Whose black and whose African American?

Question

When I told my grandmother I wasn't an African American at the dinner table I was nearly slapped she got so mad. But what I consider myself is a Black American. My ancestors may have been from Africa, but I am not, nor has anyone in my family for many many generations. I have some friends who are "straight out of Africa" and they get offended when a Black American calls themselves an African American because they aren't. Then you have to consider all the scholarships and other things out there for "African Americans", do they mean all people with brown skin or all African Americans because there are a lot of white Africans who have come to this country to live. Isn't Charlize Theron an African American? Wouldn't a white African American be just as qualified for these things as black African Americans? I think we need to change the term from African American to Black American, or better yet, just American!

Answer 1

African American is a term that specifiably speak to culture, not nationality.

Answer 2

I couldn't agree more. What gets on my nerves about being identified by others as an African-American is the fact that no other race has to go by where they came from. White people aren't called European Americans..they're just called Americans. I guess I feel singled out sometimes because I feel like an American...period. I've never been to Africa and though I'm proud of my ancestry, America is where I was born and American is what I am. Also, technically speaking, a white person born in Africa that immigrates to America is a real African American. If you think about it color should be taken out of the equation completely. An African American is a person that was born in Africa and becomes a citizen of America, no matter what race they are. I, however, identify with being a black American.

Answer 3

thanks for clearing that up. I have several younger black American friends who tell it like u do, they are not from Africa, so they do not say they are from there when referring to their race. . Since they were BORN in America, that makes them AMERICANS. If they were born in AFRICA, then that would make them Africans. Now, the white Africans, then, I would say , they are still Africans if they came from Africa. I agree with your last three statments. Well said, young lady! Ps, you shouldn't have been almost slapped. I would say that your gramma was out of line to do so. ( if I offended you, I am sorry. I was just stating an opinion.) But in her day/ and time, it was appropriate for black people to recognize themselves as African-Americans, because it set them apart as not just black, but it tied them to their roots to Africa. I have also hear it said that black older people get offended when NOT referred to as , African-American. Hope this helps. BTW< I refer to myself as Irish/Cherokee, because that is what I am. My mom was Irish/American, and my father was Cherokee.

Answer 4

I agree with you. You are an American who has ancestors who were African, Like I am American with Scottish ancestors, but in america I am white.

Answer 5

I don't want to be called late for supper and I've NEVER been a GERMAN American because my grandfather and father and uncles all had to fight the freekin' Germans.

Germany couldn't provide my ancestors with opportunity, so we had NO loyalty to the "fatherland".

I know the old tired argument that blacks were "torn" from their homeland, but your ancestors were the tribes that got their AZZes kicked by stronger tribes and sold to the Dutch. So why the loyalty to Africa?

Just look at what a wonderful continent Africa is and who would want to "proudly" state you were from there? You weren't anymore than I'm from Germany. The home of Hitler and too many Nazis.

Answer 6

American is a much better term. "African American" is a racist term coined by people who wanted to label and categorise people on the basis of skin colour but didn't want to use "****er", "coloured" or "black" because these were already racist terms.

Most people descended from slaves in the USA have European ancestry as well as African. I understand that Colin Powell has more Irish ancestry than African yet I never hear him referred to as an "Irish American". By all means celebrate your African ancestors but celebrate your European ancestry as well. They weren't all vicious slave owners. If it is necessary to refer to your skin colour, then "black" is as good as "white" or "brown" or "red" or "yellow" or "green" - it's just a colour.

Answer 7

Charlize Theron is not American. She is African, and if she was filing out a form she could put down, African as her race.

Answer 8

You've got a point there....white folks say they're white...so why not say black.....they're descriptive labels....and I know you're not truly "black" skinned any more than I'm "white" skinned....

You can be proud of your heritage...I am, I'm Irish and proud of it....but I don't run around saying I'm Irish American...

and for those of you who say....but white people just don't know or understand....do a little research on how well the Irish were treated when most of us came over...

Answer 9

I'm Black period. If I got to another country, they aren't going to say "Hey there goes that African-American"

Answer 10

I am neither I am a human being, I have to many mixtures of races in my blood to be called African, my skin is not Black so I am not black. So it does not matter what I am called