Since "white" people are not white, what's wrong with the term "black"? Isn't "African American" exclusionary?

Answer 1

I do not think that there is anything wrong with the term"black". However, many people become offened of the fact that when someone is of Asian descent, they are not called a color, such as red or yellow, they are called "Asian" or "Indian" so I pose a question to you. Why is there an issue when a Black person wants to be considered "African American". I am not ignorant of the fact that Africa is a continent. So the term "African American" is questionable to some. I am proud to be called "Black" because I know that I am a beautiful intelligent and resourceful person (Human Being) regardless of my race/color. If you choose my answer as best, please tell me what made you ask this question, because I don't think that you are racist. You have a valid question.

Answer 2

Putting labels on people seemed to have confused many. People don't know the history behind the labels so they assume all sorts of things about them. For instance, African American was coined after centuries of derogatory terms were used for blacks, as the government did not consider them American. African American is just a term for those blacks whose slave ancestors were brought from Africa to the USA. Today, if someone from Nigeria came over and became a US citizen, that person would be Nigerian American. He knows which country in Africa he came from whereas the person with slave ancestry do not.

"Black" and "white" are really not very good terms to describe people, as they do not really say much about ones origins. Many of the current labels in use are general terms and not something specific to describe a group of people. Normally people would have labeled themselves more specifically based on the area, tribe, or family in which they came.

Answer 3

Yes. It's also grossly incorrect. I have a friend who is African, that is born in Africa. She is also white. She was born in South Africa, and gets quite offended by the label, "African-American" being applied to only blacks. Also, if you look at a map, Egypt, Libia, and Algeria are also part of Africa. Egypt and Libia are now lumped in with " The Middle East", but you could correctly call a person living in the U.S. who was born in either of those countries African-American. Political correctness (sigh) what a waste.........

Answer 4

I have 3 friends from Africa, all of whom now live in the USA. One guy is from Egypt; he's not black, but rather olive-skinned. One guy is from South Africa, and he's not black, either - he's white. The gal is from Rwanda, and she is totally black. And way cute, too by the way.

I personally don't care for the term "African American" as a PC synonym for 'black.' Simply because many people from Africa are not black.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

There is nothing wrong with the term "black."

Where have you been??


I don't like the term "Caucasian." I prefer being called white, but I'm not going to cry over it, it's just a preferance.

Answer 7

As a native american- I think some of you should go back to Northern Europe, and some of you should go back to Africa, and some of you should go back to Asia- both Minior and Major.

As far as miniority names? Dude, they're gonna call themselfs whatever will give them the most political clout and money- so get real ok?

Answer 8

Nothing wrong with "black." African-American is stupid. I saw a British black bloke on American news once and they were so up their own PC behinds that they had to call him "African-American."

Well he had nothing to do with America, he was English. So how stupid is that?

Answer 9

In terms of identifying people of African descent, I believe the term "black" is still acceptable in society, but of course it would be politically correct to refer to anyone of African descent as African Americans, although this also creates controversy because many blacks do not consider themselves "African." Their ancestors have settled in the United States for generations, since the day of slavery. Do you regard whites as European Americans or simply "white"? If you classify someone based on their race, you don't call them European Americans, Irish Americans, Anglo-Americans, Russian Americans; but rather "white". Thus, I believe it is acceptable to refer to anyone of African descent as "blacks" so long as they are not referred to as the "N" word or "negroe."

In terms of the word "white", I think this word is also acceptable. I have heard other people use the word "Anglo-Saxons" or "Anglos" which I totally disagree with because the the word "Anglo" derives from the Angles and the Saxons who were, I believe, Germanic tribes that migrated from mainland Europe and later named their country Angleland which its name evolved to England. Why do I oppose such a word? Lets shift gears for a second to the continent Asia. There are various ethnicities settling in the continent: Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Laotians, Filipinos, Malaysians, Indonesians, Taiwanese, Thais, Vietnamese, Mongolians, Tibetians, and Burmese. To label any of these ethinicities as "Chinese" simply because people mostly see Chinese or because one's eyes are slanted, would be extremely ignorant. It is that mentality that "Japanese and Chinese; what difference does it make; they're all the same." Returning to the "Anglo" word; it is wrong because there are many ethnicities throughout Europe that are "white": Germans, Irish, Scots, French, Italians, Spaniards, Porteguese, Poles, Russian, Dutch, Albanians, Greek, Hungarians, Austrians, Czechs, Slovakians, etc. These people are not from England, so why label all whites "Anglo"? You might see someone with blond hair and blue eyes, but are their ancestors from England or from Poland, Russia, France, Germany, or Austria?

One more thing to consider. One should not confuse ethnic groups with race. Race refers to biological traits that one is born with. Ethnic groups refer to cultural elements such as culture, language, beliefs, etc which create these commonlities and form as one. During the nation-state building period in the mid-late 19th century, kingdoms throughout Europe conquered smaller kingdoms and the dominant governments forced their subjects to assimilate into their customs and language. King Zheng, the Qin emperor, who unified China, ending the Warring States Period, standardized the Qin dialect; thus forcing the conquered subjects to learn this language. The Manchus, who resided in Manchuria, although are a minority ethnic group in northeast China, they are regarded as Chinese under the Peoples Republic of China.

Answer 10

i think as an american you have the right to call them what you want. that is just my opinion. yes its true that white people arent neccesarilly white and that black people arent necesarilly black. personnaly i would call your ethnic backround caucasian american and i would call black people african americans. but then again, its your choice.