|
People in the US are [almost] never ashamed of their old country heritage, and I doubt any British heritage would EVER be a source of shame. One thing Americans are incredibly good about is not carrying grudges. The Japanese wanted to completely destroy the US only a half century ago, and today they make half our cars and we could not be better friends as nations. There were two generations that learned to hate Japanese people due to the war, but anyone who does today is considered very strange.
I think the only reason Brit and German heritages aren't as celebrated as some, is that they are so common, because they arrived so long ago. By the time the Irish, Chinese, Africans, etc. started coming over or being sent, the original northern Euros had settled in and started the culture.
The other thing is that, 14 generations into the US, surnames are less and less likely to reflect a large portion of someone's heritage. My own surname probably reflects about an eighth of what I can trace back to cultures that existed 2-300 years ago. Consider Tiger Woods - an English surname if anything, he's part African, part Asian and who knows what else.
We are becoming all proud mutts, and love and share the best parts of all our heritages. It's cool!
|