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Black and African American are unrelated terms. Black is a skin color regardless of where they live. African American is somebody born in Africa and living in America regardless of their skin color.
It really is that simple.
Using that logic, quite a few folks from India and Sri Lanka would qualify as "Black." Similarly, someone born in Egypt and living in Canada (which is part of "North America") would be "African American," instead of "Egyptian Canadian."
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Originally Posted by Roadking2003
Sorry, but I have white friends from Africa who live in America. That means they are African American.
Actually, these folks would be "Afrikaner Americans," "Rhodesian Americans," etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadking2003
And I have black friends who were born in America. That means they are Americans.
If those "black friends" were born in an "American" country other than the United States (e.g. Mexico, Guyana, Belize, etc.), they might not have U.S. citizenship.
You're white. Be happy with that and stop trying to be cute.
Evolution is what it is, but this isn't about evolution. You're not an African American in any way. Wanna be Asian or some other group...fine. That's between you and them.
But THIS? No. You can lay no claim to it whatsoever.
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Originally Posted by desertdetroiter
They can list him as Stokely Carmichael if they want to. Doesn't matter.
If he's white, he ain't no African American. Not now,not then, not ever. He's white.
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Originally Posted by desertdetroiter
The designation is reserved for black Americans of African descent.
That's how it can be.
It isn't out of favor to me. It's perfectly fine. I actually like it better than African American.
It sounds antiquated...but that's the worst you can say about it.
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Originally Posted by desertdetroiter
Lol..your assertion doesn't bother me one bit. That's because I'm right and you're not. You can't say anything that'll get under my skin.
He can be as African as Shaka Zulu for all I care. That's none of my concern.
But no matter how long he was to stay in this country, he can't become an African American. This is a blacks only club. That's just the way it is.
So..now you know.
Easily. Because they aren't black.
The term is reserved for American descendants of slaves...or immigrants coming from other nations in the Americas that had slavery.
Charlize Theron doesn't qualify. Nor would she want to because she knows that's it's preposterous to make that assertion.
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Originally Posted by desertdetroiter
I'm not trampling on anyone's right to happiness or their liberty.
But if you're not black, you're not an African American.
This ain't hard to understand.
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Originally Posted by Spartacus713
Who gets to make that determination? You?
Hahahahaha! It is not up to you and any American who has African ancestry can very reasonably claim to be an African American. It is not up to you or any self-appointed censor of politically correct speech to make that determination.
In fact, according to the tenants of political correctness, it is up to each person to "self-identify," isn't it?
Spartacus, I was all ready to get on here and agree with you..... until I looked it up. Looks like desertdetroiter is actually right, although from what I've read, the term "African American" can't just be designated to someone just because they are black, they also have to be descendants of slaves. Even the dictionary says he's right.
Actually "African-American" became common due to many black Americans (who is this "we" you are speaking of who came up with it?) wanting to highlight their African ancestry, not because "black" was derrogatory.
Not all black Americans call themselves African Americans. Some do, some don't. It is odd that so many people on here get all up in a tizzy thinking about black people.
It is not confusing. They are synonyms. Neither are derrogatory. I call myself a "black American" because culturally I am an American who is black. I have nothing against Africa but I have no recent connection to African. Yet if you call me an "African American" I don't care and most black people don't care any other way.
It is really odd how some white people try to act like black people are upset about things that we really don't give a crap about.
I don't doubt that it doesn't bother black people, as much as it bothers the self-loathing, guilt-ridden white Liberals who decided it was the more politically correct term in the first place.
Which begs the question why is the term colored people bad but "people of color" good?
I never understood the "people of color" term either, considering we're all "people of color"..... Is there anyone on earth who doesn't have a color to their skin?
Spartacus, I was all ready to get on here and agree with you..... until I looked it up. Looks like desertdetroiter is actually right, although from what I've read, the term "African American" can't just be designated to someone just because they are black, they also have to be descendants of slaves. Even the dictionary says he's right.
So, say a white guy from Nigeria moved here. He'd be referred to as a "Nigerian-American", not an African-American
That's just a bunch of racist PC crap. That you found it in a dictionary just goes to show that there is liberal racist PC crap in the dictionary. Does that really surprise you?
What dictionary, by the way? Your link is not to a dictionary, but to what appears to be an absurdly racist racial propaganda site, "Diversity Inc."
I don't mean to be rude, but people have to use your own brains sometimes. If people just mindlessly outsource their thinking functions to some supposed "expert" - in this case whoever wrote that "Ask the White Guy" article at your link - then they are just propaganda-spewing sock puppets.
And the reason they cannot trace back their ancestors is largely because they did not keep very good records of things like birth records and such. Writing and administration was never really a big thing with most of these tribes. Yes, war and conquest tore them up, but that was not done in the name of racism, regardless of what any any article says. Instead, it was done for the reasons of conquering these people to defeat them and sell them as slaves in exchange for money and power, as has been going on for thousands of years regardless of "race".
Last edited by Spartacus713; 08-05-2015 at 04:46 AM..
I never understood the "people of color" term either, considering we're all "people of color"..... Is there anyone on earth who doesn't have a color to their skin?
"People of color," as the term is used by the people who originated it, are apparently everybody but European "whites". It is a fabricated divide contrived by a certain group of especially proactive racists in our society that they use to single out European "white" people in order to try to play off everyone else off against them. It is a manipulative and hostile concept without biological basis that only exists to help some people forward their own racist agendas.
In fact, there is really only one basic skin color, as virtually all people have brown skin of various different shades, ranging from very light to very dark. Albinos of course being the primary exception.
That's just a bunch of racist PC crap. That you found it in a dictionary just goes to show that there is liberal racist PC crap in the dictionary. Does that really surprise you?
What dictionary, by the way? Your link is not to a dictionary, but to what appears to be an absurdly racist racial propaganda site, "Diversity Inc."
I don't mean to be rude, but people have to use your own brains sometimes. If people just mindlessly outsource their thinking functions to some supposed "expert" - in this case whoever wrote that "Ask the White Guy" article at your link - then they are just propaganda-spewing sock puppets.
And the reason they cannot trace back their ancestors is largely because they did not keep very good records of things like birth records and such. Writing and administration was never really a big thing with most of these tribes. Yes, war and conquest tore them up, but that was not done in the name of racism, regardless of what any any article says. Instead, it was done for the reasons of conquering these people to defeat them and sell them as slaves in exchange for money and power, as has been going on for thousands of years regardless of "race".
In your search engine ( bing in my case ), type in "African-American define" and the definition comes up...
I agree with you, technically any African who comes to live in America is an "African-American"....
I'm just saying that the term is popularly associated with black Americans who can trace their lineage to slaves.
In your search engine ( bing in my case ), type in "African-American define" and the definition comes up...
I agree with you, technically any African who comes to live in America is an "African-American"....
I'm just saying that the term is popularly associated with black Americans who can trace their lineage to slaves.
And I am saying that if the theory of evolution is correct, which says that all humans originated in
Africa, then every human on Earth can trace their lineage back to Africa by default.
Also, there are many "white" Africans who have lived there for generations that are very certainly African. Certainly more so than someone who has never been there, who has literally no clue who their ancestors were in Africa, and who has not had ancestors in Africa for hundreds of years, as is the case with nearly all "black" people in America.
The leftist PC racists do not get to make this determination. There are practical matters here that trump their racially divisive PC agenda.
Also, the idea that we are divided into different races based on variances in our skin pigmentation is patently absurd. There is only one race, the human race.
What I find ironic is all the work done in MLK's time to end segregation and soon after it happens many blacks INSIST on segregating themselves by using the term.
I don't refer to a person's color unless someone asks me to provide a physical description. Then I say things like black/white and man/woman. I stick with simple, observable descriptive words. If that offends anyone, so be it.
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