USA, Canada / PolAms -- do you regard yourselves only as 'white Americans'? [187]

If possible, you could have literally hundreds of hyphenated American ethnicities. All 4 of my grandparents were Poles but I don't feel entirely comfortable with the Polish-American label. I guess if I had some perceived axe to grind with my fellow Americans my first instinct would be to use my heritage as some type of offensive. We have not progressed far enough in this country to use the term American as a public word of cohesion and unity. I'm not talking about what goes on in the privacy of families. I think it's great to celebrate traditions and customs at home. It really can tie a family together. My mother and father spoke Polish to each other at home, but never out in public. They always considered themselves Americans first. I kind of feel bad that eventually they dropped their Polish dialogue. I was starting to get a little fluent in Polish during my formative years and now it's all forgotten. One term I had never heard though was Polish American. In fact, I never heard anything "My ancestry is + American". I feel that this is a backward trend in our country's development and it's going to take many years before we all acquire the educated and unified statement "I am an American".