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I read that article yesterday. Very interesting with good points from various sides.
I actually recall that period in the 1970s when "Afro-American" was in vogue. I guess that the "Afro" style of big hair was also popular at the same time.
Anyway, a nice brief history of various terms that have been used since 1960 or so.
I thought the Afro big hair style was a cool look. I'm being serious.
That seems like legitimate logic to me. It's like if someone referred to themselves as European-American or Asian--oh wait, people do refer to themselves as Asian-American.
Lol no but seriously, I can see where you're coming from OP. Africa is a big continent.
I am not for sure, but I'm willing to bet that in Ghana, they don't make the distinction between a Spaniard and a North Dakotan. So it isn't completely shocking that Americans generally don't distinguish between people from Ghana vs. the Ivory Coast vs. Benin, or between people from India vs. Bangladesh vs. Bhutan until they go into more detail.
I bet you're proud to call yourself an "American." Why do that when you can just call yourself a man?
Why should they call themselves "a man"? What does it matter which gender a human is? It makes me sad that people continue to define--and divide--themselves in such superficial ways.
Why should they call themselves "a man"? What does it matter which gender a human is? It makes me sad that people continue to define--and divide--themselves in such superficial ways.
People act like it's this big thing to divide people when we say Black and White but think about it--we divide people up the same way we call someone "he" or "she"--we divide them up into either "male" or "female". Language in general is rife with divisions, and many of them we aren't even aware of because they are so far ingrained in our language. It might be sad, and I do agree that we get caught up in definitions, but is it really a shocker we have terms like Black and White?
People act like it's this big thing to divide people when we say Black and White but think about it--we divide people up the same way we call someone "he" or "she"--we divide them up into either "male" or "female". Language in general is rife with divisions, and many of them we aren't even aware of because they are so far ingrained in our language. It might be sad, and I do agree that we get caught up in definitions, but is it really a shocker we have terms like Black and White?
Exactly. It makes no sense to say that someone who regularly refers to their ethnic background should stop being divisive and "just" identify themselves by race or nationality, since race and nationality are categories that are as "divisive" as ethnicity. When people say this, it's as though they think that a person's country, their coloring and the width and shape of their facial features are the sole relevant attributes of that person, even though there are all other kinds of personal characteristics that are just as basic, or more so. One of them is gender, as you mention. More examples are age, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, language and--the big one--species.
Well -- why should blacks have to have a hyphen or imply they've got ties to another continent if they don't?
Not many with European ancestry go around referring to themselves as European-Americans. Why would they?
Probably because most of our skin color ISN'T black. When's the last time you actually saw a BLACK person in America?
I'm not a major fan of the term African-American either, but Black or Negro isn't much better. What else is left? I already call myself "American" the majority of the time but other people aren't satisfied with using that sole definition of who I am. I'll always be a ____ guy, never just an American guy or a "guy". (See government statistical categories and everyday people of all races, including mine).
Last edited by Freedom123; 02-09-2012 at 09:20 AM..
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