I had really never thought about it: "What is America? Until this week I believed that America was a country (and a continent), but after reading Schlesinger's piece I realized that it is not only that. Schlesinger believes that America has succeeded as a multicultural society, because: "America gives ethnically diverse people reasons to see themselves as part of the same nation". After reading this quote I realized that America is no where near that. Internationally America as seen as a "multi-ethnic" country, but nationally it is not.
             Schlesinger, states "for America was a multiethnic country from the start." What does "from the start?" mean. If you really go back to the "real start", Native Americans were the start. Schlesinger is talking about the "start" he likes to believe in, he is referring to the start most white-Americans refer to. There is not one history book that refers to Native Americans as the founders of America. Native Americans lived in this country long before Europeans discovered. There is a part of Schlesinger piece that is true: "The hostility of one tribe for another is among the most instinctive human reactions", when Europeans arrived on the U.S. they believed that Native Americans were dangerous, reason for why they decided to take their property, kill most of them, their culture, make them live in reservations, and lastly re-name the country as "New England". How come this is not part of our history books?
             Schlesinger talks about U.S. history from the revolution on, he also mentions that America was "successful is making a multiethnic society". How can anybody classify America as a successful multiethnic society, if since the "beginning of times" Americans decided to exclude the real Americans?
             What does being an American mean to Schlesinger?
             America is home to millions ...