Does this sound like the America that you and I know today? Maybe it does. Has the question “who is an American?” really gone away? Am I an American just because I happened to be born in the United States of America? Well yes that is why I am a citizen but did I do anything to deserve that honor? People who want to become Americans have to know this countries law inside out and upside down. Do most Americans know all of the bill of rights or what the constitution says? ...