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I'm a Black American. I like it. I have no desire to call myself an African American.
I know the reasoning behind it. But I just don't believe it will in the long run. Improve Race relations. But I'm not naive enough. To say that people are color blind.
And as a black man, that's your right. I can dig that. I'm an African American. It's all a matter of personal choice. The one thing we should do as black people IMO is not get angry about mislabeling (unless someone tries to be slick with that "colored" or "negro" stuff) if a white person says black or African American. Either term is acceptable to me. We shouldn't confuse outsiders with a bunch of terms.
But as far as labeling oneself, i see nothing wrong with African American. But if someone says black, i'm not going to get all nasty about it. The terms are interchangeable to me.
Nimchimpsky? If a Barbadian is as African as you are, you must be very African. The vast majority of people in the Caribbean are also of African origins - the Caribbean and South America received millions more Africans in the slave trade than what is now the United States, and the vast majority of Caribbean people are much more African culturally and biologically than the vast majority of African Americans.
Are you from Abkhazia?
So, we use the term African American for those of African descent whose families have been in the U.S. for centuries and belong to the distinct culture that was formed here. Pretty simple, really.
Black is a racial term for people of African (or Melanesian) descent, no matter where they are from around the world. African American is an ethnic term for African descendants from America.
Wrong as usually. My family is from the Caribbean(Trinidad and Tobago)
and culturally Trinidad is nothing like Africa. Trinidad's culture(like the united states) is influenced by the colonial powers that ruled over it. In Trinidad Carnival and playing "mas" is bigger than it is in Brazil. That's not a African culture thing, that came from the slaves trying mimick the French. Cricket is popular there, that comes from the British. Eating curry comes from the large East Indian population there. Trinidad has its own culture. As far as biologically, not even close. Black people there like in the U.S. come in all shades of color. I'm light skin as my mother was. My grandfather was damn near white. He could pass as a white person. Then you have a large mixed biracial population. They call them "Dougla" which is a person mixed with black and east indian(think Tatyana Ali).
Wrong as usually. My family is from the Caribbean(Trinidad and Tobago)
and culturally Trinidad is nothing like Africa. Trinidad's culture(like the united states) is influenced by the colonial powers that ruled over it. In Trinidad Carnival and playing "mas" is bigger than it is in Brazil. That's not a African culture thing, that came from the slaves trying mimick the French. Cricket is popular there, that comes from the British. Eating curry comes from the large East Indian population there. Trinidad has its own culture. As far as biologically, not even close. Black people there like in the U.S. come in all shades of color. I'm light skin as my mother was. My grandfather was damn near white. He could pass as a white person. Then you have a large mixed biracial population. They call them "Dougla" which is a person mixed with black and east indian(think Tatyana Ali).
Lotta wishful thinking in that post. Give it up...you're black. A descendant of Africans.
Damn, why can't black folks ever be satisfied with just being black instead of always trying to water it down with a bunch of nonsense? Trinidad has MASSIVE African influence. Stop frontin'.
Another C-D race obsessed thread! The term "African-American" was actually created by the Census Bureau in the early 1970s as a way to classify black Americans who for the most part didn't know their true ancestry. Most Americans who aren't black know where they came from hence Irish Americans, Italian Americans, German Americans, even to the point where they even know the cities & towns where their ancestors hailed from and the traditions and holidays stem from.
The only single unifying factor that black Americans have is that they know they came from the continent of Africa and their history to them doesn't start at the shores of Ghana or Liberia but on the shores of slave states in the US.
Blacks in America have been stripped of their identity & heritage and just settle for "well I'm from South Carolina" without taking the time and effort to find out where they truly came from and what a rich cultural legacy they might not be aware of.
Just like the term Hispanic was created and used by the U.S. government, even though its not a accurate term. A mestizo from Mexico and a Black Cuban couldn't be more different ethnically and culturally, but according to the U.S. government they're both "hispanic" becuase they both come from spanish speaking countries.
Lotta wishful thinking in that post. Give it up...you're black. A descendant of Africans.
Damn, why can't black folks ever be satisfied with just being black instead of always trying to water it down with a bunch of nonsense? Trinidad has MASSIVE African influence. Stop frontin'.
Never said I wasn't go back and read my previous post. I said I'm not African, there is a difference. Right because you've been there. You have roots there right? You probably couldn't find it on a map if I pointed it out to you.
Wrong as usually. My family is from the Caribbean(Trinidad and Tobago) and culturally Trinidad is nothing like Africa.
Do you really know anything about Trinidadian culture? While it is very mich mixed, the Africanisms (Shango cult, drumming, culinary influences, even the brand of Islam practiced there) are much more pronounced then are those in the U.S.
Quote:
Trinidad's culture(like the united states) is influenced by the colonial powers that ruled over it. In Trinidad Carnival and playing "mas" is bigger than it is in Brazil. That's not a African culture thing, that came from the slaves trying mimick the French.
So you're telling me that the culture of the African slaves in Trinidad, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, and many of the other places that have Carnaval has no influence on Carnaval and that they were just "mimicking" the slavemasters? I will tell you that you are flat-out wrong. Of course there is "influence" from non-African sources. That is the same in every African Diaspora culture. That doesn't detract from the islands having a strong African imprint on their heritage and culture.
Quote:
Cricket is popular there, that comes from the British. Eating curry comes from the large East Indian population there.
Cricket is popular all over the (English-speaking) world. So is soccer. Big deal. In Fiji, curry is a staple in the local diet. Curry is of East Indian origin. There are those among the Melanesian Fijians who eat curry every day, but would love to pull an Idi Amin and get rid of all the Indians on the island while continuing to eat curry every day. Point is, all of this is irrelevant to the fact that Trinidad has a strong African culture.
Quote:
Trinidad has its own culture. As far as biologically, not even close. Black people there like in the U.S. come in all shades of color. I'm light skin as my mother was. My grandfather was damn near white. He could pass as a white person. Then you have a large mixed biracial population. They call them "Dougla" which is a person mixed with black and east indian(think Tatyana Ali).
While you state some basic facts (Trinidad has its own culture, some Trinis are light skinned, some are mixed, some are part East Indian, etc.) the picture you paint is incomplete. I could spend hours talking about Afro-Trinidadian and Afro-Tobagan culture. I will simply say that you made no case for Trinidad NOT being a place that is strongly influenced by the African culture brought over by slaves.
Never said I wasn't go back and read my previous post. I said I'm not African, there is a difference. Right because you've been there. You have roots there right? You probably couldn't find it on a map if I pointed it out to you.
You ARE of African ancestry. Care to dispute that?
Nimchimpsky? If a Barbadian is as African as you are, you must be very African. The vast majority of people in the Caribbean are also of African origins - the Caribbean and South America received millions more Africans in the slave trade than what is now the United States, and the vast majority of Caribbean people are much more African culturally and biologically than the vast majority of African Americans.
Are you from Abkhazia?
So, we use the term African American for those of African descent whose families have been in the U.S. for centuries and belong to the distinct culture that was formed here. Pretty simple, really.
Black is a racial term for people of African (or Melanesian) descent, no matter where they are from around the world. African American is an ethnic term for African descendants from America.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucario
Do you really know anything about Trinidadian culture?While it is very mich mixed, the Africanisms (Shango cult, drumming, culinary influences, even the brand of Islam practiced there) are much more pronounced then are those in the U.S.
I'm not going to even dignify your stupid question "do you really know anything about Trinidaian culture" with a answer, because I know for damn sure you don't. As far as culinary again african is NOT a major influence. People in Trinidad eat stuff like Curry(Indian) Roti(Indian) Pelau(Indian) Plantians(spanish) fry bake and saltfish. Corn beef(British). The only thing I can think of that might be african influence is Callaloo(made from okra)
So you're telling me that the culture of the African slaves in Trinidad, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, and many of the other places that have Carnaval has no influence on Carnaval and that they were just "mimicking" the slavemasters? I will tell you that you are flat-out wrong. Of course there is "influence" from non-African sources. That is the same in every African Diaspora culture. That doesn't detract from the islands having a strong African imprint on their heritage and culture.
Cricket is popular all over the (English-speaking) world. So is soccer. Big deal. In Fiji, curry is a staple in the local diet. Curry is of East Indian origin. There are those among the Melanesian Fijians who eat curry every day, but would love to pull an Idi Amin and get rid of all the Indians on the island while continuing to eat curry every day. Point is, all of this is irrelevant to the fact that Trinidad has a strong African culture.
While you state some basic facts (Trinidad has its own culture, some Trinis are light skinned, some are mixed, some are part East Indian, etc.) the picture you paint is incomplete. I could spend hours talking about Afro-Trinidadian and Afro-Tobagan culture. I will simply say that you made no case for Trinidad NOT being a place that is strongly influenced by the African culture brought over by slaves.
Having some Influence and having a strong influence is two totally different things things. Trinidad is a diverse and open minded place that has its own culture. Home boy we don't beat drums we play on steelpans(invented in Trinidad.)
You ARE of African ancestry. Care to dispute that?
Again being african and and having african descent is two totally different things. I have no cutural ties to africa. Never been there. My mom dated a Nigerian guy once, zero cutrually equitabilty. Eating his fufu and worshiping his false gods.
Again being african and and having african descent is two totally different things. I have no cutural ties to africa. Never been there. My mom dated a Nigerian guy once, zero cutrually equitabilty. Eating his fufu and worshiping his false gods.
"His" false Gods, as opposed to the false Gods you worship, right?
You just gave yourself away with that one. You've been exposed.
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