<p>I think it’s lovely to see that some people on this thread embrace being ‘just American’. Personally, I think it’s heartbreaking to see the cultural divide in this country when people would rather identify with a culture that was actually their great-great-great grandparents and that they (usually) barely know anything about. Maybe if more people embraced being American then the US could get started on building more of a cultural identity (:</p>
<p>I was born in Brazil as well (go us South-Brazilians, Lennin!) but as I’ve gotten older I’ve started to embrace my American side more and more. I’m a fluent Portuguese speaker, and if I went back a random stranger would never realize that I lived a day outside the country, but the US has definitely grown on me and become a part of me. I proudly identify myself as Brazilian-American, simply because both those cultures make me who I am.</p>
<p>It is hard though, because when you say you’re from a South American country people automatically label you “Latin” in the sense that you see most Latin people here- of the russet-skinned, black almond eyes and straight black hair variety. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing (or a common thing everywhere- I can actually only speak for the region I live in!), but you can tell that most people who label themselves Latin here are of the Indigenous South American roots. However, my roots are Portuguese and Italian, and whenever someone looks at my last name they automatically assume I’m an American of Italian descent. It irritates me because ethnically I’m white, but when I tell people my nationality they don’t seem to understand the concept that South America has white people. Actually, I read the other day that percentage-wise Brazil has more white people than Canada does :/</p>
<p>SORRY, Rant over! Just something I had to put out there…</p>