Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It can differ, but usually in relatively superficial ways.
But--as the head of a middle class black family--my daughter and I were once watching a program on BET that attempted to define and describe "African-American culture." At the end of the program, my daughter (who was at that time in junior high school) announced, "We don't seem to be African-Americans."
There are broad differences and, yes, also significant overlaps. In many cases, what is considered "African-American" in the North is really just Southern.
As has already been mentioned, black Americans and white Americans finding themselves in company overseas will find more cultural similarities between them than they'd have guessed.
Hell, not just overseas, but in Hawaii, as I am sure you know. I can't tell you how many white folks from the mainland told me that as a fellow mainlander they felt closer to me as a fellow "haole" (such irony!) than they did the local Asian or Polynesian folks who were also their fellow Americans.
And when I went abroad to Europe and Asia to compete in sports, the exiled Americans in those countries (especially the pro athletes) welcomed a "familiar" face from home. I remember spending a long afternoon in Europe with a tall, beautiful blonde pro basketball player just hanging out as two Yanks abroad. I'm pretty sure she would never have even noticed my existence back home, but there I was a friendly, English-speaking face.
There is an "identifying" culture that is the American culture. One of those identifiers is the English language. Some people refuse to become a part of the American culture but retain a foreign culture instead. Mind you I don't care what language or culture one practices at home but out in mainstream......
And if so, would you see them as one of your kind?
Yes. For instance, if two people who are of different races live in the same country and in the same area all of their lives, then they might very well share the same culture.
And if so, would you see them as one of your kind?
Or do you think that innate genetic traits of their race would color their views, tastes, and personality, and make it impossible for them to be like you.
Or perhaps in theory they could be one of your kind, but most people of your culture would not accept them and these identity issues would set them apart from everyone else.
In French West and Equatorial Africa, the French tried to create the Francais Noirs men and women fully steeped in French culture, language and of course Catholicism to run the territories as Departments Outremers. The French actually played with the idea of incorporating the lands into the Republique Francais. The French suceeded in doing this with small islands oor places such as Martinique, French Guiana and French Polynesia.One can atest most of people in these places are not white people but they speak French. Things didn't go as well in Africa, Middle east or Asia. The effort to turn Algeria and Tunesia into French societies triggered a nasty civil war in Algeria. One can see just how well this worked out in Lebanon and Syria. and Africa France still has to frequently go back and pacify the place so French businesses don't get trashed. Now as an example of a Francais Noirs, one of the greatest writers and poets in the French language is Leopold Senghor, Senghor is also the man who lead the nation of Senagal
to Independance in 1960 and was its long time President. He did not fall prey to dark side of force like so many of peers did in Africa after Independence. Senghor was proud to recieve the Legion of Merit for his contributions to French cutlure and the French language.
Haha, reminds me of my MIL. When I first met her and she found out I was Hispanic, she asked, "Oh, what does your family eat at Thanksgiving?" I was puzzled. "Um, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams . . . " I had absolutely no clue what she was hinting at. "Oh," she replied, "I thought you ate burritos, enchiladas, tacos . . ." (I grew up on a farm - and never even heard of things like "tacos, burritos, etc." until I went away to college.)
My family came from Spain and was with the Don Onate expedition to New Mexico in 1598. My family, albeit "Hispanic," is far more American, having, at the time she asked (1977), nearly 400 years of being American. Her great-grandfather arrived here from England in the late-1800's.
However, I then sweetly asked her if she made Yorkshire pudding, steak and kidney pies, etc. for her family for the holidays.
No, it is not basic conjecture. I suggest reading Thomas Sowell's book "Black Rednecks and White Liberals"
Yes, it is baseless insofar as you argue that AA culture and indigenous European culture in America are not exactly the same merely due to Jim Crowe and slavery.
I don't dispute that this history has had a great effect on AA culture, I'm stating that it's not possible to conclude that AA culture and American "white" culture would be the same should this history not have occured the way that it did or if racism never existed at all. That it would be the same was your original assertion and what I dispute as a factual conclusion. As before stated in other posts, I also hold culture to be far deeper than mere dress and activity. Culture comprises the range of values, behaviors, communication patterns, child rearing patterns, as well as more superficial group membership signifiers such as dress and activity.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
