In the news, they always use "african-american", asian-american", hispanic-american" but I never hear them say "caucasian-american".
If they are pertaining to white people, they would just say american/s.
2007-03-19 13:23:50 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
Good question and observation....Its because they really believe the ______-americans aren't really americans I suppose.
2007-03-19 13:28:07 · answer #1 · answered by margherita 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
A lot of the other answerers have made good points but let me highlight one particular detail:
Not a whole lot of White people really relate to that word, "Caucasian", and those who do are aware that there actually is a group of people called Caucasians, few of whom live in the US. The actual Caucasians are (depending on how the word is being used) either the group of people who speak languages of the Caucasian language family, or any of the ethnic groups who historically lived in the Caucasus Mountains. The Caucasus is a very distinct culture region which has historically formed a boundary (and battleground) between Europe and the Middle-East.
The most well-known speakers of a Caucasian language are the Chechens, a small ethnic group famous for the ferocity of their endless resistance to the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. Their war against Russia started the day the Russians came to the Caucasus and is still going on now.
The most numerous Caucasians in the US are the Armenians whose traditional homeland is on the southern side of the Caucasus Mountains. There are maybe a million people of Armenian descent in the US. They are an intelligent and industrious tribe who have generally done well here.
Anyhow, I'm not trying to be a word-nazi here, but really this word "Caucasian" belongs to these people, and not to anyone else. Personally I prefer people like me to be called "European-American" on formal occasions. Informally, "White" is fine as long as it's said or written with the same respect any other group would be given.
Nimadan
2007-03-19 22:41:08 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you live here (USA) legally we should all, regardless of race, be called Americans, unless you're a Native American. But, minorities like to distinguish themselves as Mexican-American, African-American...ext and I feel as long as they separate themselves from the "majority" they will continue to be separated. If certain groups want to be accepted equally then they shouldn't put themselves in a different category. How about a term like American of African decent? But, then again- I don't here American of Irish decent or Irish-American. If you live here your an American and that's it! I'm proud we're a melting pot of different heritages, it's a big part of the reason we are the greatest country on earth!
2007-03-19 20:59:32 · answer #3 · answered by Micah 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Does it matter whether we are caucasian american
or white?An american is a citizen of the United States.People should not be put in a catogory or by color but to be honest citizens.
2007-03-19 20:31:12 · answer #4 · answered by sharen d 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think the term American should be used for everyone who was born of this soil or have their citizenship here...not just white-Americans.
2007-03-19 20:30:42 · answer #5 · answered by PreciousRuby 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
everyone looks different, and everyone has their own ethnic heritage. i think it's easier to just lump groups together for the purpose of identifying people (if thats what you want to do), instead of saying "oh he's a german american" or "he's turkish" or whatever. what do we use in america? white, black, latinos (hispanic, mexicans, which isnt always right), asians, middle-easterns, native americans, islander, indian... thats about it. not german, french, english, spanish, korean, japanese, taiwanese, bhutanese, bangladeshi, bermudan, haitian, thai, somalian, venezuelan, uzbek, canadian, egyptian, australian, south african, israeli, pakistani, brazilian, pacific islander, hindi, russian, etc. if they're talking about somebody's race on tv, they'll just say white, and its just a word and thats fine and you know its better to say black now, its more inclusive and most people don't say the hyphenated part anymore.
2007-03-19 21:00:42 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
American should be reserved for Native people of the land.
Cavemen-American should be for White people living in USA.
2007-03-19 20:27:30 · answer #7 · answered by Azn Life 1 · 2⤊ 3⤋
Surely in accordance with the other characterizations, it should be "European Americans". Unless someone can point me towards "Caucasia".
2007-03-19 20:42:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think its time we all became just Americans.
2007-03-19 20:27:25 · answer #9 · answered by djm749 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I agree with the first answerer. Whites are the majority, therefore they do not feel the need to distinguish race in one another.
2007-03-19 20:29:30 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 4⤋