Now, I am going to treat your inquiry as if it were a sincere inquiry, and not a smart alec remark, although I've got to believe that anyone old enough to reside in The Villages knows the answer.

Quite simply, "African-American" is a politically created description that emerged in the 1980s when certain Race Hustlers voiced their objection to the racial designation of "Black." It has no anthropological connotation.

At the time of the change the term Black had evolved from the generally used term in the United States of "Negro," which had been in use since the early 1900's until the 1960s. It was in fact a popular self-description in the context of Black Pride and Black Power. The term used prior to that was "Colored."

When I was young in a segregated America, both terms Colored and Negro were used, and there were separate facilities of all kinds, such as water fountains, restrooms, dining rooms, waiting rooms at train and bus stations, and seating areas on buses and trains, which were designated for either "White" or "Colored."

The "Black Race" was understood to be people whose racial origins were sub-Saharan Africa. By the time that the new appellation of African-American came along there were so many millions of police records using Black as a racial descriptor in computer records that it was impractical to make another change.

Thus Black is still the established racial descriptor in police use. As a career law enforcement officer, my use of Black as a racial descriptor continues.

So, the short answer is the reference was made to people whose genetic roots are in dark skinned racial groups of sub-Saharan Africa.

Carl in Tampa

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