When you look at life from a macroscopic perspective, you often see that the world is more similar than you realize. I was thinking about my past ancestry, and started to realize how complex it is to do. My extended family comes from the south, and just recently my grandparents moved up north. Unfortunately, it is difficult for me to trace my roots back so far, as many descendents of slaves cannot. I have an uncle on my mother's side who has blond hair and green eyes. I have a great aunt on my dad's side who is pure Cherokee, and my grandmother has very oriental features. My mom's side has English somewhere down the line, and my dad's side has Irish in the family lineage. As complicated and rich as this history sounds, it is alot easier just to say African American, although I, as many African Americans, do not know what part of Africa my family is originally from. I often wonder why my heritage has to be put under one category. Does it really define who I am? Or is it a simple way to group a large diverse group of people? I cannot say I am Nigerian/Liberian (or whichever part of Africa my ancestors came from), Irish, Cherokee, English, Blackfoot American. People who immigrated from, say, China, Italy, Japan, etc, are defined exactly as is, with the inclusion of -American. One thing that we all have in common in this macroscopic world, is that we are all human. And part of knowing where you're going is knowing where you came from.