The argument that there was never an American identity is part of the conceptual attack against the American identity. However, the denial of the existence of t

The argument that there was never an American identity is part of the conceptual attack against the American identity. However, the denial of the existence of the identity contradicts any complaints about people's non-admission into it. So which is it: 1. The American identity never even existed, so all complaints of exclusion are invalid. 2. The identity existed, but some were excluded and that was bad, so the identity exists and is good, and assimilation is good.