Birthright citizenship. I am part Choctaw, part German, part Irish, part English, part … My great-grandmother told me her father was ashamed of being Choctaw. The white majority in this country made him want to erase who he was.

He did a pretty good job of it. His children were the last generation to be listed on the rolls of the Choctaw Nation. Nellie nee Beaver Funkhouser Petty Milam was my great-grandmother.

She was a Beaver. Her mother’s name was Beavers. That makes me a Choctaw Beaver.

Am I white enough to be an American? I don’t think anyone would doubt it, except maybe my great-great grandfather AND the convicted criminal currently calling himself the president of this country, along with his attorney who argued against birthright citizenship in front of the Supreme Court.

This morning on This American Life, we were reminded—no that’s not right. We learned the story of two Black American activists who were effectively erased from history: Essie and Paul Robeson. The only thing most people likely know him for is Ol’ Man River. Before the FBI and CIA opened files on them and tried them for being Communists, she was a doctor and researcher, her husband’s champion and agent, a writer. He was a football hero, a practicing lawyer, an actor, singer, composer. Their passports were revoked. They were erased from their college records. Newspaper morgues that mentioned them were shredded.

From his first day in office, Trump has whitewashed our history. Any list I create here would be incomplete and downplay the magnitude of the horror of the actions he has taken that half this country has supported. So I won’t.

What I will say is that watching that slimy attorney attempt to say that the People who were here on this land before any English, Spanish or European invaders laid claim to it made me want to figure out how to find that Choctaw pride my great-great grandfather was lacking.

Some part of my heritage is bound to this land. And yes, to many other parts of this world too. No one should be erased. No one should be ashamed of who they are.

I am Choctaw. I am Irish. I am German. I am English. I think I’m French.

Am I American? Today, that may depend on who you ask.