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I was thinking about this and had a few questions, so feel free to give your 2 cents.
From an outside point of view, it can sometimes seem strange that in the US, black people are referred to as African American.
What's wrong with someone being described as just black? Especially since black people can come from any number of countries, not all of which are found in Africa. If an aboriginal person from Australia went to live in the US or had children there, I'm sure they'd be referred to as African American, even though they have no links to Africa whatsoever.
I mean, I've overhead Americans in London becoming confused, because they suddenly realised that they couldn't call a black Londoner 'African American' because... he was black, but neither African, nor American.
Conversely - there are also many people in Africa who are white, or another race, or colour. If these people went to live in the USA and had kids there, don't they have the right to call themselves as African American?
I guess my (rambling) point is that it just seems to me that African should be used to denote nationality (or rather, your nationality is from that continent) and not race.
My 'Irish American' friend who was born in the states went to Ireland for vacation. He was viewed as an American, not Irish or Irish-American.
If you were born and live in America you're viewed as an American in Ireland, Africa, or where ever else you go. The whole idea is kind of silly.
Nobody "represents" Blacks. We don't need anyone to "represent" us. Do George W. Bush, John McCain and Sarah Palin "represent" whites?
If I were to go to a Black neighborhood with a sign that read " [MOD CUT] Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton" I would get my [MOD CUT] jumped or worst be murdered. Do you deny this ?
Last edited by Ibginnie; 01-04-2009 at 10:51 PM..
Reason: inappropriate language
My 'Irish American' friend who was born in the states went to Ireland for vacation. He was viewed as an American, not Irish or Irish-American.
If you were born and live in America you're viewed as an American in Ireland, Africa, or where ever else you go. The whole idea is kind of silly.
It wasn't silly with the IRA was looking for money to fight the British. In those days Irish Americans were a looked at as a bit more than just Americans. As what Africans think... I could give less than a damn, if you argument were true, but if you think that Africans looks at "black" Americans through the same lens as they view white Americans, I have some brothers from the continent that you need to talk with.
Now that is just ignorant. Please, go to any European country (or hell, all of them) and try to say "Hey, you are all white -- there is no difference between French, German, or Croats".
The only common bond whites share is the lack of melatonin.
Jesse and Al seem to think they represent the blacks and nobody disputes this. Just look at the amount of supporters and power they have.
Very true, I have never heard of an incident where Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson got booed at a rally where the crowd is predominantly Black. Also the few Blacks in the media that do criticize Jackson and Sharpton always end up getting bashed and called Uncle Toms by the larger Black community.
Jesse and Al seem to think they represent the blacks and nobody disputes this. Just look at the amount of supporters and power they have.
That is wrong - Examples are given on this very thread that they don't represent everyone, so there are people who dispute it whether you choose to believe it or not.
However, as so spoken on CD many times, they have their right to free speech, so they can say what they want. It doesn't mean that people blindly follow them.
Now that is just ignorant. Please, go to any European country (or hell, all of them) and try to say "Hey, you are all white -- there is no difference between French, German, or Croats".
The only common bond whites share is the lack of melatonin.
Um I've lived in Italy for 16 months,visited Spain, France,Greece, Germany, and Hungary, they described me as black and I discribe them as white. While in Germany, Germans told me areas of East Germany I should stay away from because of the color of my skin.
Very true, I have never heard of an incident where Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson got booed at a rally where the crowd is predominantly Black. Also the few Blacks in the media that do criticize Jackson and Sharpton always end up getting bashed and called Uncle Toms by the larger Black community.
Oh, I get it...so at a rally thath they are giving, people attend and support what they say - so that means that all black people agree, because all of the black people in America are at those rallies?
So using that line of thinking, it must mean that all white people agree with the KKK, as all I see at their rallies are white people cheering.
I would like for you to site an example of a black person in the media that got bashed and called an Uncle Tom for critizing something that they said?
Just don't make it something you heard from Uncle Pete and try to pass it off on CD as fact.
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