I am not a hyphenated American.

My grandparents emigrated in 1905 from that part of the Russian Empire now known as the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Their immigration records list them as being of Russian nationality; my DNA says I am 99% Russian, 0.4% Norwegian, and 0.6% either Middle Eastern or East African (for some reason, that is a bit muddled).

I could, in accordance with current trends, call myself a Russian-American or Ukrainian-American; but I don’t. I am an American of Ukrainian heritage.

I was born in the United States, as were both of my parents. I grew up surrounded by other children whose parents or grandparents were immigrants from all over the world. But we were, without question, 100% American.

End of discussion . . . or so I thought.

Now, it seems, a new category of Americans has been created: so-called “heritage Americans.” As snobbish and exclusionary as it sounds, that’s just how bad it is. And it seems to be gaining favor among far-right conservatives, though there isn’t one clear definition of the term.

For example, speaking on a Tucker Carlson podcast, Blaze Media columnist Auron MacIntyre explained his concept of the term as follows:

“You could find their names in the Civil War registry.” He said that America is not “a collection of abstract things agreed to in some social contract,” but rather is a specific set of people embodying an “Anglo-Protestant spirit [and having] a tie to history and to the land. If you change the people, you change the culture.” [Ali Breland, The Atlantic, October 7, 2025.]

And Senator Eric Schmitt (R.-Missouri), speaking at a National Conservative Conference last month, had this to offer:

“We Americans are the sons and daughters of the Christian Pilgrims that poured out from Europe’s shores to baptize a new world in their ancient faith. [America] is our birthright. It’s our heritage, our destiny.” [Id.]

And Christian nationalist C. Jay Engel, while describing himself as a “heritage American,” still claims that he is not a “racial essentialist,” and magnanimously allows that “blacks of the Old South [and] integrated Native Americans” also count as heritage Americans.

Well, I’m sure that all of the Sioux, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Wampanoag, Seminole, Creek, and hundreds of other indigenous peoples who were displaced and robbed of their lands by Mr. Engel’s pure white Christian ancestors will be thrilled to learn that they are, after all, worthy of being considered Americans.

Then, to add insult to injury, Engel went on to say that “the majority of blacks have demonstrated that they canot function within the old European cultural standards,” and that the concept of heritage Americans affirms “the domination and pre-eminence of the European derived peoples, their institutions, and their way of life.” [Id.]

Well, there went the last 160 years of progress.

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As with most cockeyed, self-serving theories, this one is full of holes. To begin with, the so-called “non-racist” “heritage Americans” have conveniently ignored the obvious fact that their ancestors literally stole this country from the only people who actually have a legitimate claim to the title: the 500-plus recognized Native American tribes, some of whom date back an estimated 10,000 years or longer.

And I wonder whether they have considered that among those lily-white early European settlers were as many as 50,000 to 120,000 convicted criminals sent by the British government to the American “penal colonies” as convict labor during the 17th and 18th centuries — any of whom might even have been the ancestors of Messrs. MacIntyre, Schmitt or Engel.

Then they might also want to start explaining where people like Secretary of State Marco Rubio (whose parents came from Cuba), JD Vance’s wife Usha (the daughter of Indian parents), and Melania Trump (an emigre from Slovenia) fit into their exclusive club.

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I could go on, but I’m sure I’ve made my point. If you want to talk about real Americans, you’re going to have to look past this group of elitist, racist, pseudo-Christian hypocrites . . . and into your own mirrors.

Because we are the Americans, and they can’t convince us otherwise.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/8/25