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White is a race. African is a nationality. There is a difference you know. I would think that most blacks in this country would call themselves black American and not African.
After reading innumerable threads and comments regarding racial self-identification, lack of assimilation, and screeds about multiculturalism I thought to myself why is it that I've never read a thread or comment advocating the ending of the classification referred to as white? I mean if African American is so offensive because of its alleged inaccuracy then why not do a way with the term white, after all, white people are exactly white or anything close to it. So, in the hopes of bringing about that much touted color blind society, I would like to make the following offer.
Do away with the idea or whiteness and I will stop identifying myself as an African American and ask others to do the same.
What do you think?
I don’t think most white people actually identify as white. But do you identify as sighted? How often do straight people “come out”? Do you call yourself vanilla? “Vanilla” is what most people are, but that only makes sense and has a context within the BDSM community. I bet that most people who are technically “vanilla” (not into BDSM) don’t even know what that means. Do you identify with any aspect of yourself that is part of a majority as strongly as you do with your African American identity?
Most members of a majority don’t actually identify with that majority because it’s the default. They don’t have to “identify with it”—it’s what people already assume you are until proven otherwise. Everyone is a straight white middle-class able-bodied man online until they mention they are of another race/orientation/gender/ability/socioeconomic status. So if you are those, you don’t really need to put any energy into aligning yourself with those identities.
The exception to this is if someone socializes mostly within a minority community. I think the people that are probably the most conscious of their whiteness are people who spend a large part of their life among people of color. I don’t know anyone that called themselves hearing until they started to spend their time among deaf people.
So honestly I don’t think that white people cling onto the white label as strongly as people of color, on the whole. But I think that is true of all majority-minority dynamics, and it’s a direct result of the majority being seen as the default.
I respect that you don’t drop your AA label, and don’t think that any minority should feel like they have to. The day that “person” doesn’t mean “white straight Christian middle-class able-bodied male person” is the day that we will able to drop minority labels like Latino, bisexual, etc.
After reading innumerable threads and comments regarding racial self-identification, lack of assimilation, and screeds about multiculturalism I thought to myself why is it that I've never read a thread or comment advocating the ending of the classification referred to as white? I mean if African American is so offensive because of its alleged inaccuracy then why not do a way with the term white, after all, white people are exactly white or anything close to it. So, in the hopes of bringing about that much touted color blind society, I would like to make the following offer.
Do away with the idea or whiteness and I will stop identifying myself as an African American and ask others to do the same.
What do you think?
I think that the issue is when people (regardless of race) combine the two. If you want to call yourself white, then call yourself white, but when was the last time you heard a white person refer to themselves as a white american? They call themselves one or the other, depending on the circumstance of the moment. If you are american you are american. If you are white, you are white, if you are black you are black, but american is not a designatory for race.
I don’t think most white people actually identify as white. But do you identify as sighted? How often do straight people “come out”? Do you call yourself vanilla? “Vanilla” is what most people are, but that only makes sense and has a context within the BDSM community. I bet that most people who are technically “vanilla” (not into BDSM) don’t even know what that means. Do you identify with any aspect of yourself that is part of a majority as strongly as you do with your African American identity?
Most members of a majority don’t actually identify with that majority because it’s the default. They don’t have to “identify with it”—it’s what people already assume you are until proven otherwise. Everyone is a straight white middle-class able-bodied man online until they mention they are of another race/orientation/gender/ability/socioeconomic status. So if you are those, you don’t really need to put any energy into aligning yourself with those identities.
The exception to this is if someone socializes mostly within a minority community. I think the people that are probably the most conscious of their whiteness are people who spend a large part of their life among people of color. I don’t know anyone that called themselves hearing until they started to spend their time among deaf people.
So honestly I don’t think that white people cling onto the white label as strongly as people of color, on the whole. But I think that is true of all majority-minority dynamics, and it’s a direct result of the majority being seen as the default.
I respect that you don’t drop your AA label, and don’t think that any minority should feel like they have to. The day that “person” doesn’t mean “white straight Christian middle-class able-bodied male person” is the day that we will able to drop minority labels like Latino, bisexual, etc.
As a woman of predominately European descent, I have NEVER considered "white straight Christian middle class able bodied male person" the starting point of ANY definition of person. My starting point is simply "human being." Everything else is window dressing.
After reading innumerable threads and comments regarding racial self-identification, lack of assimilation, and screeds about multiculturalism I thought to myself why is it that I've never read a thread or comment advocating the ending of the classification referred to as white? I mean if African American is so offensive because of its alleged inaccuracy then why not do a way with the term white, after all, white people are exactly white or anything close to it. So, in the hopes of bringing about that much touted color blind society, I would like to make the following offer.
Do away with the idea or whiteness and I will stop identifying myself as an African American and ask others to do the same.
What do you think?
There no such thing as a whites, blacks, yellows or reds. We are all just shades of brown. Why wait for one group to do what you think is right, to do what is right?
White is a race. African is a nationality. There is a difference you know. I would think that most blacks in this country would call themselves black American and not African.
We call ourselves what we feel like calling ourselves.
The end.
BTW...African is not a nationality. Africa isn't a nation that i've ever heard of.
My biracial daughter's best friend's mama put it best a few years ago, when someone asked her what color she thought my daughter is.
This unsophisticated, high school educated, plain spoken Texan from a small town answered without hesitating, "When I see her, I don't think of her as black, or white, or anything in between. I see her as Amelia the American." (just so you know, that's not her real name!)
My biracial kids were shocked and dismayed by American race relations when we moved from a military lifestyle and military housing on military installations, to small town civilian America. It took them awhile to get their bearing. I am to this day SO GRATEFUL for the good grounding they got living in a basically race-free military setting for the first half of their childhoods. At least they were secure in themselves without the pressure to "fit in" with any one ethnic group prior to moving into the civilian world.
I don't think it's accidental that three of the four have since joined the military or married military personnel, and I am SO GLAD that they have chosen to raise their own kids in that environment. It's not at all unusual within the military to totally forget to even notice what race a person is.
Even to this day, I often don't notice what race a person is.
There no such thing as a whites, blacks, yellows or reds. We are all just shades of brown. Why wait for one group to do what you think is right, to do what is right?
You wouldn't believe the flak I'm catching on another thread because my biracial daughter identifies herself as "brown" rather than Black or African American.
It's really ironic, sad, and sort of unbelievable that some people can be so illogical.
My biracial daughter's best friend's mama put it best a few years ago, when someone asked her what color she thought my daughter is.
This unsophisticated, high school educated, plain spoken Texan from a small town answered without hesitating, "When I see her, I don't think of her as black, or white, or anything in between. I see her as Amelia the American." (just so you know, that's not her real name!)
My biracial kids were shocked and dismayed by American race relations when we moved from a military lifestyle and military housing on military installations, to small town civilian America. It took them awhile to get their bearing. I am to this day SO GRATEFUL for the good grounding they got living in a basically race-free military setting for the first half of their childhoods. At least they were secure in themselves without the pressure to "fit in" with any one ethnic group prior to moving into the civilian world.
I don't think it's accidental that three of the four have since joined the military or married military personnel, and I am SO GLAD that they have chosen to raise their own kids in that environment. It's not at all unusual within the military to totally forget to even notice what race a person is.
Even to this day, I often don't notice what race a person is.
It's not as bad as many people make it out to be. My own son is biracial, and he's encountered few if any problems. To be fair, he's pretty much always considered himself black, but he seems to be quite comfortable in his own skin and gets along with people of every race.
But i can believe that it all depends on where you raise kids. I live in the southwest, and it's the norm out here.
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