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Sorry, tritone, I meant to write 1800's, but thinking it over, there were also big populations here in the 1700's. Hopefully you got my meaning despite my error. The point is, it was MANY generations ago.
Sorry, tritone, I meant to write 1800's, but thinking it over, there were also big populations here in the 1700's.
Even the 1800s is much too recent. A black person in the 1800s that was born outside of the U.S was rare.
The bulk of the U.S slave population was native-born long before the revolution. We have been here since the "beginning", with 300 + years of roots in the U.S.
As a black American, I absolutely despise when people call me "African-American". First of all, I was born in America (August 29, 1995, suburban Philadelphia), not Africa. Secondly, besides ancestral, I have no connection whatsoever to Africa. I have never stepped foot in Africa, nor do I plan to anytime in the near future as I am a broke college kid . Finally, some people make the argument that, by calling myself an "African-American", I am honoring my African heritage. Why should I only honor my African heritage? I am also part Native-American, Irish, and German.
Is anyone else getting tired of hearing "___-American"? Why can't we just call ourselves Americans? If you were born in this country, then I consider you to be an American.
P.S. When I traveled to Paris, France for study abroad last month, NOBODY there considered me "African-American". All of the French students considered me American, which was a GREAT feeling!
How about just putting the blame where it really belongs? The government. Simple! That's it in a nutshell. The government describes us this way. Here's how it began: Negroes, Blacks, African Americans. Take it up with the US government.
How about just putting the blame where it really belongs? The government. Simple! That's it in a nutshell. The government describes us this way. Here's how it began: Negroes, Blacks, African Americans. Take it up with the US government.
i notice that too, only the government ask you what race you are, nobody else is allowed to, why is that, you think that maybe if the government quit sticking their nose into race, it might settle down. like why do we have to have the same amount of black cops to community ratio, instead of just having good cops, maybe its because the government tell us to.
anybody every thought it might be the government thats the problem.
As a black American, I absolutely despise when people call me "African-American". First of all, I was born in America (August 29, 1995, suburban Philadelphia), not Africa. Secondly, besides ancestral, I have no connection whatsoever to Africa. I have never stepped foot in Africa, nor do I plan to anytime in the near future as I am a broke college kid . Finally, some people make the argument that, by calling myself an "African-American", I am honoring my African heritage. Why should I only honor my African heritage? I am also part Native-American, Irish, and German.
Is anyone else getting tired of hearing "___-American"? Why can't we just call ourselves Americans? If you were born in this country, then I consider you to be an American.
P.S. When I traveled to Paris, France for study abroad last month, NOBODY there considered me "African-American". All of the French students considered me American, which was a GREAT feeling!
As a fellow American who is also predominately "black", I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Taking it a step further, I hope to see the day when we no longer feel the need or inclination to describe anyone by their skin color.
I have looked into that history before; however, at least to me, history has little to no effect on how I live my my life day-to-day.
Sorry my (very) young friend. History has EVERYTHING to do with how you live your everyday life. It is NOT the determining factor, for sure. But everything you, your family, and friends are and will do has been shaped in some way by the history of African-Americans here. You did not, like Athena leaping fully-formed from the head of Zeus, become an ambitious, hard-working college student all by yourself. You have been helped in ways known and unknown by the generations who came before you. And you don't have to take my word for it. Ask your parents.
I will sometimes look back at the fact that black people, for the most part, could not be admitted into where I am today due to racially-motivated admissions policies and appreciate the fact that I am in college. Even more so of the fact that I am in the natural sciences (biochemistry), which is something that not a lot of young black males pursue. Despite this, I do not let history and past wrongdoings affect the way I think about the present and future.
Also, again, why should I only honor the African part of my heritage? I am also Native American, Irish, and German somewhere back in my lineage. To honor just one constituent part of my heritage and ignore the others would be sacrilege.
I certainly don't believe that you shouldn't honor those forebears and what they contributed to you. If what they did is important to you, celebrate and respect it. It is just that your black skin will (no pun intended) overshadow the rest of your ethnic heritage.
I am proud to be American and just American.
I am proud to be American too. I wouldn't want to be any other nationality. But I'm also proud of my African background? Why aren't you?
I am not proud to have a title placed before my nationality. To me, race does not exist.
This, frankly, scares me. Whether you consider race a "social construct." a "category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits" as the dictionary puts it, or something else altogether, it most certainly is real. People respond to race, act on race, and live their lives affected by race. Maybe it shouldn't matter, but it does. And if you are starting off your life under the assumption that we are in some sort of "post-racial" or colorblind society I fear you are setting yourself up for hurt and disappointment.
Race is nothing more than a figment of society's imagination designed to keep fellow countrymen and women separate from each other. When people of a nation are kept separate, it is easy to conquer a nation.
I agree that separating Americans by race has prevented the formation of many useful alliances, especially in the economic arena. You can read up on the history between black and white workers and see how this is true. But we won't solve that by pretending color doesn't exist or isn't important. You want to get past race, you have to go through it first, not ignore it.
Do well in your studies, and peace out.
Last edited by citylove101; 04-15-2015 at 06:06 PM..
Even the 1800s is much too recent. A black person in the 1800s that was born outside of the U.S was rare.
The bulk of the U.S slave population was native-born long before the revolution. We have been here since the "beginning", with 300 + years of roots in the U.S.
What about the Caribbean? Was not rare.....it was significant.
The Black Caribs or Garifunas of the Caribbean Islands and Central America fought with the English and Spanish from the late fifteen hundreds up to 1797, when the British sued for peace. The Garifuna were expelled from their islands but they prospered in Central America where hundreds of thousands live along the coasts today.
The Afro-Darienite is a significant group of pre-historic, pre-columbian Blacks who existed in South America and Central America. These Blacks were the Africans that the Spanish first saw during their exploration of the narrow strip of land between Columbia and Central America and who were described as "slaves of our lord" since the Spaniards and Europeans had the intention of enslaving all Blacks they found in the newly discovered lands.
The above mentioned Blacks of precolumbian origins are not Blacks wo mixed with the Mongoloid Indian population as occurred during the time of slavery. They were Blacks who were in some cases on their lands before the southward migrations of the Mongoloid Native Americans. In many cases, these Blacks had established civilizations in the Americas thousands of years ago.
As a black American, I absolutely despise when people call me "African-American". First of all, I was born in America (August 29, 1995, suburban Philadelphia), not Africa. Secondly, besides ancestral, I have no connection whatsoever to Africa. I have never stepped foot in Africa, nor do I plan to anytime in the near future as I am a broke college kid . Finally, some people make the argument that, by calling myself an "African-American", I am honoring my African heritage. Why should I only honor my African heritage? I am also part Native-American, Irish, and German.
Is anyone else getting tired of hearing "___-American"? Why can't we just call ourselves Americans? If you were born in this country, then I consider you to be an American.
P.S. When I traveled to Paris, France for study abroad last month, NOBODY there considered me "African-American". All of the French students considered me American, which was a GREAT feeling!
Being from Philly, do you question why people who live in South Philly called themselves "Italian Americans" even though they have never stepped foot outside of Pennsylvania?
Last month, were you baffled by all of the "Irish Americans" who were born and raised in Cleveland?
Mexican-Americans, Polish-American, Russian-American, Korean-American, etc.
Millions of people born and raised here in America identify with their ancestral/cultural heritage. How is that a problem?
A distinction needs to be made, because It comes up a lot. In NYC I'm surrounded by West-Indians and Africans. We are not the same.
Black Americans - The native blacks of the U.S who are descendents of American slaves. A unique ethnic group with roots in colonial America.
..as distinguished from black people of recent immigrant stock, that can be identified by any of their various West-Indian or African nationalities - Jamaican-Americans, Nigerian-Americans, etc...
i disagree, west-indians are still black.
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. Finally, some people make the argument that, by calling myself an "African-American", I am honoring my African heritage. Why should I only honor my African heritage? I am also part Native-American, Irish, and German. 
