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Notes -
So I guess the question for you is - what constitutes 'a different people'?
You could go for a race- or biology-based definition, or even just an appearance-based definition. African-Americans are a different people in a way that excludes them from the American polity because they have dark skin or African heritage, whereas, say, Italians are not. Personally I think this argument would be weak; you have to start making some really arbitrary distinctions around different populations, particularly if you start considering East Asians or Middle Easterners or Indians, all of whom seem to have been included in America much more successfully.
Probably a more fruitful approach would be to emphasise culture? You could argue that African-Americans, and specifically legacy African-Americans (so e.g. a first-generation immigrant from Ghana or Nigeria is not included) have, for contingent historical reasons, formed their own insular culture separate from and perhaps hostile to the wider American culture? Put this way the solution is not to get rid of all black people but rather to encourage the dismantling of this culture and the rehabilitation of African-Americans into a more positive culture - think of the conclusions of the Moynihan Report, and a strain of conservative activism around this area ever since.
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