I'm sorry you missed the humor. Next time I'll add (joke) at the end.
Plenty of people felt repressed in Europe, which resulted in several mass-migration. Were they slaves in the 19th century? No, but indentured servitude and class warfare resulted in crushing conditions for the average person and prevented any chance of gaining control of your life.
My comment about having a hyphenated racial identity is meant to draw attention to phrases like "Asian-American" or "Latino-American." If you are more than 2 or 3 generations past your immigrant ancestors, I don't think that link to the past is valid because you're a fully-fledged, native-born American citizen.
If groups of people descended from various countries and continents wish to refer to themselves as hyphenated citizens, that's fine, but they shouldn't bristle when I use the same method.
Thankfully we're a fully integrated and tolerant society (joke).