<p>I don’t think it’s so much that Americans don’t want to identify with America; I think that they just want to remain connected to their ancestral culture as well.</p>
<p>I do and always will see myself as an American first. But additionally I hold on to my background (I’m about 75% German). It is a part of who I am and where my family came from. I have a German flag and I take German classes at school. These efforts to understand and appreciate my background help make me unique.</p>
<p>And that’s what is so good about America. It is a melting pot; people from all different cultures and backgrounds come to live here. These people all came for the American ideals and all love their country, but at the same time they hold some of their connections to their homeland. This is what makes us American in the first place, and it should be what unifies our nation, rather than what divides it (as it kind of does today).</p>
<p>Just like you said, you see yourself as a Brazilian-American, not an American. You say you embrace your American identity, but you are still retaining your Brazilian identity even in that label you have given yourself. This is a good thing in my opinion, because without it America’s diversity would gradually slip away and we would lose one of the fundamental characteristics of our society.</p>