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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!
I think it might be because "black" is truly not accurate for most people whose ancestors came from Africa, just as "white" is not truly accurate for most Caucasians. Anyway, thanks to tanning, I know some Caucasians who have darker skin than some so-called "blacks" have!
I think this whole business of identifying Americans by color or ancestry is just silly unless they are first or second generation "pure" [whatever]. Every one of my husband's and my nieces and nephews have at least three of the following ancestries, for example: Japanese, African, Irish, English, German, Welsh, Mexican, French and Scottish.
Last edited by katharsis; 04-14-2015 at 01:17 PM..
I don't get it either. I think the trend started because it may have been racist to call someone "black" and this was a nicer PC description, IDK?? But, yeah no one calls me "Italian, Irish American," ha ha. We should just stick with the color description and country of birth. You are a black American, I am a white American, we are both American .
I don't know. I don't personally. It makes me sound blunt but I don't want to pretzel my speech and thankfully it rarely comes up for me because I'm an introvert. It's difficult to say much these days in mixed crowds without having to scan your brain trying to come up with the latest "inoffensive" words or terms since they are a moving target. It's funny to watch it happen though, and I do laugh to myself when I see people stumble over their speech. It's unnatural.
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!
No doubt, agree with what you say. If you are an American, you deserve to be called an American. I think though that for some reason, calling someone "black" is un=PC for some reasons, so people want the more "respectful" term of AA.
As a black American, I absolutely despise when people call me "African-American". All of the French students considered me American, which was a GREAT feeling!
we all agree with u, but it was invented by the black community because they wanted a black pride, nothing to do with rest of america, they wanted to be separate.
I myself admire you for your statement, I wish more was like you
I think for a time there were Irish ;German etc American. But officially the government now recognizes only certain people by their race. Perhaps ask your congressman that question.
The distinction meant a lot more up until, roughly 1945, particularly if the ethnic group were predominately or exclusively non-Protestant, you can see a reference to it in William Inge's stage play The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, later made into a feature film.
I suspect that World War II, more than any other single factor, put an end to this foolishness. My Dad was a WWII GI, and his company was thrown together from draftees from up and down the entire East Coast. About half were farm boys, mostly from the mountainous South but with a few Yanks like my Dad, and the other half were from the major cities, mostly Catholic or Jewish. Factions developed within that company, and boiled over when a small amount of money disappeared and each side blamed the other; I'm very thankful that the war ended before that company could see combat.
But as I said before, this wasn't always the case; my home town had a neighborhood on one side of the foundry complex that bisected it, roughly 3 blocks by 8 blocks, in which just about everyone was of Italian extraction, but the town could not support a parochial school beyond the eighth grade. So everybody went to the same high school, and most of us found we had more in common among our generation than our parents believed.
The Italian surnames are now found all over the community, including the surrounding countryside, and a sizeable part of what used to be "Little Italy" now has a substantial Latino population. Just another step in the evolution of a diverse community.
A movement led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson to call blacks African-Americans has
met with both rousing approval and deep-seated skepticism in a debate that is
coming to symbolize the role and history of blacks in this country.
The term, used for years in intellectual circles, is gaining currency among many other blacks, who say its
use is a sign that they are accepting their difficult past and resolving a long
ambivalence toward Africa.
The term has already shown up in the newest grade-school textbooks, been adopted by several black-run radio stations and newspapers around the country and appeared in the titles of popular
books and in the conversations of many blacks as they warm to the idea and speak
of visiting Africa one day.
For many, the issue is already
settled, not only in their minds but in their hearts. ''Whenever I go to
Africa,'' said Roger Wilkins, a senior fellow at the Institute for Policy
Studies, ''I feel like a person with a legitimate place to stand on this earth.
This is the name for all the feelings I've had all these years.''
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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. 
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