What is an Amerikaner?

The time has come to identify ourselves.

This term has been floating around for a while and it deserves to be defined with more clarity. It is an adaptation of the term "Afrikaner" which refers to the Western European settlers that made a home for themselves in the south of Africa in the 1600s. These hardy colonists tamed a wild countryside and turned it into a bountiful and prosperous land. While the largest ethnic group was the Dutch, Afrikaners were people from Germany, France, and Britain as well as local stock of various origins and shades.

One of the earliest references to the term is from very early in the 1700s, and it is clear that, as a people, they had become one with the land they had subdued. Historically, they were heavily protestant, and their cultural identity loosely revolves around, among other elements, the development of homesteads, moving into the deep interior, and the highs & lows that every group of people experiences as they survive, thrive, and reproduce through time. Long after they arrived and established themselves as a distinct culture tied to their land, mass migration and foreign interests sought to push them out of their homes and replace them completely. Though they are relatively few in number, they have never stopped fighting for the gifts of their ancestors and an identity forged in blood, sweat, and time. Their history is checkered, with instances of daring deeds and despicable violations of honesty and honor, but they refuse to deny their heritage, even if it isn't perfect by some utopian standard.

It doesn’t require a college diploma to see the parallels and similarities between the identity and cultural story of the Afrikaners and the founding stock of America. Poor but hardy colonists, striking out from Europe, divided by language and culture but united in desire and purpose, go to a land, subdue it, make it their own, and thrive. Because of a number of cultural artifacts unique to the British, as well as a longstanding academic tradition of despising one’s own identity and history, there has never been a specific term applied to this founding stock, nor to the migrants and pioneers that followed in later years. Maybe it was naivety, or just excessive optimism, but our American ancestors resolutely believed that the experience of coming here, of carving out a place and making it home then working together with your neighbors, would be a cultural kiln that would burn away unhelpful ethnic dross and create a strong “American” identity. Even if this were actually the case at some point, it is quite clearly not true now, nor is it really an option, even if migrants or ex-patriots actually want to become American.

Heritage Americans of every stripe have been reduced to a kind of second class citizen in their own homeland. They are mocked in entertainment, despised in media, and ignored in the culture at large. Their folkways and customs are denigrated, and their constant contribution to the wellbeing of the nation and the world, both historically and currently, is actively being erased. Like the Afrikaners, the Amerikaners have a dynamic history with towering highs and dark lows, but the current fad of educators, journalists, and politicians is to spit on the history of America. In a relentless drive to forcibly establish some deranged vision of “equity” for any and every person, group, or idea that in some way despises America, past or present, the managerial elites occupying the government and institutions have repeatedly taken the holidays, victories, and tragedies that unite real Americans and declared them racist, unjust, antiquated, or just bland & boring. They could be doing this to compensate for the fact that the legacy of Heritage Americans far outstrips any of the materialist or pseudo-religious contributions made by the managerial elite to the world at large. It could also be the case that their low intelligence and greed drive them to break anything and everything that stands between them and self-enrichment, like a vandalizing thief ruining a home or business just to get access to the copper in the walls. The motivations don’t really matter because the consequences are devastating, and permanent.

I like being an American. I like my country, its history, and its cultural identity. I know it isn’t perfect, and I know it can be silly or simple or quaint at times. But I also know it is powerful, productive, and even dangerous when the situation calls for it. I am not embarrassed, nor am I ashamed of the mistakes my ancestors made, because in me I carry the lessons of their faults, and I want to be better where I can and, far more often the case, try and rise to their level of strength and vision. And I know beyond any doubt:

I am not alone.

So the time has come to identify ourselves, to boldly yet humbly step forward and accept the identity forged by Nature, time, and our ancestors. There is a rich diversity to heritage Americans that is ignored when it isn’t being lied about, or insulted. We come from all over the Old World and, like the Afrikaners, we have many who come from widely scattered origins of various tone and tint. Our ancestors were wrong about one thing: there is no magic dirt in North America, no mystical spell woven into the paper of the Constitution. You don’t become an American by being born here, or having some faceless bureaucrat check a box on one of their endless sheets of paperwork. Just like everyone else, everywhere else, the American Identity is made up of different and equally important parts. It is the land and the ancestry and the will. In a better world, we could just say “we are Americans” and that would be that. But the faceless bureaucrats occupying the power centers and institutions have taken that from us and turned that birthright our ancestors fought so hard for into a meaningless concept used to beat us over the head with mistakes we didn’t make.

No matter what they say, no matter what they try to do, this land will always be America, and we will always be Amerikaners. It is our home, it is the place we belong. We are not European, we are not colonists, we are not visitors or strangers. We are the men and women that live here, love our home, and stand ready to sacrifice for our Nation and People, whether it’s little things like working hard jobs or big things like defending our borders, families, and lives. Amerikaners carry on the tradition of the Afrikaners in North America. Their ancestors came to a wild and wide space and forged a home, an identity, and a nation that changed the course of human civilization. Though we are at a low point, with bad leaders, cowardly elites, and far too many sick, addicted, frustrated, and unhealthy people with no shared vision or purpose, we have every reason and opportunity to reject erasure and mandated suffering, and instead reclaim our nation.

Any time the opportunity to a take a chance at greatness comes along, a whole crowd of chattering commentators, a peanut gallery of wise cracking do-nothings, gather to make jokes and jeer at anyone “silly” enough to look beyond the horizon and hold onto the traditions and faith of their ancestors. Once it becomes clear that you are going to chase that dream in spite of the insults, the jeering turns into threats and accusations. They demand that you stop striving, that you don’t deserve to be a better person in a better place, that you must kneel down and shut up. If you stand firm in your position, they will find men of sterner stuff than themselves to come after you, to harm you and rob you and ruin your life. And then you will truly know how badly you are willing to fight for what’s yours. It really comes down to a matter of Will.

It is Will that underpins the whole identity of the Amerikaner. Yes, culture and color and creed are a part of it, just like geography and family have substantial influence in who you are as a person. But it wasn’t just English, or French, or Dutch people that came to America and made it what it is. The whole of Europe is represented in the faces of Amerikaners, in fact, you cannot name a country that has not birthed people who have decided to come to America, leave behind their old identities and culture, and join in the Great Project. But there is one thing that is true about every Amerikaner with no exception: the are America First, Last and Only. It’s currently quite popular to be a “hyphenated american.” African-American, Asian-American, Indian-American; the list is basically endless. This is a deceptive trap laid out by academics, political operatives, and the ubiquitous Faceless Bureaucrats that currently occupy the centers of power. They promise goodies and special treatment to anyone who willingly takes on this stupid custom, and because of their current position they do indeed reward their victims. But social welfare checks and pretty lies will not be there for you when disaster strikes, when the power goes out or the seas rise or the bandits start prowling around your door. On that day, all you will have is what you hold, and who you can trust.

If it must be boiled down to one line, one sentence, it is quite simply this: Amerikaners are un-hyphenated Americans by choice. They may come from a family that’s been here since the 1600s, or maybe they just got here when we lost in Afghanistan. They may have ancestors that fought in all of the wars, or maybe they have no ancestors on paper. What matters is that when they are questioned, when they are put to the test, their immediate and only answer is “American, full stop.” And because that word was stolen from us, we need a different one.

We are Amerikaners. We aren’t going anywhere. We refuse to give up.