Fake Americans

As a contractor in information technology, I usually work for placement and consulting firms. It is easier for me to be a W-2 employee though for my most recent project I was direct on a 1099. Very many placement firms headquartered in India have US addresses and through VOIP and other tools their recruiters have US phone numbers. I accept it all as a benefit of our global marketplace. Moreover, working in sales myself, I have been encouraged to take a less ethnic name for working on the phone, being "Michael Martin" as needed. So, I understand: If your name is Ramakrishna Suryadevara, you can be Kris Devara or Randy Devara or whaever. But there's a limit.

It was not that he called himself "Paul Miller" but that he flew the flag.

Many people are surprised to learn that non-citizens can serve in the American military. We are a nation of immigrants. Military service is one way to prove that you deserve to be a citizen. I had uncles born on the other side of the ocean who served in World War II (in our army, of course). We had a family narrative from the distaff side about a friend who voted illegally and when arrested showed his battle scars (from World War I) to the judge insisting that they gave him the right to vote. Somehow the authorities cleared up the paperwork for him. Anyway, people who serve in the military pick up American slang and drop many of their foreign habits. In fact, that story is the narrative behind the "Go for Broke" stamps of the US Postal Service that celebrate ethnic Japanese who fought in the American armed forces during World War II. It so happened that the Hawaiians did not understand that their buddies from the mainland had come from concentration camps ("relocation centers") until they were given a tour. There's a lot of lessons out there.

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