Stop Hyphenating Me.

Categorizing Americans by way of using hyphenated ethnic descriptors is a root cause of division.

Why is it necessary, if you were describing me to the world to add Greek-American, Japanese-American, Italian-American, African-American or any other kind of American? Using these differentiators creates dividing lines whether ethnic, religious or other criteria.

Using the artificial mechanism of the hyphen you might as well be saying ... take that into consideration when you digest whatever else is to follow. Isn't the hyphen a precursor of agenda driven thought and class strife? Nowadays that strife is gaining momentum that may very well lead to an escalation and to actual warfare.

I am old enough to remember a time when the hyphen didn't exist except as a grammatical tool for slicing a word into parts.

Hyphenating came into vogue along with governmental programs that allotted cutouts, set asides, entitlements or other favorable treatments to those being hyphenated. Without commenting on the politics involved other than to say it is the root cause for the current class distinction, hyphenating one group, namely African-Americans led to many other ethnic groups to claim their own hyphen status.

The hyphen is the doorway to a place in line for special treatment, more benefits, added legal standing and of course the money that follows.

Unless you were born in a foreign country, came to the United States legally, petitioned the government for citizenship and were successful you are not entitled to a hyphen. Even in that case your hyphen should be withdrawn because you are an American, just like the rest of us.

The vast majority of those groups wanting, no, demanding to hold onto their hyphenated identifiers are plain old Americans. They were born here, lived here their entire lives and in most cases have never, nor will they ever, set foot in the country that is the home of their hyphen.

Until the hyphen is abolished as a way of describing Americans the class battle will continue.

Only when justice becomes truly blind will it prevail across our land. The hyphen represents a faux distinction making the many ethnic immigrant groups who have woven themselves into the fabric of America rivals by making them different altogether.

Ethnic pride is beneficial in the social aspects of life by helping to preserve traditions, customs and families. Once it crosses the line and becomes a political tool or is used to achieve a certain goal above or beyond other Americans it becomes a weapon.

Eradicating the hyphen from the American lexicon can only help in calming the waters of class or in this case hyphen warfare.