How is it that the term 鈥楢frican American鈥?was established as politically correct in America?
What is wrong with the word 鈥榖lack鈥?
It seems alike with the word 鈥榳hite鈥?
They are both faceless words that do not honor culture.
They are both simple descriptive terms that serve a logistical purpose.
They are both short and convenient.
So is the explanation that blacks were so embarrassed with their identity that they were looking for a new one.
Something like changing your surname so that people can鈥檛 trace your past?
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I don鈥檛 see any other good reason for establishing the use of the term 鈥楢frican American鈥? Certainly, blacks can鈥檛 expect that the rest of the world should feel an obligation to respect black people鈥檚 recent ancestral culture. Why should any race be granted such an honor?
Whites don鈥檛 ask be distinguished in this manner by being called European Americans; Hispanics don鈥檛 ask to be referred to as South American Americans; Arabs don鈥檛 ask to be called Arab Americans.
So why would anybody be expected to go this extra mile for blacks? I don鈥檛 feel such obligation.
Why is the term 鈥楢frican American鈥?politically correct in America?
Black = A color
African American = a heritage for slave decendents
All people who are black in the U.S. are not,read ----not---African American
Barack Obama is not African American
Why is the term 鈥楢frican American鈥?politically correct in America?
The term African American carries important political overtones. Earlier terms used to identify Americans of African ancestry were conferred upon the group by colonists and Americans of European ancestry. The terms were included in the wording of various laws and legal decisions which some thought were being used as tools of white supremacy and oppression.[121] There developed among blacks in America a growing desire for a term of self-identification of their own choosing.
With the political consciousness that emerged from the political and social ferment of the late 1960s and early 1970s, blacks no longer approved of the term *****. They believed it had suggestions of a moderate, accommodationist, even %26quot;Uncle Tom%26quot; connotation. In this period, a growing number of blacks in the United States, particularly African-American youth, celebrated their blackness and their historical and cultural ties with the African continent. The Black Power movement defiantly embraced Black as a group identifier. It was a term social leaders themselves had repudiated only two decades earlier, but they proclaimed, %26quot;Black is beautiful%26quot;.
In this same period, a smaller number of people favored Afro-American. In the 1980s the term African-American was advanced on the model of, for example, German-American or Irish-American to give descendents of American slaves and other American blacks who lived through the slavery-era a heritage and a cultural base. [121] The term was popularized in black communities around the country via word of mouth and ultimately received mainstream use after Jesse Jackson publicly used the term in front of a national audience, subsequently major media outlets adopted its use.[121] Many blacks in America expressed a preference for the term, as it was formed in the same way as names for others of the many ethnic groups in the nation. Some argued further that, because of the historical circumstances surrounding the capture, enslavement and systematic attempts to de-Africanize blacks in the United States under chattel slavery, most African Americans are unable to trace their ancestry to a specific African nation; hence, the entire continent serves as a geographic marker.
For many, African American is more than a name expressive of cultural and historical roots. The term expresses pride in Africa and a sense of kinship and solidarity with others of the African diaspora鈥攁n embrace of pan-Africanism as earlier enunciated by prominent African thinkers such as Marcus Garvey, W. E. B. Du Bois and George Padmore.
300 years of slavery %26amp; oppression, go the extra mile.
Blacks feel like we owe them or something after elevating them to a slightly above the %26quot;scum%26quot; level we previously held them at.
Cause white people are fat.
It's the stupidest term ever. What about aboriginal people from Australia? Are they African American? There's many places other than Africa that %26quot;African Americans%26quot; come from.
%26lt;------------because we all evolved from this
I never really understood it. I don't find %26quot;black%26quot; offensive, and I've never referred to myself as African-American. I'd like to visit Africa someday, and I'm interested in learning about it, but I've never been there, so I don't identify with it at all.
Some people are just really sensitive.
It's a valid question, but your delivery was really whiny, BTW.
Whites can be called Caucasian.
Hispanics can be called Mexicans.
What's wrong with black people being called African American?
That's been a topic of debate for a long time. There obviously certain %26quot;N words%26quot; that are offensive, so african american became a replacement word. in the last ten or so years, people have realized that it's offensive, so in current times, %26quot;black%26quot; is the politically correct term.
If you live in American then you are simply an AMERICAN. Many cultures try to separate themselves by adding their ethnicity into a title. Why should it matter to you what others want to be called? Let them be whomever they want to be and you be whomever you want to be - avoid all the rest and find comfort in ignorance.
I'm american and I think its probably because the arabs, Hispanics (which btw is the politically correct term for mexican) and other cultures weren't the founding fathers.. the first two groups to come to the %26quot;new world%26quot; were white europeans and black slaves... and an entire war was fought for african americans freedom before more asian and south american immigrants began to come...
i guess thats the only explanation I can think of...
We have to go the extra mile and say Caucasian, as well.
A long time ago, some people had a meeting on what would be politically correct terms of what to call blacks and whites (can't remember the name of the meeting or where the meeting took place). Everybody got tired of saying Europeans and Africans, so they used appearance of skin tone for races. Also, when Africans were finally accepted as Americans, people realized that they couldn't be strictly African if they were American. So, they made the term, African American. Of course, this term was made when blacks were actually from Africa. The term just carried on down the generations, even though most blacks are Americans, not African Americans.
I think it's merely a sign of respect. I know at school when people are making jokes about people, they would say black or white but when they're having good discussion about them, they use terms like Caucasian and African. It just sounds more respectful.
For example:
So this white guy goes to this party and sees his black friend. Then they go to Walmart.
So this Caucasian male goes to a party and meets his African American friend and they leave for Walmart.
That's my point of view anyway.
well lets go this way. im in san diego i bet only mexican so called %26quot;americans%26quot;. dont even give a dam about being american.
the people that i have encountered that didnt like the word black also used the term caucasion instead of white. im not embarrassed about anything!! lol i love myself and my culture, and many %26quot;african americans%26quot; changed their surname because it related to their slave past. many of us cant trace our actual history because slave names were changed when they were bought and sold. and obviously all black people arent african american so the term may be used to differentiate. (black jamaicans, black dominicans, black africans, black AFRICAN AMERICANS) you have some resentment issues you need to resolve my friend... but i wish you the best in that regard :)
Let's look at this from a geographical point of view. Caucasians come from Europe, Russia and Parts of the Middle East... %26quot;Whites don鈥檛 ask be distinguished in this manner by being called European Americans%26quot; Caucasian is a way of saying European even thought technically Europeans aren't the only Caucasians.
Saying AFRICAN American and CAUCASIAN both apply to a large area of land.
They added American to the end of African bc black ppl are more American than African.
I don't like the term bc I've never been to Africa, and no one in my family has been for over a century. I don't claim myself as African (When I think of African American I think of an African who just obtained citizenship; Mexican Americans are Mexicans who obtain citizenship.), just like white people here don't claim to be European or Caucasian. I think we shouldn't use these words bc they're outdated. We all know our history and where we came from and we all call ourselves American so there's no use for them.
