Interesting. So by 'American' you mean anyone living in either North or South America? Typically, when people in the U.S. say "American" they are refering to U.S. citizens. Are you a U.S. citizen? (Just curious as to where you got this very un-American way of defining 'American. LOL)
America has been America ever since Vespuci convinced us Columbus was wrong to call it India.
Again, it is very much like the fundamentalist church of my childhood thinking only fundamentalists are "Christian". Since we separated ourselves from the "world" we had no clue that others could be call themselves "Christian" in sincerity. We thought that when others called themselves "Christian" it was an intentional lie.