I think the reason "we do that", is because such a large proportion of our resident's roots in the United States go back no more than 100 years, and there are SO MANY different cultures and ethnicities you can encounter, especially in Urban areas. Oftentimes an ethnicity or culture will live in a specific town or part of a city and will preserve much of their culture and tradition. I guess we could pretend like everyone is the same, but there ARE differences in culture and tradition, and i think we only use those terms when we are acknowledging/talking about those things. I don't know how that differs from where you are from, but maybe the difference for us is the sheer size of the country and its diversity means we have much larger clusters of people with a shared or common foreign ancestry and so they get more attention?

However, I don't think "African American" or "Hispanic American" are used as commonly as you think, aside from the news where topics like racism and affirmative action get more exposure, and a way to delineate differences is necessary. Or when we want to figure what kind of food to eat for dinner

Wow, I've been obsessed with this kid's music for the last few months, and now I see him making waves on the Sift. Pretty cool, and he deserves it.

He is ridiculously talented, and at 17 has released like 7 songs, all of professional quality and which are better than anything I will make in my lifetime.

Oh yea, should have done that in the first place: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/03/anti-muslim_rallies_spark_ange.html
>> ^Kevlar:

Appreciate the context, Guy. Can you provide a direct link to the story? Thanks!

I am in no way condoning what happened here, however as a resident of Orange County I was appalled enough to look into the backstory, as the protest simply seemed far too hateful given the amount of support it had.

From the Washington Post:

"In an e-mailed statement, (U.S. Rep. Ed) Royce said he was angered by the presence of two keynote speakers at the event. Imam Siraj Wahhaj was named with169 others as co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though Wahhaj was never charged and has denied involvement. And Amir Abdel Malik Ali spoke at "Israeli Apartheid Week" at UC Irvine in 2010 where he said he supports Hezbollah, which the CIA labels a terrorist group."

Again, I think this is disgusting, but the choice of keynote speakers seems odd given the purpose of the fundraiser.