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according to you, a bunch of people who work for the US census bureau who's job it is to make up labels out of thin air decide what's acceptable. sorry, but I decide what I want to call people.
Ah, sorry, more like a bunch of people who respond to public demands.
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
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What would you call a black person who immigrated here from a European country. I personally knew someone and she did not like being called "African-American" as she was neither African nor American. She prefers black.
Then I suggest that you go back to Massa's plantation where you will be much happier sittin' on the veranda singing negro spirituals.
The gentleman is by no way, shape, or form an "African American" unless when he immigrated to the U.S. his passport stated that he was a citizen of Africa.
So, by your explanation, there are really very few "African Americans" living in this country today. The only ones who qualify are those young enough to have migrated here willingly from Africa. Descendents of slaves have no right to claim the title "African Americans" because they were born here. Thus, they are simply Americans. Is this a correct explanation of what you were saying. If so, I am glad I understand where you are coming from. And I must say I agree. Black,white,red,etc., if you were born and raised here, you are an American. Plain and simple.
We could almost have this same discussion trying to explain what a Jew is. I once heard a Jew say "I am a Jew, but I am not Jewish. The similarity between who is a Jew and who is an African American Probably revolves around the segregation of an eastern group of people in the western world. When we use words like ; Zulu, Hispanic, Jew, African American, Native American, we are referring to a single group comprising of two or more similar smaller groups of people. There is a reason that African American culture and history is fascinating to study and most prestigious Institutions of higher learning offer Majors in the subject. The intricacies of African American culture is too complicated to impart here. We are stuck with the language and jargon used to teach African American studies an it defines African American as a sub-group of Black people. Consider that when slavery ended there were Black people in the United states who were born in various parts of Africa. All those different African cultures combined to form one generic African culture. Now consider this generic African culture is in virtual isolation for 100 years. Those shared experiences are African American.
Location: I currently exist only in a state of mind. one too complex for geographic location.
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what does what I call someone have to do with what they want to be called. read the handle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by delusianne
According to the US Census Bureau, the classifications are defined by the respondents themselves - according to how people self-identify. "White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as 'White' or report entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish."
I also have known black people from countries other than Africa that have moved to America and become citizens. They have often said that they find it amusing why people born here in the US that are 3rd, 4th generation consider themselves African-Americans. Most have accents and have told me that in the black community they are not accepted like US born blacks. Before you go crazy it was they that said this not me. I also have a friend from Kenya that has a heavy accent and he says the same thing. It seems that the term African-American to some people means that you have to be a black person born in the US. Anyone want to comment?
I've met quite a few Africans in my lifetime. They simply do NOT accept us as equals or Africans no matter how many generations removed we may be. Additionally,(due to slavery) many Black Americans know little to nothing about their African ancestry. Yet another reason many Africans ridicule us and look down their noses at Black Americans. The truth of the matter is our hardships, cultures and lifestyles are totally different and thus we have very little in common.
Africans - the termed used in the colonial U.S. for people imported as slaves from Africa.
Colored, Negro, N***gers - term used throughout the Civil War and Jim Crow period.
Black - a political descriptor for American descendants of slaves that was adopted throughout the Americas during the black liberation/Civil Rights struggles of the 1060's
African American - a sociopolitical term to which recognized the impossibility of determining the specific national or tribal origin of African descendants in the U.S.
If you know what country or ethnic group you came from, please use your national or ethnic group of origin followed by American.
(see Jewish Americans, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Polish Americans, Ukrainian Americans, German Americans for reference)
PS - when someone, anyone decides that they want to start a thread discussing their concerns about how any of the above groups have chosen to describe themselves call me. Until then I will continue you to hold anyone who finds this specious and exclusionary interest the term African American with a jaundice eye, to be polite.
Location: I currently exist only in a state of mind. one too complex for geographic location.
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I just went up to the store and the clerk was an african-american, who happened to be jamacian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JDubsMom
I've met quite a few Africans in my lifetime. They simply do NOT accept us as equals or Africans no matter how many generations removed we may be. Additionally,(due to slavery) many Black Americans know little to nothing about their African ancestry. Yet another reason many Africans ridicule us and look down their noses at Black Americans.
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sorry, but I decide what I want to call people.
