"BLACK or AFRICAN AMERICAN" mainly a question...

Tann19

Charlize Theron is an african american.

Good point.
And what about black people from Jamaica.... although I guess people from Jamaica are likely the ancestors of people from Africa.
And if we want to get REALLY technical, the first human remains were found in Africa I believe, so then aren't we all African-American/Canadian?

it's just Jamaican, I have friends who migrated from Cuba, Africa even China and as soon as they become citizens we are all just plain ole Jamaicans! and that's all it says in our passport! They are still very proud of where they were born and doesn't take away from that.

NotThePest

I prefer "Black" but at 60 I seen it all, or more correctly been called it all: Colored, negro, N****, African/American, etc. Spike Lee's School Daze anyone?

By the way, Africa is a Continent and not a county, and there many ethnicity's, skin colors, racial groups within the Continent. Just like America, United States, is part of the North American Continent and north of South and Central America. So technically anyone living on one of the two Continents is American.

Previously working at a Continuing Education Department within a College,with a large English As a Second Language (American English), ESL, I have seen a young man of South Koran parentage, who only spoke Italian, born in Rome. Two young men, father was Swedish, mom was from a country in Sub-Sahara Africa, who looked "African American" but only spoke Swedish. (There is a hilarious story behind there entrance into our program, as staff were looking to VIP the son's of the Swedish Ambassador, they totally missed it because they didn't hear the accents and were looking for blond hair blue eyes)

The little girl sitting on my lap, my granddaughter, mother is Chinese. My DIL was born in the U.S.A. to parents born in Jamaica, W.I, whose forefather's came from Hong Kong.

In College I did a research paper on Mozart so I visited the Free Mason museum in NYC. There as big as daylight, were two group portraits of members of the lodges Mozart belong to, their were black members, several members. He belonged to two lodges and both group portraits of the two different lodges had black folk as members, not servants. My experiences have totally changed my view of the world.

gmoneycole

Derogatory names are normal used to degrade others. Why would anyone wanna degrade the slave driver? Slave drivers were people with power over others so socially they were above others not below them. So how is calling someone with power a name be perceived as derogatory? Well mainly cause the term "cracker" does not refer to "cracking a whip"

The term "cracker" is derogatory in nature but for different reasons. The term originally was used a a racial slur to describe the poor Scottish/Irish and English farmers who had small land ( enough to feed their family). It was used by the rich British who owned huge land lots.

Now fast forward to the early British American colonies and the term pretty much carried through and was used to describe the poor Scottish/Irish/ English farmers on the frontier. And that how it came to be part of the US culture.

But what does it mean? Well the only decent definition is it was referring to the poor farmers diet of cracked corn. Which helped create cornmeal and grits the farmers food. So the term "cracker" came to refer to poor farms who "cracked corn".


Now to go to the whole East Texas situation that got people up in arms against you. I personally do not think it's entirely your fault but rather part of the blame is on laid on your "black" friends for using the "N word" with "er" in the end. Any person who uses that word to describe a person of dark complexion is simply lacking in education of the background of that word.

Remember words are just words it's the person using them that make them have an impact.

Jimmy cracked corn but I don't care....

I just love people. Great thread.

gmoneycole

And I hate when white people say they are raising their children "color blind". I prefer to raise my children to see the beautiful and amazing differences that exist between people and to appreciate and respect these differences. Being color blind implies you don't see the authentic experiences of people based on their ethnicity. Dr. King would not have supported a "color blind" society.

Yes you are educated. Good for you. People might mean that they see people as people and respect them for who they are. Maybe they really do teach their children to understand what a person really stands for through their interactions with them. How do you know so much about what these people intend to do. Try to not be so judgemental of others and understand what their true intentions are before you label them.

gmoneycole

I prefer Black, but I don't get bent all out of shape if someone refers to me as African American. It does bother me a bit that people (of many colors) seem to get perturbed when I simply call myself an American. White folks don't go around saying white American or Irish American, German American, etc. unless it is time for their cultural festivities or something. They just say American or white. I just say American or black. It's not a big deal, Americans come in all colors.

As someone who is half black and has a Bachelor's degree in 'African American' Studies, I prefer being called black. I'm not from Africa, my father is not from Africa, his parents are not from Africa, etc.

^This and ^this is awesome.

I'll admit, I didn't read all 17 pages (mostly because I assumed it would not be constructive since MFP usually doesn't do well with these potentially volatile topics (or even the seemingly benign)), but reading posts like these give me hope for humanity.

Read the 17 pages, you'll be glad you did.

britlocs

to answer to British questions from way back.

We go by Black British here.Well,just Black actually,but the full term is black british.

MissShancey

i live in canada ... people ppl at me funny when i call them African American

focus4fitness

I always thought "ppl of colour" was more offensive.

And technically, can you really call a "person of colour" an African-American since Americans don't spell color that way anyway?

Sorry... just picking on you a bit.

Funnily enough, even in Canada where we spell it "colour", black people are often referred to as "African Americans" even though they are usually neither African nor American.

Doh! Maybe its North American

Perfectdiamonds1

*throws feet up on desk* who brought the popcorn?

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I have the candy

Thatsdatdiva601

Well i consider myself black American. I have no problem ppls calling me black because that's what I am. What I don't like is the phrase " ppls of color". I find that offensive!

Buffdrita

Black works for me. Never understood the need for "African-American". We don't distinguish white ppl as German-Americans, Scottish-Americans, etc etc

On the other hand I am not at all offended by African-American. It just sometimes seems like ppl use the term because they think it would be bad to call somebody black. I think it's fine.

usmcjarhead3

As a former Marine with 4 years Iraq/Afghanistan under my belt, I never understoood this. Look at the following:

Native American
African American
Hispanic American
Cuban American

What is the common denominator? AMERICAN. Like it or not, we are all Americans. Regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation we are AMERICAN. The very melting pot of ethnicities that made this country great, because of political correctness is now threatening to be our downfall. Caucasians (which I am) are the majority race in this country right now with the Hispanics on our heels. If and when caucasians get surpassed, will that mean we can split off into European American, Italian American, Scottish/Irish American etc.? It is foolish. We are all in it for the long haul for better or worse, IMO we need to stop this nonsense and become AMERICAN. Now, I am not saying forget your ancestry and/or heritage, celebrate it and be proud of it. That's what made this country great!. Do not forget that you are AMERICAN first. Semper Fi!

knwitall

I refer to myself as chocolate awesome

^^^ This! Lol

NotThePest

As a former Marine with 4 years Iraq/Afghanistan under my belt, I never understoood this. Look at the following:

Native American
African American
Hispanic American
Cuban American

What is the common denominator? AMERICAN. Like it or not, we are all Americans. Regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation we are AMERICAN. The very melting pot of ethnicities that made this country great, because of political correctness is now threatening to be our downfall. Caucasians (which I am) are the majority race in this country right now with the Hispanics on our heels. If and when caucasians get surpassed, will that mean we can split off into European American, Italian American, Scottish/Irish American etc.? It is foolish. We are all in it for the long haul for better or worse, IMO we need to stop this nonsense and become AMERICAN. Now, I am not saying forget your ancestry and/or heritage, celebrate it and be proud of it. That's what made this country great!. Do not forget that you are AMERICAN first. Semper Fi!

Hey jarhead, not a Marine but my son was a jarhead like you and was known as a dark green Marine :laugh:

MaraDiaz

I prefer "soul challenged"... but I get called "ginger".... to each their own.

Bwahaha!

I'm lazy and prefer short words, but I've trained myself to say African American. As a misanthrope, I strive to offend everyone equally and not single anyone out for offending. :laugh:

HisPathDaily

Usually I call people by name ... but if they live in America, and I travel abroad, I may call them my American friend. If they life in Europe, I may refer to them as my European friend (or maybe even call someone Italian if they live in Italy)

I'm weird like that.

HisPathDaily

Oh, I do have a few African friends too ... well ... because they live in Africa.

Think about that for a minute ... imagine we all had various skin tones (I know, crazy thought) ... imagine categorizing people by the color of their skin! That would be weird wouldn't it? I mean for instance, the few friends that I have in Africa ... they have very different skin tones ... one looks like me, and one looks much darker ... Imagine if I had to call them a "color" ...

That would be a weird world wouldn't?

marie_cressman

i say i'm white... because i look white. my dad is white. my mom is vietnamese. i'm always very confused if i should put "other" because i'm technically a mutt... there's no telling what i'm mixed with really. mom is from vietnam (but i think her dad is french... we don't know my grandfather, but she definitely looks like someone in her family was "white"), dad's family is from germany , but i get people who tell me i look hispanic or italian. i'm so confused!

shaybell34

My mom is Shashony Indian an white an my dad is Seminole an black, but also its just where your family roots lead you an history. When I fill out a app I put black. But i'm enjoying these threads.

ValerieMartini2Olives

I listen to a lot of AM talk radio. And I heard this one caller say "I am a BLACK American. Not an African American. I'm not from Africa. I'm an American who is Black."