HYPHENED-NATION: Don’t Check the Box

Hyphened-Nation was inspired by the authors travels overseas, and time spent living in the United Kingdom. Living abroad was an eye-opening experience. She grew to understand certain aspects of American culture better, the longer she lived overseas. This book is about her insights, and experience of being treated as an American, rather than a hyphenated one. The difference was startling and lead her on a journey to understand why The United States is one of the only, if not the only country, that hyphenates its citizens by ethnicity before nationality.

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧. 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐬 “𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲” 𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞, 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.“ -𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧, 𝐇𝐲𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝‐𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧