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I'm one of them. I know the specific country and ethnic group of my origins. So to use a name that encompasses an entire continent of diverse peoples seems absurd. Personally I prefer American, Black American or Ghanaian American.
Some blacks insist: 'I'm not African-American' *| ajc.com (http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world...m-1331589.html - broken link)
It only makes sense. Black (technically negro) is a race, same as white (caucasian). African-American...a made up term that according to some describes a shared ancestry with those that were brought here as slaves from Africa. Which of course means that in no way is someone like Barack Obama an "African-American" (or even half "AA").
I'm white, but I dislike the term as well because I see it as separation. To me, black people are already Americans, their not '' african '' Americans, just Americans. Same goes for whites, asians, hispanics, Jews etc...
We're all the same people who live in the same country. We should build a color blind society, one where we don't see each other as black or white people, but just people. Unfortunately liberals won't let this happen.
One is only an African-American if they were born in Africa and then attained citizenship here.
At one time my husband had co-workers, both white and black, who were born in South Africa but later had attained U.S. citizenship. They both referred to themselves as African-American and bristled at the term when used to refer to black people who were born in the U.S.
One is only an African-American if they were born in Africa and then attained citizenship here.
Isn't it ironic that ONLY blacks use the term?
There are many white Africans here in America, look at the PGA, and all the ones I know DON'T use the term.
I agree with Teddy Roosevelt:
"Teddy Roosevelt: "No Room in This Country for Hyphenated Americans"
"Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.â€
“The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities,"
I'm one of them. I know the specific country and ethnic group of my origins. So to use a name that encompasses an entire continent of diverse peoples seems absurd. Personally I prefer American, Black American or Ghanaian American.
Some blacks insist: 'I'm not African-American' *| ajc.com (http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world...m-1331589.html - broken link)
Good for them. I am American of Trinidadian descent or Trinidadian-American, not African-American. My immediate heritage is from the Caribbean region and goes back generations there, not in the U.S. The Caribbean is the region that my ancestors developed - West African, South Asian & Amerindian - altogether. Additionally, there is no place called black so that term is of no value to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MiamiRob
Another C-D race obsessed thread! The term "African-American" was actually created by the Census Bureau in the early 1970s as a way to classify black Americans who for the most part didn't know their true ancestry. Most Americans who aren't black know where they came from hence Irish Americans, Italian Americans, German Americans, even to the point where they even know the cities & towns where their ancestors hailed from and the traditions and holidays stem from.
The only single unifying factor that black Americans have is that they know they came from the continent of Africa and their history to them doesn't start at the shores of Ghana or Liberia but on the shores of slave states in the US.
Blacks in America have been stripped of their identity & heritage and just settle for "well I'm from South Carolina" without taking the time and effort to find out where they truly came from and what a rich cultural legacy they might not be aware of.
The above is the meaning of African-American. No matter how people try to extend to conveniently, it applies to the descendants who are born and have a heritage in the U.S. History books have and continue to define the term in this manner. Therefore, it is not inclusively of recent African descendants who have other heritages/cultures.
It only makes sense. Black (technically negro) is a race, same as white (caucasian). African-American...a made up term that according to some describes a shared ancestry with those that were brought here as slaves from Africa. Which of course means that in no way is someone like Barack Obama an "African-American" (or even half "AA").
The black/negro classification is just as made up as African-American. Even more, it was drummed up by European scientists whose insecurities drove them to comparison and mass classification of other diverse peoples. At least with African-American, it was chosen by someone of that particular heritage rather than drummed up in a lab by scientists from an entirely different continent and imposed on the other peoples with no regard for their identities. Agree about the general meaning of the term AA though and that it would then not apply to President Obama. To his wife, yes, but not to him.
There are many white Africans here in America, look at the PGA, and all the ones I know DON'T use the term.
I agree with Teddy Roosevelt:
"Teddy Roosevelt: "No Room in This Country for Hyphenated Americans"
"Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.”
“The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities,"
Everytime someone brings up this Teddy Roosevelt "We're all one big happy family" bullcrap, I continue to remind you all that Roosevelt presided over a country where Jim Crow was the norm - even in the military he served as General and then Commander-In-Chief.
Did he include "Negroes" in all of those beautiful platitudes? Why did he not care that all Americans weren't equal under the law and not considered fully American?
Good for them. I am American of Trinidadian descent or Trinidadian-American, not African-American. My immediate heritage is from the Caribbean region and goes back generations there, not in the U.S. The Caribbean is the region that my ancestors developed - West African, South Asian & Amerindian - altogether. Additionally, there is no place called black so that term is of no value to me.
Bingo. You can be black or of African descent and be African American. You can be black or of African descent and not be African American.
Quote:
The above is the meaning of African-American. No matter how people try to extend to conveniently, it applies to the descendants who are born and have a heritage in the U.S. History books have and continue to define the term in this manner. Therefore, it is not inclusively of recent African descendants who have other heritages/cultures.
Recent immigrants from Africa, no matter their race, are not African Americans. They are South African Americans, Nigerian Americans, Egyptian Americans, etc.
All African Americans are of black African descent, and most have bloodlines that are mixed with other American immigrant groups or Native groups.
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