If your a white person from africa and you move to the US are you still considered an African American?

Question

Or does african american have nothing at all to do with nationality and instead function as a racial indicator?

Hey Peach, Cheech Marin put it this way, When your poor your Mexican . when your rich your Latino hehe
i just thought you would appreciate that. still no latino in that joke sorry..

mean no Hispanic in that joke....* sigh*

Answer 1

John Kerry's wife ( who is white and from Africa) described herself as an African-American a couple of years ago. I believe she was speaking to a group of black African-Americans, and she was booed. It created QUITE a controversy.

so, logically, i think she is an African-American, but the phrase is used to refer to Black Americans from ( or whose ancestors were from ) Africa.

Answer 2

One would be an African American, but would catch grief about it for some reason. A previous poster mentioned Teresa Heinz Kerry, who was born in Africa, and there is a really white model who is in a similar situation.

Another poster mention Afrikaaners. Well, there are no black people native to Southern Africa. The indigenous black people killed each other off in the 18 th century. The Dutch(Boers) brought black people into Southern Africa as EMPLOYEES. Then the English, most notably Cecil Rhodes, hired a great many black people in from western africa, north of what is today Namibia. Nevertheless, black people have been living in South Africa for a while, having been brought there for EMPLOYMENT.

This ignores Northern Africa. Not a lot of Black people indigenous to northern Africa either. Look more to Berbers, and Arabs, and Mediterranean people. Egypt has been largely Macedonian(Greek) for at least 2500 years. The Phoenicians, or those from what is now roughly Lebanon, were mighty sailors, and largely settled the Mediterranean coasts.

So, really, there are three Indigenous Ethnic Groups native to Africa, which is why International Development Organizations generally considers Africa in three segments. Different ethnicities and cultures.

Let the complaining begin...

Answer 3

No you would be African, And then so only by a stretch because the whites in Africa are mostly Dutch. You made no mention of Americanization!

As for race I consider myself Black, As for Nationality I am American because I was born here.
African American is some idiots attempt at political correctness, When I was young we were "colored" Then James Brown made us "Black and Proud", That has always worked for me.

Answer 4

I think that both could hold. I have met some Afrikaners who think of themselves as African. Here in America, African American seems to be a racial indicator and I think it's really a strange one as most blacks in this country have been here for many many generations so shouldn't they just be Americans??? I'm first generation American and I don't go around calling myself a Scottish American.

Answer 5

No. North Africans living in the US are not considered "African Americans".

Better question. If Jesse Jackson and Nelson Mandela are the same race, what would you call Mr. Mandela's race. Surely, he is not an "African American" or "Afro-American".

Is he a ***** (Spanish for black), as in United ***** College Fund?

Is he Black, as in The Congressional Black Caucus.

Is he a Colored Person, as in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People?

Answer 6

If you are a white or black person from Africa and you move to the US you are African.
If you are a black person born in the US you are American referred to as African American.
BUT, if your are of Mexican decent and born in the US you REALLY get a bum deal because you are considered HISPANIC and in the past it was Mexican American (which is proper), and it's very resentful because there is no country named Hispanic.

Answer 7

Theses people who call themselves African American have been American for over 140 years. It is just another way of separating an American born humans from the rest of society.

I don't give a hoot about skin color. We are all human. When we hang on to the past to divide us, we are looking for reasons to be different. We all go to the same schools, and we all grew up watching the same television. The only differences is that of choice.

Answer 8

African American means you were born in Africa and moved to America, or you were born in America and your parents or grand parents are from Africa.

Black, means that your ancestors were slaves from Africa, but you aren't from Africa, nor are you really apart of it in any cultural way. Your parents might have moslty African genetics, but mixed with white or indian, etc, and have no connection to Africa or it's culture. They can't even speak a word of any African language.

So technically, your African American. Most Black people, are not, but some like to be identified as it. Some are if they have traced back to Africa and learned about it's culture, and lived their to really experience it and become apart of it. But most are just Black, not African American.

Extra info: I say that because I'm black, and I don't know a thing about Africa, I've never been there, and I'm slightly mixed with white or natve American blood somewhere in my genetics like most Black people. To call me African American, I'd also have to be called European American, and Native American, which makes no sense.

Answer 9

"African American" is nothing more than a "politically correct" term that doesn't amount to a hill of horse dung. People who refer to themselves, or are refered to as such, are simply Americans who are Black.

Using such terms to clarify racial terms is promoting racism, regardless of who uses the term. Either a person is an American or they are African, regardless of color, unless duel citizenship is possible.

Now I could care less what color a person is, they are members of the human race and should accordingly and stop trying to make something out of skin color, as if it matters in the very least.

ADDED: This horse hockey called "person of color" is also on the list of politically stupid because all people have color in their skin unless they are pure albino, and the albino is just as human as anyone else.

Answer 10

i think of the right term is American African. i think of whether she or he's so in keeping with relies upon which way him or her-self look at it. In organic and organic way, if the guy replaced into no longer african in genetical set up yet replaced into born in Arica, he will on no account be african and American african. In respected checklist in immigration branch, if the guy replaced into born in Africa and that individual is permanetly residing in American, he's an American African In purpose ethical way, if the african individual stay in united states of america of america and decide to stay with none impacts from American custom, that individual is morally remarkable to call him-self african in basic terms.