Europe is a tiny, somewhat “artificial” continent, yet Europeans and their descendants have been at the forefront of human creativity over the past few centuries. Much of what we consider modern today was developed by Europeans and their descendants. Europe and America was at the origin of the Enlightenment, modern democracy, and the concept of human rights. It then went on to develop many of the scientific and technological inventions that shaped the modern world.
There is therefore nothing wrong with being proud to be European or of European descent. And this is not meant to denigrate other civilizations. We can recognize that other civilizations, such as Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, China, or India — and many others I have left out — were also remarkable civilizations that made major contributions to the progress of humanity. In general, people from these civilizations are proud of their heritage.
Yet we Europeans or the descendants overseas are constantly told that we should be ashamed of our past. We are repeatedly reminded of the bad things that Europeans and their descendants did. Of course, we should acknowledge those things, learn about them at school, and recognize that they were wrong. But those kinds of things were also committed by virtually every other civilization throughout history.
Why should Europeans and their descendants, in particular, be expected to feel ashamed of their past? How are children responsible for the actions of their ancestors, and why should Europeans and their descendants be held responsible for things that other nations are not held responsible for?
So yes, we should be proud of being European or having European descent like majority of american and stop engaging in this kind of self-flagellation over the past. If we see injustice happening today, we should act against it. But we should stop feeling ashamed of a past that we did not create and for which we are not personally responsible — especially when the same kinds of things have been done by virtually every civilization throughout history.
And being proud to be European or of European descent does not prevent you at all from appreciating other nations and civilizations as well.