United We Stand, Hyphenated We Fall

Why are there so many ethnic groups that insist on being called "_____-Americans?" There are African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Pakistani-Americans, Pre-Americans, Post-Americans, Ex-Americans, and blah, blah, blah. Why? Are these people really African? Or Asian? Or do they just have ancestors from their respectively hyphenated countries? I believe that the latter is true. Many from these groups are third and fourth generation American citizens. So what's so wrong with being just American? Do we really have to identify what lineage you have? If so, be prepared to call me a Danish-Polish-English-Norweigan-Swedish-Apache-Scottish-Irish-German-French-American. Because that's my lineage. And nobody wants to say that. Is it because I'm simply White? Perhaps. But also because that's just a lot to say when refering to me. It seems just downright silly to call me that. The same applies to all hyphenated Americans. Either you're American or you're from some different country. And if you immigrate, then you become an American. I'm not saying that you should forget your heritage. I think that you should hold on to your heritage as much as you can. It's a part of what makes you you. But don't make others refer to you by that heritage every time they reference you. Either you're American or you're not. You're no better than any other American, and it's time that we stop being so politically correct that we can't call somebody anything different than their hyphenated name. Racism would be completely forgotten if we stopped referencing it everytime we talked about someone. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of a day when his children would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Race should not have anything to do with the way that people are treated, whatever race they may be. Let's stop all this hyphenation that's killing our unity and start being Americans. Only then will we be the great nation that we could be.