Every Egyptian that I have met...((please read))?

Question

...does not consider theirself African-American or black. Isn't Egypt in AFRICA??? Is there an Egyptian here that considers theirself to be African-American, because the last thing I want to do is generalize people?

It's just that I was voting on unresolved questions and one answer said "My niece is part black, her father is black and her mother is egyptian." Doesn't that mean that she is completely black?

Also I knew these two sisters who went to my school and whenever I mentioned anything regarding black people, they got mad at me and they refused to join the African-American Awareness Club.

I know that three people isn't a lot, but is this the general concensus amongst Egyptians?

I know families who are specifically from other countries in Africa and they don't have a problem with being called black or African-American.

I know that African-American and black are not the same thing to some people, but you would at least think that they wouldn't mind being called African-American since Egypt is in Africa.

And I consider people with white skin who were born in Africa to be African...I don't know if that's correct or not either.

Answer 1

I think you know the answer to this one, hun. Because of our history, people don't want to be viewed as Black. It connotes slavery, oppression, subservience and a million other negative images, right or wrong.

Yes, Egyptians have a lot of Arab blood, as do many people in Africa, particularly in the Northern countries. But it is OBVIOUS there's also a good amount of black blood.

The great divide people try to emphasize between "North Africa" and "Subsaharan Africa" is not nearly as great as some people like to think. Especially around the areas where countries in "North Africa" and "Subsaharan Africa" border, the people will miscegenate. So even if North Africa were almost all Arab, the people along these borders, if NOTHING else, are mixed people.

It's true of India and China, Russia and China, Mexico and the U.S., and, yes, the Middle East and Africa. For example, look at the people who come from the Sino Russian border, compared to the Russians, they look Chinese. Compared to the Han Chinese (the largest Chinese ethnic group), they look mixed with white.

Why? Because they are. They are mixed. One additional issue here is that any time a person is mixed with anything other than white, they are generally deemed a part of that "other" race (See the wikipedia link for a description of that one). Funny how that didn't seem to work in Egyptians' case.

Another example is Australian Aborigines. Considered White, too. Try googling "Australian Aborigines" and you'll see they are soooo not white. Anyone with half a brain can see this.

Answer 2

Racially speaking, Arabs are considered Caucasian. So are people from India, Pakistan, and Iran(formerly Persia), as well as the Kurds, Turks, and Armenians. (Egyptians are considered Arabs and they speak Arabic).This racial distinction is based on skeletal characteristics especially the skull, as well as genetics, culture, and language. It actually has little if anything to do with skin color or with the exact location of one's birth. The so called ***** race is from "Sub-Saharan Africa" which is south of the Sahara Desert.("*****" is simply the Latin adjective form for "black" in English). Almost all Caucasian languages including English are derived from a very, very ancient language called "proto-Indo-European" of which the Ancient Indian language Sanskrit is the closest. This implies that all of these languages and therefore all of these peoples share a single common ancestral tribe, if you will.
While Egypt is part of Africa, it is not part of Sub-Saharan Africa. However, some racist European types have coined the term "sand n***er" to refer to Arabs and related types. In the African country of Sudan, in a province called Darfur, the northern ethnic Arabs are wiping out the southern ethnic blacks on a racial basis, prompting the UN to label this action "genocide" which is probably accurate.
Like Rodney King once said, "Why can't we all just get along?"

Answer 3

Most Egyptians are Arabs from Arabia it been that why since the 7 century. That why Egypt is known as the "Arab Republic of Egypt". So they may define their Heritage as Middle Eastern because they are in many ways similar to the Arabian culture.

African is use to describe people native to that continent.

Answer 4

You are right in saying that Egyptians are Africans, but not black in race/skin. Not all natives of the African continent are black. Just as it is in Asia where not all the people who live there are yellow (Japanese’s, Chinese, Korean, etc.) there are people of brown color from the Philippines and Indonesia.

Most Northern Africans are dark or Olive in skin (not black), from Egypt to Libya. Their color is more closely knitted to their fellow Arab/middle eastern brothers. I would not be surprise why your school mate was offended, it’s because they’re just not black.

Hope it helps.

Answer 5

Egyptians consider themselves white. I work in social research and even there the Egyptians are demographically included as white. Accept it.

What about Afrikaners who are blonde blue-eyed children of europeans who were born in South Africa? Would you consider them black because they are African?

Answer 6

... Uh. "African-American" is, in America, "black," but there are Africans who ARE NOT BLACK. South Africans, generally, are white. Egyptians (usually) are ethnically Arabic.

Edit: Really? Sorry about that, Oobily. Every Egyptian I met has been Arab.

Answer 7

African-american is a misnomer used to describe black Americans whether they migrated from Africa or not.

Egyptians, being from Egypt and not Americans at all, would never use the term because it does not apply to them.

Answer 8

I have had several Egyptian friends and neighbors and they all happened to be very middle eastern looking, olive skin, Arabic speaking and mostly Muslims.