Why do white people call Black Americans African Americans?

I don't know anyone of Italian or Irish or Chinese descent who call themselves Italian/Irish/Chinese Americans unless they are first or maybe second generation.

My family came from Scotland in the 1870s, which means any African lineage tracing back to slavery placed their roots in America earlier than my family, and I don't refer to myself as a Scottish American.

I also don't know any black people who refer to themselves as African Americans. I think the term is pretty much outdated now.

 

I know part of that line of change occured in your lifetime.
Just not all of it.

No, I do not remember.
The year I was born: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Relations_Act_1976

The Race Relations Act 1976 was established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race.
Items that are covered include discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin in the fields of employment, the provision of goods and services, education and public functions.
The Act also established the Commission for Racial Equality with a view to review the legislation, which was put in place to make sure the Act rules were followed.
The Act incorporates the earlier Race Relations Act 1965 and Race Relations Act 1968 and was later amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, notably including a statutory duty on public bodies to promote race equality, and to demonstrate that procedures to prevent race discrimination are effective.
The Act was repealed by the Equality Act 2010, which supersedes and consolidates previous discrimination law in the UK.

Are you referring to the possibility African criminals were traded by African tribal chiefs? I do not think that is quite true:

The shameful history of some traditional leaders remains an awkward subject on which many politicians prefer to maintain silence. One exception was in 1998 when Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda, told an audience including Bill Clinton: "African chiefs were the ones waging war on each other and capturing their own people and selling them. If anyone should apologise it should be the African chiefs. We still have those traitors here even today."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/18/africans-apologise-slave-trade

Who are called? What do you call 'them'? Is this all of 'them'?
Is this all black people? Does this include your black friends?

Me too.

 

NO :frown:

...because I can't watch the video I'll check it later

I did read this today:

By using the term "African-American" to refer to black people and using it as a synonym for black people, writers, columnists, readers, TV hosts and commentators perpetuate and embrace Jim Crow racial stereotypes, segregation and historical distortions. African-American is a late 1960s Madison Avenue term created to give a glitzy advertising name for marketing to the emerging and newly appreciated economic power of black people. But there were no black people on Madison Avenue in the late '60s giving input -- only sweeping floors. So the term has no historical accuracy, social relevance or meaning.

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/02/the_term_african-american_is_a.html

It is only an opinion, though...

 

I'm really surprised the term Caucasian hasn't came up more in this thread

 

I hope you all will respect my wishes and refer to me as an earthling. Thank you.

 

Odon

Are you a broken record? That's the only thing you know or result to, Is who, Them, etc.

'Who', Gives a fuck! The ones saying it, 'Them', Who don't give a shit either.

When in doubt you revert to stupid fucking worthless questions. That don't matter and if you are not capable of figuring it out, Well, That's a 'you' problem.
I have no time for the links and bullshit, It don't effect me. You have to remember, There are differences city to city, State to state and we are a huge country.

 

In this case there's a difference from country to country man.

 

Exactly, political correctness had nothing whatsoever to do with the term African American; as early as the 1950s and 60s black leaders such as Malcolm X defined the term based on how previous immigrants viewed themselves such as Italian Americans, Irish Americans, German Americans, etc..



Hotwater

 

Well I'm just going by my memories of growing up as these changes took place. My wife spent half her childhood growing up in Wilkinsburg (I'm sure orison knows the area ) and was one of four white kids in the entire school. She also remembers that by the late '60's early '70's many blacks were referring to themselves as "African American" by choice and did so with a sense of pride.
Today it has been perverted into yet another racial term often considered to have derogatory undertones by the very group it describes.

So my opinion/views are shaped by my experiences, not what has been written.
I may not be 100% technically "correct" but what I have said is pretty accurate as the "man on the street" perspective.

It does well to keep in mind there are two histories, the one you read about and the one people lived, they often aren't the same thing.

 

I believe the politically correct term is "blackmericans"

 

A few years ago, I knew a white girl from South Africa who immigrated to the U.S. and became a citizen. Technically, that makes her more of an "African American" than a black person who was born in the U.S..

 

funny how in the "what's your heritage" thread, everyone is quick to lay claim to ancestry, cultural and ethnic, with great pride, yet Blacks are not allowed that same pride in ancestral and cultural identity unless they were actually born in Africa????

 

Maybe not personally, but they would be considered part of the cultural sub-group that their ancestroy would dictate, it's not really a matter of choice. As I said previously, these "labels" came about in the early 20th century when immigration was at it's highest and entire communities grew around specific cultural identities and were adopted with pride.
One other big reason those terms were adopted was that they also wanted it to be very clear that they were now Americans.


The reason that the term "African American" is met with a different attitude is because Africans didn't "immigrate" here and the black population in America was already well established by the time of the major immigration push, therefore they are not viewed as "immigrants" and I think that is the reason a lot of people here take issue with it as TNS illustrated above.

But I will have to agree with Malcolm X on this one, blacks are immigrants, not by choice, but immigrants just the same.

 

The chinaman is not the issue here dude.

 

I'm sorry, it's a Big Lebowski quote. Perhaps a bit too random here

 

I never said anyone shouldn't be allowed to have pride in their ancestry. I, personally, couldn't care less about the ethnicity or nationality of my ancestors, because it has nothing to do with who I am, as an individual. I take pride in my hometown/state, because that actually played a part in my becoming the person I am, whether that be a good thing or a bad thing. I disagree with the politics of my state, but I'm still proud as fuck to be from Georgia, because this is the only home I've ever known. I don't care that I'm part Cherokee and that I have French ancestors or whatever, because I'm ME. Nothing more and nothing less.

One thing I hate is when I hear someone talking and they say something along the lines of "there was this black(or any other race/ethnicity) dude at the party last night talking about [random subject]". Why does race even have to come into the equation? Why can't it just be "there was this dude at the party........"?

 

Sorry, didn't intend to single you out as others have expressed the same idea in the thread and I just quoted you as the most recent such post.

:2thumbsup:

 

I've never understood the popularity of the term African-American, because most black Americans are not very African. Most don't even speak the language of their ancestors' home country. They are much more American than African, in most cases.

Most of my ancestors came from England and Germany, but I've never considered calling myself British-American or German-American. I don't know anybody in either country, I don't speak German, and I don't know a lot about the local culture (especially Germany). I don't know what local holidays they celebrate or what musicians are popular there, or the names of any politicians except the top leaders. I would feel like a foreigner in either country.

The last time I was in an area where English was not the primary language, I felt a great since of relief when I walked into a Burger King staffed entirely with black Americans. I thought, "Finally, I have some Americans to deal with!" Bottom line is, your main identity is all about where and how you live your daily life.

 

i've never understood the popularity of even semi-popularity of the term "white people". for the simple reason there is no such thing and i seriously doubt anything living on this earth will ever evolve into any such thing. and caucasian is just as rediculous for reasons i've already explained.

african american makes perfectly good sense for someone of african ancestry living in america. just as euro american does for someone of mostly european ancestry, a so called 'white' person, living in america, or asian american for someone of asian ancestry.

the only people in the wastern hemisphere who don't need to be hyphinated, are those whose ancestry has been here thousands of years, long before columbus or even lief ericson.