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Why the surprise? Do you think Germans consider German-Americans fellow Germans or Europeans?
African-Americans are so far away from Africa in every way, why would Africans consider them Africans? From the perspective of Africans African-Americans are like any US-Americans, just dark-skinned...
You are conflating race with nationality.
A white american with German ancestry is not German but they sure as hell are white. Likewise, a black american is NOT African but they are black--- not just "dark skinned."
No it's not a race, it's an socio-ethnic category.
But there's no such thing as race either. Categories of white, black, etc are only used by the government to categorize people and are NOT valid scientific categories of human beings. Anthropologists do NOT categorize humans by race. The government should have stopped using racial categories long ago, because it gives racists validation to continue racism.
What's so damaging about being called brown?
You think there's a stigma with Latinos being called brown?
The operative word is illegal. You can be illegal from any nation on the planet, and people would still want them out.
Racist don't need validation to continue racism. If the government stops records of race, it will be difficult to near impossible to prove racial discrimination in employment, police enforcement, housing, etc.
Puerto Rico is not America. It is an American Territory. It would be nice if people honestly knew their history and stop revising it.
People outside the USA (especially Mexicans and South Americans)refer to North America and South America as one continent. They also get angry when people from the USA refer to themselves as "american" as they think US citizens have "appropriated" the word.
People in this country, the USA, refer to North america and South America as two separate continents or refer to them collectively as "the Americas" with a stress on the plural "s."
Unfortunately many Americans do think "Hispanic or Latino" is a race. It is really frustrating to speak to those sort of people. However most people realize it is not a race. Some quite annoyingly refer to Latin americans as "Spanish"--- but to be fair it is equivalent to how the French refer to americans and other Anglophobes as "Anglo Saxon."
Getting rid of the Latino box on forms is not a good idea. If anything I noticed forms will often ask people who check the Latino/Hispanic box to also check a racial box. That way people know if you are a white Hispanic/Latino vs say a black Latino/Hispanic.
Granted, over 50% of "Hispanics" in America are Mexican, and the vast majority of those that find there way here via illegal immigration, etc. tend to be mestizo (or very often, pure indigenous), but nobody should read anything into the "Hispanic" or "Latino" label in and of itself.
It's like saying you know what race I am or what I look like because I'm American! Quick! Tell me what I look like knowing I'm American!
Same thing with "Latino" or "Hispanic"... if I tell you I'm of Hispanic descent, describe what you think I look like!
Actually "pure indigenous" for Mexico is not very often, even in Mexico. Mexico's census gives about 10% of it's population as Mexican-Indian and even they are often mixed.
Mexico's Indian population was mostly wiped out with small pox and other diseases and Mexico had a large African slave population brought in by the Spaniards. The mixing of Indians with blacks and in some cases with whites led to the mestiso population and also the survival of their descendents. The mestisos with their African and European DNA were better able to survive the diseases brought in.
A white american with German ancestry is not German but they sure as hell are white. Likewise, a black american is NOT African but they are black--- not just "dark skinned."
Of course they are black, or brown at least. But I was referring to the sentence "Already black Americans get told they "aren't African" by Africans".
Just like German-Americans tend to be very un-German in their thoughts, attitudes, customs, etc., African-Americans are very un-African in theirs.
It is another story with Afro-Americans in, say, Bahia, Brazil. But despite the almost desperate wish of many AA's in the US to be different from whites, they are all but normal Americans from the African perspective.
Puerto Rico is not America. It is an American Territory. It would be nice if people honestly knew their history and stop revising it.
Puerto Rico is part of the United States. "Puerto Ricans" are American. Puerto Rico has never been an independent country.
Quote:
Originally Posted by moionfire
People outside the USA (especially Mexicans and South Americans)refer to North America and South America as one continent. They also get angry when people from the USA refer to themselves as "american" as they think US citizens have "appropriated" the word.
People in this country, the USA, refer to North america and South America as two separate continents or refer to them collectively as "the Americas" with a stress on the plural "s."
I don't know anyone educated that refers to North and South America as one continent. Neither have experienced anger from calling myself an American. The Americas is just a general term for the western Hemisphere. There are collective issues which warrant that term.
Well it depends on what you consider white to be. Does someone have to be "pure" white to be considered white. Jlo is mostly white, although it is clear she probably has some black ancestors(it is unlikely she has indigenous ancestry since so few Puerto Ricans do)
That's just a definition used in the USA, it doesn't apply to many from other countries where you are white if you want to describe yourself as white. Even in the USA with it's one drop rule, people can check whatever box they want to check. It's not as though anyone is going to make you prove your race.
More and more all race means is the box you feel like checking at the moment. For those who like to check the hispanic box, it means they can demand minority advantages and also still consider themselves white. It's a win-win.
Since we all have African ancestors, how far back do you want to allow dark-skinned ancestors?
And unless you create new races for all those who do not belong to one of the classical three races, which race do those with black and white ancestors belong to? They are as little black as they are white according to your own definition, the opposite of which applies as well, of course, i.e. if you've got white ancestors you are not black.
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