( CNN ) -- As a child , I looked forward to nothing more than the dazzling Fourth of July laser and fireworks show in Stone Mountain Park near Atlanta , Georgia . It was family tradition to eat a hearty meal at an Indian restaurant and then watch the show on the crowded lawn of the park . One year , as I struggled to eat my melting ice cream , a man sitting near us taunted , `` What planet are y'all from ? '' I observed my family , attired in their extravagant Indian clothes and scarves from the restaurant party . For the first time , I wondered if we really did not belong in America , celebrating its Independence Day . I usually hear the friendly version of this question . When my parents are asked , `` Where are you from ? '' and answer `` Georgia , '' it is not surprising to hear the follow-up , `` I mean where are you from ? '' after which they will understandingly answer `` originally from India . '' But when the latter question is posed to me , I can only shrug helplessly and repeat , `` Georgia . '' I used to wonder if I was being facetious in offering such a simple answer , but I honestly do n't know what else to say . The same is true when I 'm occasionally told to `` go back where I came from . '' I do n't just brush these comments aside , as many immigrants to America bravely do , but really question my identity by asking myself : Where would I possibly call home except Georgia , where I was born and raised , or Massachusetts , where I have been educated ? To put it in perspective , if all of us `` went back to where we came from , '' meaning the places of our family origin , there would be nobody in America except for Native Americans , and the rest of us would be in a predicament . The popularized `` clash of civilizations '' thesis would suggest that racial and especially religious elements of my background conflict with my identity as an American . Many people genuinely believe that you have to fit a certain racial and religious archetype to be a `` real American . '' I am a Muslim and I am an American . My religion teaches me to treat others with dignity and respect , speak the truth , and accept one God as my creator and sustainer . A religious loyalty to God certainly does n't make anyone less of an American , or three of the largest religions in the United States would not belong here . But sometimes , people assume that Muslims must also have a specific loyalty to another country that precludes their patriotism to America . Contrary to this misconception , there is no such concept in Islam . A fair study of Islamic and American values would find corroboration , not contradiction . While the 2010 U.S. Census will not ask for my religion , it will ask for my racial background . When my parents came decades ago , they were alternately identified as `` Asian '' and even `` Caucasian , '' since according to United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind , South Asians are Caucasian , although not white like Europeans and Middle Easterners . They were surprised that color was a determinant of their ethnic categorization . Racial classification has become clearer since then , and I will choose the `` Asian Indian '' option on the Census , an element of my identity that influences my love for rich South Asian food , clothes and literary traditions . But I would be a stranger in my parents ' birthplace of India . Ironically , it took my being an alien in foreign lands to realize just how American I was . In Britain I was told , `` Nafees , you want to see everything , just like an American . '' Turks discovered that my odd habit of drinking cold tea came from my Georgia origins . The Dutch guessed I was American based on the way I `` carried myself . '' I could n't erase my apparently nasal American accent from my French in Paris . Indians tell me only an American can justify four years of liberal arts , as opposed to vocational , education . Of course , some comments were based on foreign exaggerations of what `` American '' means , and some I still do n't really understand . But obviously , America has shaped who I am . What was even more significant was that the speakers never saw my religion or ethnic origin in tension with my nationality . Neither do I . There are three important dimensions in my life -- my religion , my ethnicity and my country -- and they are all at peace .
Nafees Syed and family at July 4th , when a woman said , ` ` What planet are y' all from ? '' Syed says if we all ` ` went back to where we came from , '' only Native Americans would be left . People mistakenly think we are loyal to another nation above U.S. , she says . Back in U.S.A. , she says it took being ` ` in foreign countries to realize just how American I was ''