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As a black man, I've never felt I was different than the average American. I grew up watching MTV, looking at He-Man, Star Wars, playing with actions figures, and Nintendo growing up like any American would. And though I may have been raised in a crappier neighborhood than some white kid, I pretty much grew up being influenced by the same things. And I can look back to my mother and grandmother for this as well. When my family tree was done, it was revealed I've had family in this country dating back to 1730. Nearly 300 years of being represented in this country. I would say I have been in America longer than majority of the white West Coast population has. But for some reason I have to be called African America? I must admit, I know a lot about Africa. But I didn't learn about Africa via persona experience from my parents or elders in my family. I learned about Africa by reading BBC articles or a book, just like any white American would learn about Africa. There is nothing about me that is African, and having dark skin doesn't make me African automatically. I have more in common with Bubba from the trailer park than Ubotu from some tribe in Nigeria. You can't deny I have dark skin, so at the very least call me a black American. Black is far more accurate than "African" when it comes to describing me and my family.
Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. Since I moved to Seattle, which is PC overkill, I hear that term African American more than I care to hear it. It's not offensive, but it sure as hell is misleading. Like I'm less American than some white person, when in fact I'm more American than most white people. Again, my family has been in this country far longer than theirs.
Last edited by branh0913; 06-25-2013 at 12:05 PM..
As a black man, I've never felt I was different than the average American. I grew up watching MTV, looking at He-Man, Star Wars, playing with actions figures, and Nintendo growing up like any American would. And though I may have been raised in a crappier neighborhood than some white kid, I pretty much grew up being influenced by the same things. And I can look back to my mother and grandmother for this as well. When my family tree was done, it was revealed I've had family in this country dating back to 1730. Nearly 300 years of being represented in this country. I would say I have been in America longer than majority of the white West Coast population has. But for some reason I have to be called African America? I must admit, I know a lot about Africa. But I didn't learn about Africa via persona experience from my parents or elders in my family. I learned about Africa by reading BBC articles or a book, just like any white American would learn about Africa. There is nothing about me that is African, and having dark skin doesn't make me African automatically. I have more in common with Bubba from the trailer park than Ubotu from some tribe in Nigeria. You can't deny I have dark skin, so at the very least call me a black American. Black is far more accurate than "African" when it comes to describing me and my family.
Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. Since I moved to Seattle, which is PC overkill, I hear that term African American more than I care to hear it. It's not offensive, but it sure as hell is misleading. Like I'm less American than some white person, when in fact I'm more American than most white people. Again, my family has been in this country far longer than theirs.
I respect you and appreciate what you're saying! And(!)...I think it's great that you played Nintendo! LOL! Yes! I am a Nintendo fan....big time!
You need to try to cut off from all those people with their stupid terminology. I did.
Back in the 70s, I was in jail one time. This big black guy came over and sat down next to me and showed me a document that he had, relating to his incarceration. He pointed at his name, then asked me, "what is that?". I said that's your name. He said, "right!"...then he pointed to where it said "sex", and had a M there....and asked me what it meant...and I told him "male"...he said, "righhhttt".....then he pointed to where it said, "race"...and had an "N"....and said, while looking me in the eyes, "what does that mean"?....and I said, "negro". When I said that he smiled at me, then said, "righhhhtttttt!"
He was a real cool man and just wanted to receive the respect that he deserved.
That's why, when asked about this subject, I think of that time and will never forget what he taught me. It's negro....or black....but nothing else. Nothing.
When my family tree was done, it was revealed I've had family in this country dating back to 1730. Nearly 300 years of being represented in this country.
In the 1700's Carolus Linnaeus recognized four main races: white race, yellow race, red race, and the black race. His student added the brown race, to form the five color typology for humans.
Red and Yellow have long since been dropped from most casual speech as racist. "Brown" remains neutral, and is only sometimes perceived as racist. Some people would like to drop "white", but the census bureau suggest that Middle Eastern people classify themselves as "white". Since the term "Middle East" is very vague to begin with, local activist groups try to get Iranians to check "other" and write in "Iranian" as further detail. They are primarily concerned with getting government recognition and funding which they don't get if people check "white". So "European-American" is not the equivalent to "white".
Modern science does not recognize groupings of various ethnic groups into "races". Certainly Africa has more genetic diversity than the rest of the world combined, as it was occupied for the longest period of time. Mankind's native coloration was almost certainly dark, and "white skin" is really "thin skin" was adopted in climates where Vitamin D was difficult to come by from sunlight exposure. The reason that Siberians, and native Alaskans are still dark is that they consume large amounts of Vitamin D in fish, and natural selection did not favor the thin skinned.
But more to your point, the "hyphenated American" a hundred years ago was a type of insult, implying that an "Italian- American" was less of a "pure American" as someone with northern European geneology. The hyphenated American concept began in the mid 19th century. The earlier groups of Germans and Swedes, and Czechs were not referred to as such. The hyphenated American style gradually morphed into a point of pride, and usually applied to a bloodline that had been in the USA for less than 5 generations. The application of the term to descendants of the slaves is a ridiculous affectation.
As a black man, I've never felt I was different than the average American. I grew up watching MTV, looking at He-Man, Star Wars, playing with actions figures, and Nintendo growing up like any American would. And though I may have been raised in a crappier neighborhood than some white kid, I pretty much grew up being influenced by the same things. And I can look back to my mother and grandmother for this as well. When my family tree was done, it was revealed I've had family in this country dating back to 1730. Nearly 300 years of being represented in this country. I would say I have been in America longer than majority of the white West Coast population has. But for some reason I have to be called African America? I must admit, I know a lot about Africa. But I didn't learn about Africa via persona experience from my parents or elders in my family. I learned about Africa by reading BBC articles or a book, just like any white American would learn about Africa. There is nothing about me that is African, and having dark skin doesn't make me African automatically. I have more in common with Bubba from the trailer park than Ubotu from some tribe in Nigeria. You can't deny I have dark skin, so at the very least call me a black American. Black is far more accurate than "African" when it comes to describing me and my family.
Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. Since I moved to Seattle, which is PC overkill, I hear that term African American more than I care to hear it. It's not offensive, but it sure as hell is misleading. Like I'm less American than some white person, when in fact I'm more American than most white people. Again, my family has been in this country far longer than theirs.
Amen. By their reasoning, we should call actress Charlize Theron African-American because she was indeed born in Africa.
As a black man, I've never felt I was different than the average American. I grew up watching MTV, looking at He-Man, Star Wars, playing with actions figures, and Nintendo growing up like any American would. And though I may have been raised in a crappier neighborhood than some white kid, I pretty much grew up being influenced by the same things. And I can look back to my mother and grandmother for this as well. When my family tree was done, it was revealed I've had family in this country dating back to 1730. Nearly 300 years of being represented in this country. I would say I have been in America longer than majority of the white West Coast population has. But for some reason I have to be called African America? I must admit, I know a lot about Africa. But I didn't learn about Africa via persona experience from my parents or elders in my family. I learned about Africa by reading BBC articles or a book, just like any white American would learn about Africa. There is nothing about me that is African, and having dark skin doesn't make me African automatically. I have more in common with Bubba from the trailer park than Ubotu from some tribe in Nigeria. You can't deny I have dark skin, so at the very least call me a black American. Black is far more accurate than "African" when it comes to describing me and my family.
Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. Since I moved to Seattle, which is PC overkill, I hear that term African American more than I care to hear it. It's not offensive, but it sure as hell is misleading. Like I'm less American than some white person, when in fact I'm more American than most white people. Again, my family has been in this country far longer than theirs.
I don't have a problem with either term though I do personally identify more with African American.
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And(!)...I think it's great that you played Nintendo! LOL! Yes! I am a Nintendo fan....big time! 
He has a valid point!
