Hyphenated Americans

African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American. Oxymoron-American. That’s what I think of hyphenated Americans.

If I see a black person, I don’t have to guess where his ancestors were from. Anyone who sees me knows, should know right away that my ancestry is not European or African.

What chaffs the hell out of me is the number of white people that seem to want to know how long I have been in this country. Sorry, white folks, but you have some REALLY dumb people or people who do not know their history very well.

We never hear about German-Americans, Anglo-American, French-Americans. We may hear of some Americans of Irish or Italian descent. Hopefully, you get the picture.

Why marginalize ourselves. If we were to return to our ancestor’s homeland, we would be looked upon as traitors especially if our children no longer spoke the language of our ancestors.

Every holiday I have with my children, I thank god for being an American.

MADD MEXX

Hero

As I sit down to write this post, I am 70 years old. I want my children and grand children to know that their grandfather and great grandfather was a hero. No, he didn’t have super powers but he was a REAL hero just the same.

My daddy never earned more than $50.00 a week yet he managed to support a wife and two kids and on some occasions, my mom’s sister and her kids. My parents would later adopt two of the girls.

He built our home in the evenings after supper. My brother and I were too young to be of much help. We were poor and didn’t know it. He couldn’t do that now a days because of building permits and codes and such things. Progress is good but sometimes it’s at the expense of personal initiative and motivation.

I sometimes find myself comparing myself to my Dad and find myself falling short. I did not come to realize until later in life that my Dad was a true hero.

                                                                     MADD MEXX