African American?

[lunamoth]

Asian American is a pretty broad term and I don't hear it used in the Asian community, which is huge where I live. I hear people say they are Chinese or Korean or Hmong just as those of European descent would say they are Dutch, French, English, German or Greek.

Here's the difference with the African American thingy. Uh, do we have Malians here? Do we have Ghanese? No, because blacks in this country lost their history when they were brought here as slaves. All they know now is the continent their ancestors came from, thus "African-American."

And if they want to stress the American where those of us of European descent would not bother, perhaps that has something to do with their invisibility in our culture and the pervasiveness of the idea that somehow blacks are somehow "less" American than those of us who are white.

If you want to understand why a black person would care to be called African-American, begin by studying their history, as they tell it.

It's a fascinating story and well worth your time.

Excellent points Booko. :yes:

 

[DallasApple]

And my point still stands, meaningless when applied as an identity for an entire group of people.

Also as a group of people Im tired of being called "white" ..So what...

I am not "white" my skin is a mixture of colors and I am not "white"

Love

Dallas

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

So call yourself something else. My point is that ever since slavery our collective identity has been non-existent. A word had to be created that referred to all of us and ****** wasn't gonna cut it. So there you have Black people. We aren't black, most of us are ranging from pale to dark chocolate with only a few of us being actually black. Truth is there is no word that I know of that would effectively define us. And American doesn't do it either. Plenty of people from all over the world have that title.

 

[DallasApple]

No, because blacks in this country lost their history when they were brought here as slaves. All they know now is the continent their ancestors came from, thus "African-American."

Why does everyone think every black person in America is rooted in slavery?..There are many black people who came here (not from Africa) voluntarilly..My sons best friend (who is black) came here from the Dominicon Republic...He has NO ancestors that were dragged over her in chains to be slaves..

Love

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

So call yourself something else. My point is that ever since slavery our collective identity has been non-existent. A word had to be created that referred to all of us and ****** wasn't gonna cut it. So there you have Black people. We aren't black, most of us are ranging from pale to dark chocolate with only a few of us being actually black. Truth is there is no word that I know of that would effectively define us. And American doesn't do it either. Plenty of people from all over the world have that title.

Truth is I know of no word that would define me and my children..and it certanintly isnt "white"...

We are shades of all colors..We arent "white"...I have proof..White is absent of color...that we are not..

Love

Dallas

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

I don't think every black person here was rooted in the slavery, and I also don't believe that was said. However the fact cannot be denied that the overwhelming majority of us indigenous to America are here precisely because of slavery. This obviously would exclude any person of color who came here for another reason.

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

Truth is I know of no word that would define me and my children..and it certanintly isnt "white"...

We are shades of all colors..We arent "white"...I have proof..White is absent of color...that we are not..

Love

Dallas

Tell me something dallas, can you go back in your family tree and pinpoint the racial descent of the people in it? Like can you say well my mother is Irish, and my father is such and such, and my grandmother is such-and-such, so we are mixed with Italian, Greek, Irish, etc? (Just throwing some races out there)

 

[DallasApple]

So call yourself something else. My point is that ever since slavery our collective identity has been non-existent. A word had to be created that referred to all of us and ****** wasn't gonna cut it. So there you have Black people. We aren't black, most of us are ranging from pale to dark chocolate with only a few of us being actually black. Truth is there is no word that I know of that would effectively define us. And American doesn't do it either. Plenty of people from all over the world have that title.

Same goes for you...Call your self something else..Tell your brothers and sisters to quit referring to each other a ......ers...That would be the first place to start..

Love

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

Tell me something dallas, can you go back in your family tree and pinpoint the racial descent of the people in it? Like can you say well my mother is Irish, and my father is such and such, and my grandmother is such-and-such, so we are mixed with Italian, Greek, Irish, etc? (Just throwing some races out there)

Yes my aunt went back pretty far and I have a pretty detailed history..Learned that when I was 39..(Im 40 now)...In the meantime I worked..had children..and fought against men (black white asian indian or otherwise) from trying to get in my pants because Im a girl...(continuous discremination because I was born a certain gender..no matter what shade of white I was)


Love

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

I don't think every black person here was rooted in the slavery, and I also don't believe that was said. However the fact cannot be denied that the overwhelming majority of us indigenous to America are here precisely because of slavery. This obviously would exclude any person of color who came here for another reason.

I dont know what to say about that..Except for I had NOTHING to do with it..And I owe you nothing...Neither do my children(or grandchildren)..Or my parents or Grandparents..We were just born ..

Love

Dallas

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

Yes my aunt went back pretty far and I have a pretty detailed history..Learned that when I was 39..(Im 40 now)...In the meantime I worked..had children..and fought against men (black white asian indian or otherwise) from trying to get in my pants because Im a girl...(continuous discremination because I was born a certain gender..no matter what shade of white I was)


Love

Dallas

This illustrates the main difference as far as the current subject goes between me and you. This is something I can't do Dallas. I cannot go back far enough to get past the plantation owner that may have owned some of my ancestors. I can't say well, my great-great-great grandmother was from a tribe in Ghana, and all of that. My ancestral history and thusly cultural and racial identity has been lost. This has resulted in us having to make a culture and forge and identity while distancing ourselves from slavery. Problem is, that's the heritage and mentality that has been passed down to us generation to generation, because that's what we came to identify ourselves as - slaves. So along the way we went from negroes, to colored, to black, to african-american, and I can't for the life of me understand why it is even a point of discussion that we should somehow feel silly and shallow if we prefer the term. That we are just being sensitive about it and we should just call ourselves American.

 

[Fat Old Sun]

I find it a bit cumbersome and unnecessary for many of the reasons mention so far, but I am also all for people choosing how they wish to be labeled.

I don't personally know anyone who has a problem with black, or who has voiced a preference for African American. I do however have a friend who refers to me as a Scottish Irish Apache American just for S's & G's. It is much easier to just call me the white guy.

 

[Booko]

Well then ...focus on the ignorant people.They certaintily wouldnt be me or my family..And Im not stupid enough to think that every black perosn I meet has roots in Africa..(not any more than me that is) And Im as white as a Ghost...White is also absent of color ..Is it not?

It depends on whether you're discussing pigment (matter) or light (energy).

Pigment: white reflects all colors thus has "no" color.
Light: white light is the presence of all colors (think of how prisms break out the frequencies into separate bits)

Here endeth the (Physics) lesson.

 

[Booko]

So call yourself something else. My point is that ever since slavery our collective identity has been non-existent.

Oh, much worse, FVM. Your collective identity was defined by another group...one which had defined your group as non-human at one point in order to justify their horrific actions.

 

[Booko]

Why does everyone think every black person in America is rooted in slavery?..There are many black people who came here (not from Africa) voluntarilly..My sons best friend (who is black) came here from the Dominicon Republic...He has NO ancestors that were dragged over her in chains to be slaves..

I dunno, why do you assume I meant "every" when I did not say so and how is it you did not recognize the snippet of mine that you quoted as the generalization it obviously was?

Are we going to have some sort of meaningful dialogue on this subject or just twiddle with insignificant twaddle?

 

[Booko]

Truth is I know of no word that would define me and my children..and it certanintly isnt "white"...

Try "human."

It's the only meaningful descriptor anyway, and while we're not there yet, eventually humanity will figure out as much.

In a more humourous vein, I have a friend who describes himself as "Heinz 57".

Also one of the best pieces I ever read on the futility of definitions of races was, in all things, in the ACM Journal. The author explained the pointless nature of trying to define race in terms of "one choice only, please" in anything involving computers. Apparently at one point he had described his race as "Other" and wrote in "mongrel" which caused great consternation when he had to pass a security clearance check.

Now, as far as why anyone would want to be called African-American, I believe at least one genuine article (hi FVM! ) has explained it to you. Enjoy.

 

[Booko]

I dont know what to say about that..Except for I had NOTHING to do with it..And I owe you nothing...Neither do my children(or grandchildren)..Or my parents or Grandparents..We were just born ..

Did I miss a post where someone accused you have having something to do with it or where someone suggested you owed someone something?

 

[Charity]

I think it has been several years ago that "Blacks" themselves wanted to be referred to as African American, instead of referring to them as black or negro. I can't remember all the details as to when that started, but would like to find out for sure. They were proud of their African heritage.

I know there are many household items for decorating that was inspired by this culture. Many African artifacts, masks, and fabric, and even many clothing merchandisers went to using African tribal prints and animal prints.

I'm not sure if this is what the majority of the people wanted to be called, or whether it was just a few that set it in motion.......Any one know any black people we can ask? All I know is one day it seemed to be "politically correct" to use this term.

Some of us probably would have to say we are German, Irish, Norweigan Americans or something similar, Whewwwww I can't remember what happened yesterday!

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

I dont know what to say about that..Except for I had NOTHING to do with it..And I owe you nothing...Neither do my children(or grandchildren)..Or my parents or Grandparents..We were just born ..

Love

Dallas

I am truly surprised at your defensive attitude Dallas. Since when did I ask you for anything or accuse you of anything? Come now, let's stay on topic. What you just said speaks so many volumes, and is why we Blacks have never truly had open, public, no-holds barred, dialogue with white people about just how we feel about past and present treatment. Improvements have been made yes, but a long way to go still. We have never had true dialogue generally because I think some white people are afraid we're going to ask them for something. For some special treatment or hand-out or something. Although, my ancestors were promised that pesky 40 acres and that mule. Still useful today I believe, and I wouldn't mind 40 acres of land I could work and mule to start me up. Sort of a reparations start-up kit.

 

[Scott1]

For the record... there are some of us "African Americans" who are not "black".

Freaks people out when I mark that on applications and what not....