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To me white South Africans are not Africans. They may be South-Africans in the national sense, but African to me implies having recent black ancestors. Most white South Africans, however, are not mixed at all due to the racist past of that country. They are basically Europeans living on the wrong continent
Umm, no. Whites are 8.9% of South Africa's population, and Coloureds are 8.9%.
This means there are just as many mixed whites as there are non-mixed whites.
I remember when that PC crap started. My best friend is black and she was extremely annoyed by it. She said, "I didn't just come over from Africa!" She is American and prefers to be called that or black, but definitely not African-American. I agree and find the term 'African-American' to describe black Americans silly and divisive.
To me 'black' is simply descriptive, and not really any different than using the terms blonde or brunette to describe someone. Sure, it's not an exact description. Almost nobody's skin is actually 'black' just as most 'white' people do not have skin that is actually white (save for albinos which may be quite close to that). Then again, there is a wide variety of hair colors that fall under the categories of blonde or brunette. Blonde can be white-blonde or more dark, golden blonde for example, and brunette can be anywhere from light brown to black, I think.
What I would like to know is, why did some people decide 'black' as a descriptor was negative and somehow offensive? To me, there is nothing negative about it and it is as useful as haircolor, age and height when trying to describe what a person looks like.
Umm, no. Whites are 8.9% of South Africa's population, and Coloureds are 8.9%.
This means there are just as many mixed whites as there are non-mixed whites.
Keep in mind that Coloured in SA simply means not being purely black or Indian or white, it does not have to mean mixed at all. So it is a term that includes all kinds of mixed and non-mixed people, some of whom have no white ancestors at all. Some groups included are Khoisan, Xhosa, Malaysian, Indonesian, etc. Mixes between those are also Coloured people, without any white ancestry involved.
Exactly! African Americans can't easily identify the ties because it was beaten out of the slaves.
The slaves were whipped/killed for even trying to learn how to read. Why don't people understand that?
If you're white and someone says "No you're not" and hits you with a whip 50 times i bet you'd think twice about calling yourself white. Chris Rock covered this already. Chris Rock, "Octagon!" It could get you killed.
They tried the same thing with the Aborigies but weren't successful.
Yup... "I was never in Africa" but your ancestors were. The Borg effect has worked. You have been assimilated.
First against your Will but generations today willingly. In many minds your personal (generalizing) Black history doesn't matter.
The "N" word is a term of endearment. You have been assimilated. Black or African American? Identity stripped away and trying to Self identify an Identity. Black lives matter because for generations in a big picture Black lives didn't matter. Do a You Tube search on Gator Bait.
African American or Black? What's your name? After taking the new name take notice at the end a term of endearment was used.
White South africans have a lot of admixture due to early colonial history,there weren't enough white women in the early colony so they mixed with indian,Indonesian,mulatto etc women.I use to study this alot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neuling
To me white South Africans are not Africans. They may be South-Africans in the national sense, but African to me implies having recent black ancestors. Most white South Africans, however, are not mixed at all due to the racist past of that country. They are basically Europeans living on the wrong continent
I haven't read all the replies so forgive me if this has been said.
I live in South Florida and have many black friends from all over the world.
If you are black from Jamaica, UK, Trinidad, France, etc, being called an African American is an insult.
Black Latinos are very insulted by the term.
They all make fun of the term because they know most people who call themselves AA have no ties to Africa whatsoever.
One of my good friends who actually is from Nairobi, Kenya and became a naturalized citizen and is African-American thinks the term is stupid.
And Charlize Theron is white.
I grew up in Miami, and we're on the same page (I noticed you live in Fort Lauderdale). Maybe it's because we are exposed to black people from around the world, so it doesn't make sense to us?
If white people can call themselves Irish-American, Italian-American, etc without such heated debates then why can black Americans, who are made of various African ethnicities (my grandfather got tested and is Nigerian, Ghanaian, Togolese, Beninese, Senegalese, Cameroonian, and I forget what else), call themselves African-American without silly debates?
If white people can call themselves Irish-American, Italian-American, etc without such heated debates then why can black Americans, who are made of various African ethnicities (my grandfather got tested and is Nigerian, Ghanaian, Togolese, Beninese, Senegalese, Cameroonian, and I forget what else), call themselves African-American without silly debates?
It certainly is interesting how worked up other people get about that.
To me white South Africans are not Africans. They may be South-Africans in the national sense, but African to me implies having recent black ancestors. Most white South Africans, however, are not mixed at all due to the racist past of that country. They are basically Europeans living on the wrong continent
That's how Native South Africans and Zimbabweans see it. They refer to whites in Southern Africa as Europeans, no matter how many generations the families have been there.
Continuity is an important word. Herskovits proved, to the disdain of bourgeoisie black folks, and bigoted white folks, that African culture has never been extinguished in America. He basically traced many elements of so called present day "black" culture to Africa. People in America who want to deny African Americans their African past are those who want to believe that African Americans only have a slave past.
And while I'm am on a soap box I would hope moderators would be more selective in allowing threads criticizing the use of the term "African American" due to the fact there have been so many of these threads and last but not least, the amount of scholarship in the subject is so overwhelmingly in favor of African American as the appropriate anthropological term.
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