As far as your comparison of an African American whose ancestors arrived in colonial times with a recent immigrant from Albania, the American Indian has a greater claim than anyone, Americans of British colonial descent included, to being an American by virtue of his ancestors on this continent for millennia. Many nations have minorities: for example, France has Bretons and Alsatians; Germany has Wends and Sorbs; Italy has Albanians, Croatians, and Germans. These minorities may be as loyal to their home countries as are the respective French, German, and Italian majorities. However, they do not fit the accepted definition of being French, German, or Italian.
The fact is that the historical concepts of America and Americans are rooted in common cultural, religious, and ethnic bonds. A second or greater generation Irish American is just another Yank in Kerry and Kildare, and a second or greater generation Italian American is an Americano in Naples or Sicily. Granted, as the result of 19th and early 20th Century immigration, the concept of what was American expanded from more narrowly British and Protestant to more broadly European and Judeo-Christian. In a century or so, the European, and possibly the Judeo-Christian and the Western as well, elements of the American identity will no longer exist.
As far as it goes, I regard an immigrant who supports the foundational principles of this republic, like a Ludwig von Mises or an Edward Teller, as far more truly American than leftists like Jane Fonda or Jesse Jackson, both of whom have American ancestries dating to colonial times.
No it isn't. That said, your claim that "European ancestry" is a fundamental test of American-ness is indeed racist. There's no way that Slobodan Milosevic was more "American" than Condi Rice.
As far as your comparison of an African American whose ancestors arrived in colonial times with a recent immigrant from Albania, the American Indian has a greater claim than anyone, Americans of British colonial descent included, to being an American by virtue of his ancestors on this continent for millennia.
Agreed. But you have failed to answer my question. Is white skin really a useful measure of American-ness? You said it was, and I'm challenging you on that.
However, they do not fit the accepted definition of being French, German, or Italian.
Yes but "American" isn't an ethnicity.
Granted, as the result of 19th and early 20th Century immigration, the concept of what was American expanded from more narrowly British and Protestant to more broadly European and Judeo-Christian.
Black people aren't American?