How do Ethnicity, Ancestry and Identity Intersect?

I was reading that people from European countries among others(maybe also Japanese or any other country with a strong ethnic identity) find it silly when Americans of long ago Scottish, Irish, Italian ancestry visit their countries and claim to be proud Scots or Irish or Italian.

There were many debates about why Americans consider ancestry so important to identity but people forget that not long ago almost every else did as well and some outside of America still do.
[b]What are your thoughts on ancestry determining identity and its affect on ethnicity?[/b] Is it silly?
My group African American is in a different boat. We have a separate culture within America culture yet different from the mainstream American culture never having existed in another country. Totally born of the new world.

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SW-User

I find it all very fascinating. Some of that is tied to a fascination with history (both the wonderful things and the horrible things we humans have committed). It all shapes who we are, who we are becoming. Our ancestors, and our descendants, are all part of that. Sometimes it's infuriating and scary. Sometimes it's super cool. It's like the ultimate slow-motion movie, playing itself out over the decades and centuries and millennia. Even better, it's one in which we protagonists can make choices that influence the plot. A giant choose-your-own adventure story.