My theory About How Americans Decide Their Ethnicities

choi

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In US, if you say you are Irish, you are Irish.[1] The same for
Jewishness.** Or Chineseness (some Taiwanese say they are not Chinese,
although they might have said they were a few years or decades ago).

I always consider Pres. Barack Obama mixed. But many Americans (black and
white) assigned him as black. I have disagreed from the beginning, for I do
not buy the argument that a drop of black blood makes the whole person black
. Blacks were upset with this notion, which was institutionalized in US
Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). See One-drop
rule
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule

Once Mr. Obama became a viable presidential candidate, most blacks supported
him, deeming him one of them. I challenged them (blacks) about their
inconsidencies over one-drip rule. They were speechless. (In any event, Pres
. Obama checked "black" in his 2010 census.)


Note:
(1)
(a) At least in US. I could not comprehend how Americans decide their
ethnicity, given US is a melting pot. Americans told me what one thinks he
is rules, even if one does not have Irish blood, he can still claim
Irishness.
(b) In my mind, I believe this theory. I live in Boston, which was overtaken
by the Irish long time ago (recall that the first settlers were English).
(i) Many Irish escaped Ireland. See
Great Famine (Ireland)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)
("between 1845 and 1852 during which the island's population dropped by 20
to 25 percent. Approximately one million people died and a million more
emigrated from Ireland"--the last sentence being based on David Ross,
Ireland: History of a Nation, New Lanark: Geddes & Grosset, 2002, p. 226)

(ii) The island of Ireland had 6,197,100 as of 2008, including 4,422,100 in
Republic of Ireland and 1,775,000 in Northern Ireland (which is part of
United Kingdom).

(iii) In contrast,
Press Release, U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features: Irish-American
Heritage Month (March) and St. Patrick's Day (March 17): 2010. US Census
Bureau, Jan. 5, 2010.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-census-bureau-facts-for-features-irish-american-heritage-month-march-and-st-patricks-day-march-17-2010-80697732.html
("36.3 million  Number of U.S. residents who claimed Irish ancestry in 2008.
This number was more than eight times the population of Ireland itself (4.4
million). Irish was the nation's second most frequently reported ancestry,
trailing only German" but more than Americans who claimed English)
(iv) How could 1 million of Irish in mid nineteenth century--sure some Irish
came before and after the Famine--procreate 36.8 million Irish Americans?
Mind-boggling, isn't it?

(2) If you want to emigrate to Israel as a Jew, that is a different matter.
Israeli Law of Return grants automatic citizenship to any Jew-and his family
members-who asks for it. The Law recognizes as a Jew anyone whose mother
was Jewish or "who converted to Judaism." In that case, what a person thinks
he is does not count. Compare section 1.2 Eligibility requirements in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Return

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