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Why are we called african american?, Why Are we caled black? were brown

In the late 1980’s it was settled that African American was the best term for “blacks”. I’m a “black” but I don’t get how I’m African American. I’m American, I was born here so were my parents. Ancestors however I’m not sure? Say they were slaves from Africa..I was still born in America. Isn’t that one way how you become an American? Whats really crazy is a “black” person born in the UK is still at times call a African American? What? Their not even from America. The term is just switched up so much.

Thats why I just say I’m American. The term “black” doesn’t fit any human in this world. We should be called if any color brown. We are different shades of brown. “Brown American” has a ring to it? But that’s what we really are. Does the term “white” fit too? Everyone is a “colored” Right?

A white, yellow or “brown” man and their parents are born in Africa so they are African. No way around that. But say that white man comes to America with a white woman also a African and they have children. What are his children then? They should be what we are called right? But no its not like that.

Whites aren’t called European-Americans? On test at school when we have to mark our race (which is so silly…why does that even matter) the only option for whites is “white”, while “browns” have “black/African American”

I just don’t get how other humans can say what people are and it settled. while it doesn’t apply to all.

African-American vs. American-- youtube.





Please leave any feedback.

-Thanks Travarus.

Tags: Are, Why, african, american?, are, black?, brown, caled, called, we, More…were

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by dj ceiba on February 23, 2010 at 9:06am
the part about naming OURSELVES is heavy. when you name something in a lot of ways it becomes yours - like how parents name their descendants. if somebody names you, you become theirs - remember how sad it was when "kunta kinte" gave up & became "toby"? my understanding was that "african american" was the first self-naming of african people in america, no? maybe we've outgrown that name. what about a new name? who's got some suggestions?


A. Matsimela said:
I always just thought that you people would be called "afro-caribbean".

the basis for the term "west indian" also still revolves the eurocentric notion that columbus discovered the usa--for thinking humanity--and that Hindu people call themselves and their land india. trusting white people on everything is great, right? actually "hindu, india" are greek/ persian alien names for the people who call themselves Bharat.
Permalink Reply by Fashionfreak on February 23, 2010 at 7:31pm
LOL whateverrrr. I am proud to be a product of immigrants "CHUHHHHH".

A. Matsimela said:
immigrants! hehe...

Juicyincouture said:
well yea caribbean i use both terms. there are descendants of india in trinidad tho where my dad comes from as i stated a few posts back....they make up 50% of the population there.

A. Matsimela said:
I always just thought that you people would be called "afro-caribbean".

the basis for the term "west indian" also still revolves the eurocentric notion that columbus discovered the usa--for thinking humanity--and that Hindu people call themselves and their land india. trusting white people on everything is great, right? actually "hindu, india" are greek/ persian alien names for the people who call themselves Bharat.

I linguistically trust no map and people who do may as well think of the world as flat.

saying afro-caribbean is more empowering. it addresses the ancestral carib and african roots. saying west indies just kinda sounds like you're still working on the plantation... yeah, white people take such good care of us...

Juicyincouture said:
so? raised as a west indian by west indian parents in a west indian community although i was born here does not make me african american just bc i am black. african americans and west indians are culturally different. on the census they ask if you are a black hispanic or african american what happened to us carribbean folk? i mean if you are gonna separate us by cultural classification atleast put us down too.

Dragon of the Ghetto! said:
yeah! somebody on this thread got some damn sense! ya'll kill me with all this "I resent being called African American" How many times are you ACTUALLY CALLED AFRICAN AMERICAN in a day? probably as many times as you are wanted for crime, taking a standardized test or filling out a census form. Its not like someone is following you around your house calling you African all day. White Americans are called white americans and asian americans are called asian americans just as often.

A. Matsimela said:
categories aren't exclusive. african-american is just a name that does justice to an historically discriminated against heritage. denying it just essentially means you're okay with marginalizing the continent and its significance in humanity and making sure it remains economically irrelevant in the future to be further exploited by neo-colonial powers; to condone genocidal atrocities and sexual and gender discrimination; to condone religious political exploitation.

accentuating oneself by saying i'm 'african-american' is to say that 'i show solidarity to the people of the african continent; their economic exclusion, racial subjugation, marginalization and exploitation are also my struggles' furthermore, saying that 'i'm black' emphasizes the same political notion at a global, non-african level. It goes to say that 'no matter my skin color, i am not inferior, nor are you superior--we are equal'.

but claiming neutrality and individuality in a world that functions politically and with partisanship either makes you a silent accomplice or a person for justice. however, just being a 'token' anything benefits no one.

commercialism is great but it feeds off of the establishment and escapism which is producing cultural and material casualties everyday... and its violence isn't always via guns. often times its by the lack of currency circulation and job development that leads to a subtler violence of apathy, ignorance and starvation.

'i'm/ you're black' is a complex statement. say it responsibly and in the correct context, please. otherwise stay silent.
Permalink Reply by Suburban Soulgirl on February 25, 2010 at 9:04am
I don't call myself "African American"...While I acknowledge that I am of black/African descent, I am American, period. Our ancestors have been here just as long as the Mayflower peeps & have helped build this country so we deserve the right to be unhyphenated Americans...

Now considering the bad reputation that the US has gained in the eyes of the International Community over the years, you might not want that identity as much but still lol...
Permalink Reply by LesYpersound on February 25, 2010 at 11:07am
"African American" is unhyphenated...
Permalink Reply by Suburban Soulgirl on February 25, 2010 at 1:04pm
Silly semantics aside, my point is that I'm American. Period.

LesYpersound said:
"African American" is unhyphenated...
Permalink Reply by AllPeople on February 25, 2010 at 4:19pm
Q.A.BradfordPermalink Reply by Q.A.Bradford on February 26, 2010 at 10:47pm
Thats cool. Being a 5th or 6th gen American, I just keep in mind that since its on my passport I can do whatever the fuck I want as long as I respect the national and state legal process. ignore thanksgiving, speak klingon, worship satan, have butt saix... just dont get caught up by those fob posers and old school xenophobes who think they have to play to the camera. if the US constitution was written in Spanish, it would still be fucking american.
DIY

Fashionfreak said:
LOL whateverrrr. I am proud to be a product of immigrants "CHUHHHHH".
A. Matsimela said:
immigrants! hehe...

Juicyincouture said:
well yea caribbean i use both terms. there are descendants of india in trinidad tho where my dad comes from as i stated a few posts back....they make up 50% of the population there.

A. Matsimela said:
I always just thought that you people would be called "afro-caribbean".

the basis for the term "west indian" also still revolves the eurocentric notion that columbus discovered the usa--for thinking humanity--and that Hindu people call themselves and their land india. trusting white people on everything is great, right? actually "hindu, india" are greek/ persian alien names for the people who call themselves Bharat.

I linguistically trust no map and people who do may as well think of the world as flat.

saying afro-caribbean is more empowering. it addresses the ancestral carib and african roots. saying west indies just kinda sounds like you're still working on the plantation... yeah, white people take such good care of us...

Juicyincouture said:
so? raised as a west indian by west indian parents in a west indian community although i was born here does not make me african american just bc i am black. african americans and west indians are culturally different. on the census they ask if you are a black hispanic or african american what happened to us carribbean folk? i mean if you are gonna separate us by cultural classification atleast put us down too.

Dragon of the Ghetto! said:
yeah! somebody on this thread got some damn sense! ya'll kill me with all this "I resent being called African American" How many times are you ACTUALLY CALLED AFRICAN AMERICAN in a day? probably as many times as you are wanted for crime, taking a standardized test or filling out a census form. Its not like someone is following you around your house calling you African all day. White Americans are called white americans and asian americans are called asian americans just as often.

A. Matsimela said:
categories aren't exclusive. african-american is just a name that does justice to an historically discriminated against heritage. denying it just essentially means you're okay with marginalizing the continent and its significance in humanity and making sure it remains economically irrelevant in the future to be further exploited by neo-colonial powers; to condone genocidal atrocities and sexual and gender discrimination; to condone religious political exploitation.

accentuating oneself by saying i'm 'african-american' is to say that 'i show solidarity to the people of the african continent; their economic exclusion, racial subjugation, marginalization and exploitation are also my struggles' furthermore, saying that 'i'm black' emphasizes the same political notion at a global, non-african level. It goes to say that 'no matter my skin color, i am not inferior, nor are you superior--we are equal'.

but claiming neutrality and individuality in a world that functions politically and with partisanship either makes you a silent accomplice or a person for justice. however, just being a 'token' anything benefits no one.

commercialism is great but it feeds off of the establishment and escapism which is producing cultural and material casualties everyday... and its violence isn't always via guns. often times its by the lack of currency circulation and job development that leads to a subtler violence of apathy, ignorance and starvation.

'i'm/ you're black' is a complex statement. say it responsibly and in the correct context, please. otherwise stay silent.
Permalink Reply by Arianna Garcia on March 10, 2010 at 4:22pm
You brought up some very interesting points in that. Especially with how black people in the UK can be called African- Amercian. I think it's just out of habit. We are all creatures of habit and it's so easy to just say every black person is African- American or of African- American descent. I mean I'm pretty sure we all have some form of African descent in our blood, mostly because of slavery. But it's just so easy to bunch us all into one little category. Same for white people. On a test they can simple bubble in the word white and be done with it. Why not? Their skin is white, most have no clue about they're ancestory other than little things they've been told by their parents such as " Oh you're grandmother was Irish." or " You're great great grandfather came here from Europe.". We all have those moments. Where we only read along the cusp of our ancestory and take it for what it is.

Prime example. Me. I'm of or so I've been told, African, hispanic, and italian ancestory. Have I dug any deeper to really trule find out? Of course not? But it never comes into my head until I'm bubbling in the information section of one of those damn tests. African American but not hispanic? No..... Hispanic? No...... White? Of course not, although I am part italian... Hmmmm. Other? Hell why not. I'm considered an other to most anyways. It's just so confusing and so easy to not part us into subcategories because then a lot of us would be in a class all of our own. I guess we can't do much of anything except accept the fact that no matter what shade of brown we will always be black, or the PC term African- American. But wait what if you weren't born in America?
Permalink Reply by The Mixed Signals on April 13, 2010 at 1:15pm
Hey brother, just read your friendly words & good advice;-) Growing up in East New York/Cypress Hills in the late 70's and 80's and being Costa Rican always made me a minority among minorities, and so i have learned to appreciate and embrace all cultures. Now being an older cat, I can respect/relate to the passion felt by the Afro-Punkers that have been told by they're own folks growing up "Why you like white music?," or "why do you wear converse and say dude all the time!?!" A lot of my peeps were in the original Afro-Punk flick, and some chose not to be, but I felt that Latinos, being peoples of color, were under-if-at-all-represented. Yet, I'm still here, because here is were we all belong. Big Shouts to Ricanstruction, La Ruta, V.O.T. and all the Hispanic Punks that (from the beginning) have also stood against the grain of conventional thinking. I know this is "off" topic, but I just wanted to let you know where I from, 'cause I feel we're all finally heading in the right direction! ONE:)

-Swami (who still doesn't think bloggin' is for him:)


kifaru said:
Yo, The Mixed Signals, Lesypersound is a female!!! Haha. Yeah I'm gender outing her. Also I don't think she has a problem with Latinos per se but she is kinda funny when it comes to definitons that rub her wrong. She can get real academic on stuff sometimes, bless her heart. Just looking at what she posted I'll say she's passionate at this point not angry. You got to learn people's personality around here and try not to take debate so seriously.

BTW What's good. I'm kifaru and I'll kill you if you capitalize my name. Haha! I'm just joking. No, I'm not.
Permalink Reply by Tiffany on May 5, 2010 at 11:09pm
I'm divided by my parents both into, Haitian-Creole and my mother who's biracial black/white... My father is second generation in this country ... I consider my self black, but I've never felt comfortable labeling myself as that. I'm an american, living here as a black person. I think to simply class me in that group, would be overlooking the heritage of my father, and the cultural roots and history linked here by my mother... There's deep history rooted here, and our experiences are diverse, and vastly different from those who come from Africa.. I think it's a shame many blacks seem entrenched with slave and african history, to overlooking centuries they're ancestors lived here.. Contributing to this country....
Permalink Reply by AllPeople on May 12, 2010 at 10:58pm
Permalink Reply by AllPeople on May 12, 2010 at 10:58pm
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LISTED BELOW ARE LINKS TO ESSAYS THAT SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND TO BE OF SOME INTEREST. =D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE 'AFRICAN-AMERICAN' (AA) ETHNIC GROUP IS NOT THE
SAME GROUP AS THE 'BLACK AMERICAN' (BA) RACE GROUP

http://afropunk.ning.com/forum/topics/why-are-we-called-african?com...

http://community.afropunk.com/forum/topics/why-are-we-called-africa...

http://www.afropunk.com/forum/topics/why-are-we-called-african?comm...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Al5eeK2CFwcv4rD5U5qzvE...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiebDu.tSshJzQ0wS5fMp7...

http://afropunk.ning.com/forum/topics/why-are-we-called-african?com...

THE MIXED-RACE LINEAGE OF ‘MANY’OF
THE PEOPLE OF THE AA ETHNIC GROUP

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1034

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/3331

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1290008?cookieSet=1

QUOTE

“African Americans, on the average, have … 30% European ancestry.”

SOURCE:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0005/ai_2699000597/

”Some so-called “Black” Americans have less DNA admixture of
African ancestral origin than do some so-called “White” Americans.
Second, the admixture range of Black Americans spans the
entire chart … some have little or no African admixture …
Finally … the range of genetic admixture in those
who self-identify as “White” is … significant.
Many so-called “White” Americans have as much as
20 percent or more of African genetic admixture … and
some so-called “Black” Americans have little or none.
Indeed, other studies have found that approximately
5.5 percent of members of the U.S. Black community
have no detectable African genetic admixture.”

SOURCE:
http://knol.google.com/k/afro-euro-genetic-admixture-in-the-united-...

THE HISTORY OF THE VERY RACIST /
PRO-EUGENICIST ‘ONE-DROP RULE’

http://boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=35284580&po...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1399

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjwuxYj8agKY7yGgqaJ7i....

RELATED LINKS ON THE TOPICS NOTED ABOVE:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1400

http://www.mgmix.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=art...

http://www.ourfilmspace.com/forum/topics/2045657:Topic:42413?commen...

http://diverseeducation.com/article/7469/1.php

http://mgmix.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...

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