I'd like to make one more comment on this subject, I agree with Ebbie's 05 Jun 09 - 12:34 PM comment about Americans being equalitarian. I don't think that equalitarianism extends to all circumstances, but those circumstances where Americans are equalitariam may involve persons of the same race or ethnicity and economic class or persons of different races or ethnicities* and economic classes.

* By "ethnicity", I mean the USA Census definition of that term as a referent for "Hispanics"/"Latinos" who can be of any race.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_group defines "ethnic group as "a group of human beings whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.

Ethnic identity is further marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural, linguistic, religious, behavioral or biological traits,[real or presumed, as indicators of contrast to other groups."

-snip-

I think that most Americans are aware of a number of European ethnic groups (which used to be called separate races) such as Italian, Irish, French, and German. And I think that most Americans are aware of different Asian ethnic groups-though on second thought, we probably mistake nationalities such as Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese as ethnic groups. But I think that far fewer Americans are aware that there are distinct ethnic groups-or at least different cultural groups-among African Americans. For instance there are Gullahs, Louisiana Creoles, African Americans with Caribbean ancestry, and African Americans who have at least one birth parent or birth grandparent who was born in an African nation.