You'd be surprised how many of us disagree with the 'African-American' label.
My ancestry spans Native America, Africa, and the British Isles, but for all intents and purposes, I'm black. So damn what. What's more important, is where my allegiance as a man lies - and that is to this country - America.
Perhaps I was fortunate, in that my parents taught me to be a Bell first, an American second, and a member of the black race a distant third. That always made sense to me as a child, and makes even more sense after half a century.
Well God Bless them too. Funny, like any of us get to choose our skin color, right? And yet so many are hung up on it. I was taught pretty much the same as you. Yeah, Ireland , big whoop. My people left there a long time ago and I was always told that I’m an American. And that’s what I am and will be till the day I die.