<p>“What you’ve described, in the case of African-Americans, is an entirely different phenomenon. Read some Harriet Martineau or Orlando Patterson and you’ll see the drastically different effects, and resulting phenomena, of forcibly stripping away ancestry and voluntarily hanging on to parts of it.”</p>
<p>I did not mean to imply that African-Americans did not have a unique culture and you’re correct that it was an unfair comparison on my part. Let me try and understand your position more clearly. White Americans, past first generation immigrants, “fabricate” their own ethnic identity, yes? African Americans, on the other hand, have no need to fabricate an ethnic identity as they have a far greater degree of shared history and hardship among themselves? Their identity is a uniquely African American one that, even though it resembles certain aspects of traditional African cultures(ex. oral traditions)? White Americans do not have much of a shared history. Their ancestors came from different areas with different cultures at different time periods and emigrated for different reasons. European emigrants differed from their African counterparts with regards to the circumstances of their exodus. Because the Africans were enslaved and sent to America against their will, a shared culture around their hardship and suffering emerged. This culture was sustained as they gained emancipation, citizenship, voting rights, and eventually civil rights. European Americans, who lack this sustained, shared hardship, do not have similarly strong cultural ties. Thus, they look back to the ‘Old Country’ for some source of ethnic heritage and pride, unsatisfied with being simply ‘American’. </p>
<p>Am I in the ballpark, or way off base?</p>