Meb came to the US as an 11 year old child, with only the shirt, on his back, limited English skills, and the love of a hard working family Within a decade, through hard work and character, he'd graduated from one of the elite universities in the world, was winning races, setting records and starting on a 20 year professional athletic career. That's as American as it gets. That's what America is supposed to be all about.He's not and Eritrean turned American. He's an American, who through an accident of birth, spent his first decade in east Africa.