If 'African American' describes blacks, why don't we call whites 'European Amercians'?

Question

The political correctness machine has gone so far but it has not yet touched whites. I live in San Francisco and there are recent immigrants who are Russian who are having to identify as white versus the 'African Americans' in the Western Addition and Hunters Point/Bayview. Why? Are't we all just 'American' at this point?

Answer 1

I've wondered about that myself too. What's wrong with saying "black people"? What's insulting about that? There's "white people", so why not "black people" too? And if African American is more appropriate, shouldn't it be European American and Asian American too?

Well, or just plain Americans? Why does it matter where they or their ancestors originate from anyway?

Answer 2

Nice question. I personally refer to Caucasian Americans as Caucasian Americans, because I am 1/2 chinese and 1/2 American. My mother is Chinese American, so I call my father Caucasian American. If African Americans are called African Americans, there's no reason why Caucasians shouldn't be called Caucasian Americans. Also, people are called Latin Americans, Filipino Americans, etc. And that's regardless of the fact that they were also born and raised in America. The original 'Americans' are Red Indians. They owned the land long before European conquerors invaded and steaked the land as their own. Caucasians were just the first noted immigrants, and the others followed. Just because you're first at something doesn't make you 'immune'. So, yes, white Americans should be called Caucasian Americans, just like everybody else is 'noted' with their race, because there are so many races in America, and we are all Americans. All the same.

Answer 3

I agee that PC has gotten so out of hand the it actually "labels" people incorrectly. What we should really do, is use the word "descent" for Americans that are natural born citizens. A true African-American, is someone born in a country in Africa and is now a naturalized US citizen, regardless of ethnicity (there is only one race, and that is the human race). The same goes for Irish-Americans, Mexican-Americans, ect. ect. They were born elsewhere, but their home, their country, is the USA.

A black US born citizen is a black American of African descent, and so forth and so on for all the other "races". These terms are actually more CORRECT, more truthful. But everyone is so scared of saying, black, or Mexican, or Chinese, ect. and so concerned with labeling people that they don't do what is even more important, and that is accepting and just plain talking to others. Making friends and learning more about the world outside their own.

This world would be a better home if everone were less ego-centric. I am really sick of all the "black power", "brown and proud", "white power" BS. It is all racism and hateful superiority to me. And yes, we are in the end "all just American".

Answer 4

I agree we are all Americans, I am Irish, Welsh and American Indian and probably a few others that my momma forgot to tell me I am not going to say all of that, I usually just tell people I am Heinz 57 LOL LOL and walk away with people confused

My brother and I have the Same parents and my brother is very dark skinned and I am very light skinned so I just tell people never judge a book by its cover sorry if that makes no sense

Answer 5

I think this "Political Correctness" is BS any way. When I was little, if some one was 'African-American' or 'Japaneese-American', it meant one parent was from Africa and the other America, or one parent was from Japan and one parent was from America. What, do they not think we know they have ancestors that come from Africa. Haven't you knoticed all the PC jokes, everybody thinks its BS.

By the way, the russian immigrants shuld be able to identify themselves as Russians.

And, actually, if they really wanted to be 'PC' everybody in America is from immigrants, so why don't we all have to same rights.

Answer 6

Most "European-Americans" prefer to be identified with the country of their immigrant ancestors, rather than the whole continent. For example, Italian-American.

Actually...... it might be even more bizarre than that, because when asked their nationality (not race), most "European-Americans" will respond by identifying the country from which their immigrant ancestors came.

Go figure.

Answer 7

African American is an incredibly racist term. It assumes that all blacks in America are from Africa and all people from Africa are black. What about Haitians? or Jamaicans? There are black Europeans, and white Afrikaaners. Legal citizens are just Americans, no matter the race. Deal with it

Answer 8

The term European-American is sometimes used, as is Asian-American Jewish-American and Native-American. And, if you think that political correctness only has to do with race, then you need to do some re-thinking. What about using C.E. and B.C.E instead of A.D. and B.C. Then there is the whole problem of sexist language. Using "he/she" and "him/her" can get very wieldy. Our world is full of all kinds of political correctness.

Answer 9

I agree, it is ridiculous. In large cities so many people of color are not Americans, but from islands and other nations. To lump them all together is so wrong. You are right, we should be European Americans. Euricans for short.

Answer 10

Ain't it the truth. This whole thing has turned into complete BS. My feeling is that if you are not happy here then go somewhere else. I'm really sick of hearing about this group or that group and why they are special or why they suck. All it does is create antagonism and distrust between people.