Loving/hating a black President

Misterveritis said:

If it is true that humanity came out of Africa then does the term African-American apply to every American?

Why would anyone want to be a hyphenated American?

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My thinking is the description of "black American" has a defferent meaning to some than it does to others. People who seem to take exception to it I think see it as an unpatrioic act of subdividing their nationality where those who have no problem with it simply see it as a way to describe ethnicity as in "Native American" or someone refering to their race as "Chinese" even though they are a patriotic American who was born here as they weren't talking about nationality but ethnicity. Of course, it leads to inaccurate understandings to define terms by anything other than what the speaker intended; not who what he hearer perceived them to mean.

DVSentinel said:

So all Blacks have African ancestry? Really, What about Australian Aborigines. Natives of Guadalcanal and many other south pacific islands, natives of the Amazon Jungle? Also, do you have any proof that all blacks in America have white ancestors?

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I was going to say "most" blacks in America have white ancestry but I saw a documentary series on PBS recently that did DNA profiles on a long list of black Americans. Every single one had racially mixed ancestry. It's simply a factor of the slavery history of America. You just don't find blacks in this country who are 100% African heritage.

According to noted educator Henry Louis Gates, there are no Black Americans with 100 percent African ancestry.

“We have never tested an African-American who is 100 percent African,” Gates said, speaking at Grambling State University. “The average African-American is 77 percent Black or African, 17 percent European and less than 5 percent Native American."

It?s Rare to Find a Black American With 100 Percent African Ancestry | News | BET

As far as darker people with ancestry from places other than Africa, I've never heard any of those people refer to themselves as black Americans or black. I'd be completely okay with them doing so, I just wasn't aware of it happening. The terms I've heard have been Aboriginal, South Asian, brown, etc. but again if they want to be called black, I'm perfectly fine with it. In fact, try this one out: if you personally know or meet any people who are dark but with ancestry from Asia or Australia pose the same question to them and tell us what they say. I'd be curious.

Smeagol said:

My thinking is the description of "black American" has a defferent meaning to some than it does to others. People who seem to take exception to it I think see it as an unpatrioic act of subdividing their nationality where those who have no problem with it simply see it as a way to describe ethnicity as in "Native American" or someone refering to their race as "Chinese" even though they are a patriotic American who was born here as they weren't talking about nationality but ethnicity. Of course, it leads to inaccurate understandings to define terms by anything other than what the speaker intended; not who what he hearer perceived them to mean.

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I'll admit that is a part of my disagreement with the term "African-American". I think it just furthers the divide.

Plus, it's not always accurate. Not all blacks are African, and not all Africans are black. In fact, It's becoming such a common mindless term of usage that I see more and more people use it incorrectly without giving it a second thought. For example, I recently witnessed a thread on Facebook where people were debating the numbers of African-Americans in prison in the US vs the number of African-Americans in prison in South Africa. (I'd bet there are very few in South African prisons as most of them are not Americans at all.)

Then, you get into the issue if white Africans. Is a 5th generation white man from Zimbabwe an African, or is he a "European-African"? How long does a family have to reside in a location to be legitimately considered from said location?

radcen said:

I'll admit that is a part of my disagreement with the term "African-American". I think it just furthers the divide.

Plus, it's not always accurate. Not all blacks are African, and not all Africans are black. In fact, It's becoming such a common mindless term of usage that I see more and more people use it incorrectly without giving it a second thought. For example, I recently witnessed a thread on Facebook where people were debating the numbers of African-Americans in prison in the US vs the number of African-Americans in prison in South Africa. (I'd bet there are very few in South African prisons as most of them are not Americans at all.)

Then, you get into the issue if white Africans. Is a 5th generation white man from Zimbabwe an African, or is he a "European-African"? How long does a family have to reside in a location to be legitimately considered from said location?

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I heard Jay Leno's wife call bllack people in Africa I think "African Americans." Laughable.

But again, the people using terms like African American are in no way referring to nationality. They're talking about race. It woud be similar to a person who was born in the Uganda, was 5th generation Ugandan but traces a significant percentage of their ethnicity to the Cherokee tribe of North America. If discussions of race come up, they aren't described as black but Native American despite being a patriotic Ugandan.