Raven Symone - I'm American - Not African American (vote, Louisiana, TV)

[Oldglory]

Many Americans label themselves that way. As for me I am not a hyphenated American nor do I define myself by race/ethnicity or sexual preference.

[Mini-apple-less]

I like Raven, she's cool.

[TheDusty]

She seems smarter than most people.

I agree, labels are pointless. I generally avoid all of them if I can. I certainly don't identify with anything that ends in an 'ist' or anything of that nature if I don't have to. Too many labels means too many ways to separate people.

[kovert]

Even if you escape getting dragged into one type of caste system, the haters will still try to drag you down into another.

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by juneaubound

I have no idea what this young lady has been doing professionally since she played a cute little kid in the Cosby Show back in the 80's (which I watched) and a teenager starring in her own comedy (which I never saw) but she was recently interviewed by Oprah Winfrey.

1. She does not want to be labelled gay - she wants to be known as a lover of humans

2. She does not want to be labelled African American - she wants to be referred to as an American, and her roots are in Louisiana.

I don't give a lot of weight to what entertainers have to say about anything political, but many people do. A different perspective than what you often hear coming from personalities:

Raven Symone To Oprah: 'I'm Not African-American -- I'm American' - MTV

I agree with "not African-American" as it is already a few generations back that her ancestors came from Africa. Other people (who are not black) don't define themselves by that many generations back so this sounds logical to me.

[Oldglory]

Why hyphenate yourself by another continent and our country if you were born here anyway?

[Opin_Yunated]

Originally Posted by M E H

I am surprised more black people don't take this stance?

We do. The right-wing just gets too caught up in their own preconceived opinions of blacks to notice.

I am human, American-born, American citizen. My ethnic descent is some muddied fusion of African, Caucausion and Native American. To the outside world, I am Black / African-American.

I am human first.
American second.
Black is just an adjective to describe my physical characteristics based on skin pigmentation and genetic origin.

[nvxplorer]

Originally Posted by M E H

I am surprised more black people don't take this stance?

They do. We just don't hear about it in the media. On another note, every native American I've known (dozens) calls himself Indian. Most people don't get worked up over PC.

[iNviNciBL3]

Originally Posted by Oldglory

Why hyphenate yourself by another continent and our country if you were born here anyway?

I think a segment of our population like to come off as unique and different from everyone, they find out that their great-great-great grandmother came from Sweden and the think they are unique and different from everyone else... there are some people like this where i live in Minnesota, every once in a while you see people referring themselves as Swedish while they are talking in a Midwestern Accent, Hanging a Swedish flag outside their home even though they never set foot in Sweden and can only name one city in Sweden.

[texan2yankee]

Good for Raven. I love her attitude and support her stance of eschewing labels.