|
black.... african american........ WHAT???
alright... so why do we call black people(which is what i call them) "african american". now i understand the whole. i was born in africa. i now have a citizenship. they would be an african...american.... so why is it even if their parents and grand parents and great grandparents were alll born here.. we still call them african americans??.... i mean.. to me it slightly offends me (although it probbaly shouldnt being im white).. it just seems like we have a seperate name for them.. like their not fully american. can someone jsut help me out with this... it just seems like we seperate them out when i dotn see people saying "oh shes an irish american" or anything like that.. so.. anything that would help thank you
[ ]
Want to answer more questions in the Miscellaneous category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Etiquette?
Im not sure where you live, but where I live the population is very diverse. There is a wide range of different ethnicity's. Along with African Americans, we have Mexican-Americans, Amerasians, Muslims, Jewish-Americans, and of course Native Americans. To name a few I can think of right off the top of my head. Overall white people of european descent are called caucasion. It's just a way of classifying people into their racial grouping on paper and in conversation. I can see where it could be considered offensive but I think all the terms were created to classify ethnicity without offending by not using terms of physical description. Example: calling an African American black, or calling an Asian Yellow, or an Indian a Red man. Afterall, not all African Americans are black are they? Like every race, they have a variety of shades. Therefore black doesn't really cover it. However, they all at some point in history, had ancestors that originated from the African continent. Like the Amerasians, and the Mexican-Americans, etc.
]
Good question! I think Russianspy1234 is right... it's just an attempt to find a politically correct term. But I like your point about someone's great-grandparents being born here. Because what's interesting is...
Most Black Americans have ancestors who were living here long before most White Americans' ancestors did. That's because the U.S. banned the importation of slaves from Africa in 1808; and even though slavery continued until 1865, those later slaves' ancestors were already here before 1808. On the other hand, most white Americans today can trace their ancestry to the vast number of European immigrants who arrived here between 1870-1920, or even later.
So yeah... unless a Black person's family arrived here from Africa (or elsewhere) recently, chances are their family has been here a lot longer than most White peoples'. Interesting!
]
i once read a funny article to that effect
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
i think people came up with it when searching for something politically correct, and it just stuck.
]
More Questions: |