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Old 08-04-2015, 05:42 AM
 
Location: Ohio
13,933 posts, read 12,859,623 times
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So presumably, we came up with the term "African-American" ( never mind that it's a misnomer ) because the term "black" sounded too derogatory (?) and so now all white people use the term "African-American" when referring to black people.

What's confusing me is, you'll often hear both terms used in practically the same sentence quite often. I noticed this while listening to Clinton, Sanders, and O'Malley talk at the Urban league conference last week.

"Black" seems to be the term of choice when talking about numbers and statistics.

I'm just wondering, why is the term "Black" considered too derogatory in some contexts, but perfectly acceptable in others?
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Old 08-04-2015, 06:20 AM
 
Location: Fairfax, VA
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I call them "black". I will never use the term "african-american".
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Old 08-04-2015, 07:39 AM
 
4,006 posts, read 6,020,299 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LetsRock View Post
I call them "black". I will never use the term "african-american".
I agree. A black person is a black person. Not all black people are of African decent. I'm not aware of black people taking offense to being call black. After all, the NAACP calls them colored and that's not exactly a popular term to refer to black people.

I was once in the Bahamas and some stupid Midwestern American woman there on a cruise was talking about all the 'African Americans' in the Bahamas. I just shook my head because A) they're not American, they're Bahamian and 2) there are plenty of white Bahamians (as well as white Africans).
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Old 08-04-2015, 07:42 AM
 
19,573 posts, read 8,473,888 times
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According to currently popular theories of human evolution, we all originated in Africa. If that is correct, aren't we all African Americans?
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Old 08-04-2015, 08:41 AM
 
34,620 posts, read 21,506,627 times
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I go with "black", and I'll never go back.
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Old 08-04-2015, 08:46 AM
 
Location: bold new city of the south
5,821 posts, read 5,291,388 times
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I usually just go with first names, or if they are older, Mr. or Mrs.
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Old 08-04-2015, 08:47 AM
 
6,940 posts, read 9,652,967 times
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I use both.
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Old 08-04-2015, 08:47 AM
 
56,990 posts, read 35,077,833 times
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Calm down. Geez..you folks never stop.

Just say black and stop whining about it.
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Old 08-04-2015, 08:48 AM
 
56,990 posts, read 35,077,833 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spartacus713 View Post
According to currently popular theories of human evolution, we all originated in Africa. If that is correct, aren't we all African Americans?
Hell no.
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Old 08-04-2015, 09:01 AM
 
19,573 posts, read 8,473,888 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by desertdetroiter View Post
Hell no.
If that theory of human evolution is correct, then we certainly are.
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