[kenoc7]

Originally Posted by Velvet

I was always a little surprised by the term African American because there was no use of European American. But, I think people should be allowed to chose whatever term they like to refer to themselves. My problem is with propaganda, if BLM is using Marxism or Communism as a model, then I have a real problem with that.

They aren't.

[Manhoopty]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

Every single post on this forum I read about our current events and the protestors speak of "blacks" and not once have I read the term "African Americans". Seems to me that PC term has gone by the wayside. Is this because the BLM movement has sort of wiped out the PC terminology?

Also....must say I have not seen that PC term "African American" in news print, on line or stated in news broadcasts. They are referred to as "black"!

Why not ask that famous African- American golfer named Ernie Els? He should surely know.

[Angieflynn]

And that’s how we defeat racism!

[phylt]

Strange... I'd heard that "black" was in a list of offensive terms. Now what??

[Mohawksin]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

Every single post on this forum I read about our current events and the protestors speak of "blacks" and not once have I read the term "African Americans". Seems to me that PC term has gone by the wayside. Is this because the BLM movement has sort of wiped out the PC terminology?

Also....must say I have not seen that PC term "African American" in news print, on line or stated in news broadcasts. They are referred to as "black"!

Forty years or people started using the term African American. A friend was a great dentist and a fine fellow was light tan and a native from Egypt. He was extremely offended by being included in the group.

[Mohawksin]

Forty years or so ago people started using the term African American. A friend was a great dentist and a fine fellow was light tan and a native from Egypt. He was extremely offended by being included in the group.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by njbchbum

Perhaps because in our world of cultural diversity all blacks are not African nor American?

In addition, white people born in Africa and living in the USA would be technically African Americans.

[Joe C.]

I would prefer the term "American of African descent", or "American of European descent". Or, how about "AMERICAN" if you are a citizen.

If you go to Europe or Asia, (even Australia), you will be called an "American". Over there, they don't add your ancestral country to your identification.

I think that it was Teddy Roosevelt who said that there was no place in this country for the hyphenated American. After all, it's the hyphen that divides. Either we are Americans or we're not. Using the hyphenated identification will cause us to become tribal ......a nation full of tribes. And we know how well off countries with tribes are. Total unrest.
United we stand ... divided we fall.

Originally Posted by Kahuna32162

Why do we need terms to distinguish any group of people by ethnicity?

Agree! Why are we not just all Americans? Specifying ethnicity just perpetuates discrimination and bigotry, IMHO.

[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

Every single post on this forum I read about our current events and the protestors speak of "blacks" and not once have I read the term "African Americans". Seems to me that PC term has gone by the wayside. Is this because the BLM movement has sort of wiped out the PC terminology?

Also....must say I have not seen that PC term "African American" in news print, on line or stated in news broadcasts. They are referred to as "black"!

Perhaps you would prefer “coffeebean colored”? (Joking) Actually, I continue to see African-American a lot. It tends to be used in a very specialized way. People aren’t “African-American” unless they have lived the experience and have ancestors who where slaves in the United States. (I have ancestors who were slaves in British Guiana and Surinam, so I have African ancestry, but I’m not African-American [not least because I have blue eyes and straight blond hair]. President Obama is also not African-American. Neither is Kamala Harris, whose father is of mixed ancestry from Jamaica and hose mother is from India. Nor are U.S. citizens whose ancestors came from Caribbean islands. They can’t ever be because their ancestors didn’t suffer HERE.)

“White” is not capitalized in books and newspapers except at the beginning of a sentence, or similar uses. No one is actually white, and no one is actually black (and few of us are from the Caucasus mountains, so why are we “caucasians”?), so to some extent, to say we are one or the other is to claim the EXTREME that doesn’t even exist as a natural skin tone as our state of being, or even as a “race”, which it isn’t, using the technical scientific term. Thus, to claim to be “Black” rather than “black” is to say, “we are different, separate, with our own culture, our own “race,” and we want to be equal without having to assimilate.” Those who want to be seen as “White” do the same thing. It seems to me that either claim is inherently racist and part of the problem. To see a person in a blue uniform or a person with a light tan or pinkish skin and automatically think “Racist oppressor of my people“ is automatically racist, just as those who see a darker brown skin and automatically tar (deliberate word choice—to make black) that human with centuries of prejudiced thoughts and actions are automatically racist. To insist on being equal yet separate while not wanting “separate but equal” laws seems like a problem to me. I’m not sure how to solve it without remaking our hearts. How do we accept our “opposite” as being the same as us, however we categorize ourselves? We should see each other, say, as separate pieces in a big box of chocolates, with a variety of colors and fillings, some more to our taste than others, perhaps, but all belonging and fitting in. We shouldn’t see some of us as chocolates and others as, say, crackers or cookies. We should all fit in the same box.

A Debate Over Identity and Race Asks, Are African-Americans ‘Black’ or ‘black’? - The New York Times

[meridian5850]

How about just American?

YouTube

[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by njbchbum

Perhaps because in our world of cultural diversity all blacks are not African nor American?

We have a winner!

[Rzepecki]

Originally Posted by Slapnut

It should just be American. That's what we should call ourselves.

Or, more specifically, U.S. citizens. Citizens of many countries are “Americans”.

When you come back over the border from Canada to the U.S., they won’t let you in if you answer “American” for citizenship.

[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by blueash

I called my grandfather "Grandpa" and he liked that term. It worked for both of us. But now that I am of that age I want my grandchildren to use a different term for me. My grandchildren may use grandpa with their other grandfather but they have learned that my preferred term differs. It is a sign of respect for my feelings that they use my preferred name. If at one time Black Americans wanted to be called colored because at least it was better than "n..r" then colored it is. If later they went to Negro as it made them more comfortable, then Negro it should be. If later this becomes African American then it behooves any reasonable person to switch to African American. If now it is Black, I don't see the problem.

What term people use within their own group is not automatically a term a non-member of the group is allowed to use. If I were Jewish and I called my friend Hymie boy or Kike that does not give you permission to use the term. Within a group the foul label being hurled by the oppressing non-member at it is often used to attempt to have it loose its power. Yankee Doodle was an major insult when used by the British. Even after its adoption by the Revolutionaries, it was still an insult when used by a British soldier.

Well said.

[donfey]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

Every single post on this forum I read about our current events and the protestors speak of "blacks" and not once have I read the term "African Americans". Seems to me that PC term has gone by the wayside. Is this because the BLM movement has sort of wiped out the PC terminology?

Also....must say I have not seen that PC term "African American" in news print, on line or stated in news broadcasts. They are referred to as "black"!

We should be AMERICANS first. Only then should ones cultural heritage or racial herritage matter in our (formerly successful) melting pot. Here's why, from a speech by...


Former President Theodore Roosevelt in speaking to the largely Irish Catholic Knights of Columbus at Carnegie Hall on Columbus Day 1915, asserted that,[5]

There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all ... The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic ... There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.

From: Hyphenated American - Wikipedia