text: My grandma is Italian (her parents came through Ellis Island in the 1910s), and even if that's only 25% of my DNA, I still like to tell people that I'm Italian because she was the only one of my grandparents who took the time to teach me about my heritage. Like, yeah, I'm an American, and that's important to me, but the Italian culture my grandma passed down to me is also important. If I met someone actually from Italy, I wouldn't say "I'm Italian too!" because I'm not really, but I might still tell them that that's where some of my family is from.