African-American from the neck up.
Posted on 02/05/2012 7:49:11 AM PST by Libloather
Some blacks insist: 'I'm not African-American'
By JESSE WASHINGTON | Associated Press – 21 hrs ago
The labels used to describe Americans of African descent mark the movement of a people from the slave house to the White House. Today, many are resisting this progression by holding on to a name from the past: "black."
For this group — some descended from U.S. slaves, some immigrants with a separate history — "African-American" is not the sign of progress hailed when the term was popularized in the late 1980s. Instead, it's a misleading connection to a distant culture.
The debate has waxed and waned since African-American went mainstream, and gained new significance after the son of a black Kenyan and a white American moved into the White House. President Barack Obama's identity has been contested from all sides, renewing questions that have followed millions of darker Americans:
What are you? Where are you from? And how do you fit into this country?
"I prefer to be called black," said Shawn Smith, an accountant from Houston. "How I really feel is, I'm American."
"I don't like African-American. It denotes something else to me than who I am," said Smith, whose parents are from Mississippi and North Carolina.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yes one of my former work mates was born in S. Africa and became a US citizen.
He always joked about being an “African American”.
I am so sick and tired of correcting people about this.
I know plenty of people who are WHITE and AFRICAN, the term to describe blacks as African American to me is ignorant and obviously they put PC in front of geography, demographics etc
Is the American descendent of Berbers an African American? How about someone whose grandparents were from Libya or Tunisia. An Arab whose ancestors have lived in east Africa for 300 years? What about someone whose parents were Afrikaners? Is Dave Matthews an African American?
Amfrerican....from SNL I believe....
see gov richard lamm on his the only country to purposely change its ethnic makeup...another first for the pseudo-cons of hyphenated america...
My favorite label was in a news story about some happenings in an African country. The news referenced one of the persons as an African-American African.
I’m trying to remember the story about a black athlete from Brazil or somewhere who won a medal in the Olympics, and the interviewer kept calling him “African American” despite being corrected immediately, every time, that he was neither African nor American.
__________________________
It appears many FReepers are criticizing this man for agreeing w/them. Bravo Mr Smith!!!
I personally refuse to use any term popularized by Jesse Jackson.
Last fall, I was hospitalized for an ongoing problem. The male nurse who was charged with admitting me asked some personal questions, one of which was “What ethnicity are you?” “American,” I answered. He persisted: “But what kind of American?” “American-American,” I replied.
I guess he realized he was going nowhere with the interview, so he scribbled something on the form and left the room.
Truth be told, wouldn’t 0bama be called mulatto?
Same as Theresa Heinz Kerry- African American.
Now it's what lame-wad Indonesians use to FAKE Birth Certificates to hide their ILLEGAL ALIEN STATUS.
To this end, Asian-American, Native-American,etc should also be done away with.
At times, just to be ornery when asked to check one of these racial blocks, I would check Óther and say “Irish American “....: : )
African-American from the neck up.
Interesting article and web site. Thanks for the link.
This also is an interesting article from that web site:
http://tfdf.org/blog/2012/02/01/black-american-politics-in-the-21st-century-is-it-time-for-a-new-plan/
The author shows how Frederick Douglass had called the Republican Party the “ship” for the black voter and that all else was “the storm.” Then, when allegiance switched to the Democrat Party in the 30s, the black voter maintained that template; the party they invested in with their loyalty is “the ship.”
The author suggests that the black voters need to rethink their approach. Both parties have betrayed their interests historically. While he does not seem to be a conservative, he does suggest an interesting stratagem: many of the green party organizations which have ballot approval already, are actually shells which the black voter could walk into and take over for their own interests.
I wonder if conservatives could quietly look down the road to do the same thing....just wondering....not necessarily advocating it, just wondering.
I think in Canada they use a term “Visible Minority”
We are all Amricans.
I always check the Native-American box since I was born here. I’m not an immigrant.
It’s sad that they aren’t allowed to be “Americans” only but the white boys down at the DNC need to pigeonhole them so the DemocRATS can claim ownership of that group of people. To me, they are just Americans. Unfortunately, we’ve seen stories here about the college kiddies referring to Africans IN AFRICA as being “African-Americans” because of their dark skin. People aren’t very bright these days. Especially among “college students”. It appears that their I.Q. drops with each year of “education” they are subjected to.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.