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Countries are in peoples dna,there are specific markers that people have from their country of origin,race is sacred.
Most african americans are mixed race in just about any dna test and should call themselves mixed race.
I don't think so. There are no German or Spanish or Nigerian or US genes that would allow someone to tell where someone else came from, just based on their genes.
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I used to go out with a white girl from South Africa. She used joke that she is more African-American than 99% of black people in the USA, and she was right.
A mutual acquaintance of ours was originally from Ethiopia, and coming into the US. He was telling us about the incidence at a party, and it had everyone in stitches. (We are all Canadians, BTW).
Guess when he went over the border, he had to fill out a card that included a choice of races, one of them being 'African-American'. Now, he was not familiar with the PC term, so he was puzzled, and finally asked the border guard what this was. The reply was that he was to put down AA. He resisted, saying A) he wasn't African but Ethiopian, and B) he wasn't American. Long story short, he finally ticked the AA box to get through.
What had us in stitches was that he said that was the first time he had to argue with anyone about his blackness. We all thought what PC fools so many have allowed themselves to get roped into, because some special snowflake would get 'offended'.
You could be Japanese American and not speak Japanese or Irish American and never been to Ireland.
African American is simply a label of ethnic origin.
I personally prefer black but I use African American when I speak about the collective. However, one of my biggest pet peeves is that some people have begun to call ALL black people African American even if the people are Afro-Canadian, Afro Latino, etc.
...such as our president. He is African, he is American, but he is not in the common understanding of the term "African American" because he is not a descendant of any West African slave brought to the United States before 1865.
I used to go out with a white girl from South Africa. She used joke that she is more African-American than 99% of black people in the USA, and she was right.
Sure, in terms of nationality. But whites in South Africa are really British (except, of course, that all of us originally came from Africa - - so I guess we're all African-American now).
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TristramShandy
Sure, in terms of nationality. But whites in South Africa are really British (except, of course, that all of us originally came from Africa - - so I guess we're all African-American now).
Except, of course, those whites who may be Boers, of Dutch origin. Or Jews, which came from Europe/Middle East.
I used to go out with a white girl from South Africa. She used joke that she is more African-American than 99% of black people in the USA, and she was right.
Some column I read a while back showed a picture of actors Charlize Theron and Chiwetel Ejiofor and asked which one was African-American. Of course the only real answer was Theron, who is of course a white woman born in South Africa who now has dual citizenship. The black man was born in Great Britain.
Jesse Jackson first used that term in some kind of media interview back in the 80's, and it immediately went viral among human rights organizations worldwide, though it took awhile to catch on back home. It was viewed as more respectful. It was an effective way of getting white people to show respect in their speech. If a new generation decides something else is better, they can set a new standard. It's not written in stone.
If people want respect, they should earn it by the way they act, not by insisting on silly, self imposed labels.
Some column I read a while back showed a picture of actors Charlize Theron and Chiwetel Ejiofor and asked which one was African-American. Of course the only real answer was Theron, who is of course a white woman born in South Africa who now has dual citizenship. The black man was born in Great Britain.
Wouldn't that also make Levar Burton (Reading Rainbow) and Ruben Studdard more German-American than white people in the US who call themselves German-American but have never been to Germany?
Come to think about it Kobe Bryant speaks more fluent Italian and has spent more time there than many white people who call themselves Italian-American.
Last edited by thriftylefty; 04-09-2016 at 07:03 AM..
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