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 ...
“The US is the only country in the world that classifies its citizens.”
That is not quite true. But I have noticed that traditionally “white” countries are the only countries that have large amounts of “races” in them. Most other countries in the world are mostly “mono-race”. Though many of them have conflicts between religious sects and tribes, most of which outsiders wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between.
How many non Mexican looking people do you see living in Mexico?
It’s not what people look like but their ethnicity. We again are the only hyphenated country. You don’t see Russian-Germans in Germany. You don’t see Turkish-Italians in Italy, etc. I’m talking government designated peoples as in the US.
I imagine that most blacks around the world might insist they aren’t African Americans, because they aren’t American.
I didn't care for the term, 'negro', even when I was a kid. I don't remember any black folks having a strong affinity for that word, back in those days. I do recall a pervasive sense of relief among black people when the term, 'black', took hold.
For myself, I didn't grow up being forcibly fixated on race (mine or anyone else's), so it's a subject that isn't of high importance to me. I only comment on it, because it's a fact of my life.
When asked my ethnicity I alway respond “I am a Texan.”
Comedian George Carlin discussed this absurdity!!
Hmmm, I might have to change my tagline.
Thanks for the ping!
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