@DeniseD
(1) I do, in fact, hold a U.S. passport in addition to my NZ one. My (Mormon genealogist) family traces its roots in North America back to before the colonial revolution. Like many early settler families, we also (claim) to have a spot of Amerindian blood connecting us to the indigenous population of “America” that was so nearly destroyed by Euro-American disease and genocidal policies. I also have Norwegian, Alsation, Lithuano-Prussian and Bavarian forebears who came to the US in the 1830s and 1840s, plus Irish immigrants from the 1870s. If you require a U.S. pedigree of anyone that you will discuss American history with, then I definitely qualify, however much I wish I didn’t.
(2) I am a teacher, not a cattle or sheep man, living in one of the most urbanised countries in the world. You should have at least a smidgen of knowledge about something before you use it as the basis for a racial/ethnic stereotype and slur.
(3) If you operate on the principle that only the citizens of a country have the right to talk about it, then I would expect you to have nothing to say about Iraq or Palestine or Venezuela… or New Zealand. But I’m sure that’s not how you think. You, as an American, seem to feel you have a right to speak authoritatively about any other people or place, despite the near total lack of relevant knowledge – historical, cultural, linguistic, religious, political….
