This may be a really stupid question, but. . .

[woaini]

I have a question!

Are there many people in the midwest and south of the United States who are mixed with native Americans?

 

[treanir]

Hmmm... the Dutch equivalent for 'African-American' or 'Native American'....

Honestly, I have no idea. We do lump all non-white races together as 'alien' (D. allochtoon), and sometimes we quantify that a little by using (perceived) nationality, but we don't have specific PC terms for every race or skin colour.

 

[blackbeltninja]

Personally, I get annoyed by people who call themselves African-American and other black Africans who tell me I can't be African since I am white. I have been off the continent of Africa for a grand total of 18 days in all my years on the planet.

Famous saffer Nelson Mandela was once called "the most famous African-American in the world" by a CNN interviewer once on live tv. Of course, as a South African (or saffer, since we get the international code SAF out there in the big wide world sometimes ) through and through, calling him African-American is just stupid.

-d-

-d-

 

[gsdx]

Personally, I get annoyed by people who call themselves African-American and other black Africans who tell me I can't be African since I am white. I have been off the continent of Africa for a grand total of 18 days in all my years on the planet.

A friend of mine and her family used to live just outside Jo'burg and she told me a little story about Whitney Houston touring Africa. She came out on stage to the cheers and applause and announced:

"Finally! I'm home!!"

Someone yelled back at her, "Like hell you are! You were born in New Jersey!"



My ancestors arrived from Scotland and took up residence in the US when it was still a colony. Following the Revolutionary War, my 'Loyalist' ancestors were expelled from the new United States and moved north into Canada.

So, am I Scottish/Canadian or Scottish/American/Canadian or something else if I follow the line back even further? No. I'm none of those. I am Canadian because I was born here and have lived here my entire life (so far, at least).

Political Correctness seems to be important only to those who want to make certain that everyone else knows they are 'different'. It's as if they're unwittingly trying to keep racism alive.

 

[TopThruster]

Perhaps Canada is a little bit too laid back, but political correctness isn't really an issue for us because races aren't usually an issue. If they live here, they're Canadian. They don't usually require quantifiers.

If you are born in America, you're American.

If I'm describing someone i'll say they're black, mexican, indian, chinese, etc. That's just what I feel comfortable saying.

Look at the icons JUB has: asian, black, latino.

 

[ronboy]

Being a teacher, I tend to over compensate a bit...All of the textbooks are very PC, so we use "African American," "Native American," "Native Canadian," "Latino" and "Asian American" a lot in our discussions. It carries over into my everyday life too.

 

[gsdx]

Being a teacher, I tend to over compensate a bit...All of the textbooks are very PC, so we use "African American," "Native American," "Native Canadian," "Latino" and "Asian American" a lot in our discussions. It carries over into my everyday life too.

It's amazing how you must be ever-so-careful in every word you speak, but government officials and military leaders and judges and religious nut cases can say anything they want about us and no-one bats an eye.

 

[dr_beat]

Technically a white person from Africa could also be "African-American" no?

I've personally never understood why it was African American for the longest time when not all "black" people (what else am I to say?) came from Africa...

Go back and read your history books. White people in Africa were most likely colonialists; blacks that come from other parts of the world (e.g. the Caribbean) were most likely slaves brought there by the colonialists.

 

[gsdx]

Go back and read your history books. White people in Africa were most likely colonialists; blacks that come from other parts of the world (e.g. the Caribbean) were most likely slaves brought there by the colonialists.

It must be something of an insult, though, to call someone who is from, say, Jamaica, an 'African-American'. Political Correctness seems to cause just as many problems as it's trying to solve.

 

[LarsVenice]

The Africans I know call themselves "black," unless they are Egyptian or Algerian, in which case they do not. One of my best friends is from Senegal, and so she is an immigrant Senegalese, even though her mother was from Cape Verde and her father was from Portugal. However, her parents moved from CV before she was born, and so she recognizes her roots as Senegalese and speaks French as her first language, although her parents spoke Portuguese when they first met. She later went to school in Paris and then in Boston. She has a particular dislike for ghettoized English and even gets mistaken quite often as white. She's learned a lot about white prejudice particularly from people who thought she was white.

For me, Asian means primarily India and Pakistan (as it does in Britain), and so I find it ultimately confusing to describe someone from Japan, whom I would call Japanese. My best friend is half Korean, and he uses the term Oriental, which is more accurate than Asian. Oriental could include the Philippines, whereas Asia cannot. I think Philippinos consider themselves Pacific Islanders - at least that's what I got from a Philippine movie that I saw.

As for Native Americans, I prefer to refer to them by their specific tribe. If that information has been lost, then I refer to them as Americans. In Mexico (and even British Columbia), a lot of tribal identity has been preserved, but it's become very watered down in most of the U.S., with Arizona, NM, and OK being major exceptions. Bob Barker referred to himself as part Cherokee, as did Cher, I think.

 

[kayman23]

I don't use the term "African American". I simply use the term black.

 

[dr_beat]

It must be something of an insult, though, to call someone who is from, say, Jamaica, an 'African-American'. Political Correctness seems to cause just as many problems as it's trying to solve.

Are you guessing, or have you talked to people from Jamaica?

 

[cabal74]

Very good question. And as many people have so correctly put, there are no stupid questions only stupid people. LOL

Personally I don't like trying to be PC. I can never be sure I am saying the right thing. In today's world it seems that there so much focus on trying not to offend people that we would be better off not talking. Well that doesn't work for me. Not everyone is going to like what I have to say. Well if you don't like it then feel free not to listen. We all have opinions and we will never all agree. That is what makes Free Speech so nice. Let them take that away with PC bullshit and what will they try to take away next?

Background: I am of Irish, Norwegian, Lituanian, and most probably African decent. When I was in elementary school the kids used to try to make an issues of it (I lived in Greenwich, Ct. in a predominantly white section of the city). They used to say things like "Nigger go back to your own country". My answer was, and always will be, the same. I am in my own country. I was born in America and that is where I live.

Don't feel sorry for me. It is in my past and I don't feel bad about it. This was a long time ago (4th and 5th grade like 22 or 23 years). I have been through way worse things since then. Hey just another part of my life experience.

Like most people here I don't see what race has to do with anything. We are all Human and in the long run isn't that what really matters?

 

[blackbeltninja]

^I never liked the multiple countries identity.

I was born in Rhodesia before it became Zimbabwe, but have lived here in South Africa for more than 2/3 of my life. In addition, I have English citizenship thanks to my father and his father. My mother was born in Rhodesia to South African nationals, and I was able to claim .za citizenship through her before we arrived here.

I'm one person with 3 nationalities. However, I'm not about to call myself a British-Zimbabwean South African or anything as patently ridiculous as that. Pick one, stick to one, and make it your identity. I opt for Zimbabwean, since that's where I was born.

The only time it's necessary to get technical is when you flash whichever passport will get you through Immigration. In that case, as far as the Yanks are concerned I am a Brit on holiday in the greatest nation on earth, and as far as the South Africans are concerned I'm a saffer returning home gratefully to God's own country.

-d-

 

[gsdx]

Are you guessing, or have you talked to people from Jamaica?

I'm guessing. I don't know anyone from Jamaica and the only black people I knew moved away from Peterborough long before the whole PC thing began.

 

[dr_beat]

So then a white person from Africa who came to America would be what exactly?
A Colonial-African-American?

My question is, if you were from Jamaica, and your family has been there for generations, why would you then not be referred to as "Jamaican-American"?
Alot of people I know simply refer to themselves by where they're from;
If they're from Jamaica, they will say they're Jamaican, if they're from Japan, they'll say their Japanese, if they're from Africa, they'll say they are African, if they're from Ireland, they'll say they're Irish.

So to reiterate, if I was from Japan, and I had lived in Japan my whole life, and I was born there, and my family had lived there, I would most likely refer to myself as Japanese.. even if I was white because that would of been where I was from and it would be my home.

Do you see what I mean? If you're from a certain country why can you not refer to yourself in the origin of your country's name?

If we all actually referred to ourselves from are true roots and descent we'd all call ourselves Messopotamians as we all originated from the same place.

I don't know what race you are, but if you're not of Japanese origin, I think other people would consider you too be a non-Japanese person who grew up and lived in Japan and that's likely how you'd come to see yourself.

Technically a white person from Africa could also be "African-American" no?

My point was that the term "African-American" was created as a back to roots thing; blacks initially came from Africa. The white people in Africa traditionally have colonial origins.

I've personally never understood why it was African American for the longest time when not all "black" people (what else am I to say?) came from Africa...

Again, they really did. Slave traders took them to other parts of the world.

 

[cellular]

There is nothing wrong with calling a black person black here in south africa. Sometimes we call them africans, but black seems to be the dominant term here.

 

[gsdx]

I just think Native Americans should be called Americans. I mean they were here long before Europeans came over and nearly wiped them out after all.

Perhaps, but they lived here long before North American was known to exist by Europeans. You can't really name them after something which didn't exist. (That is why they are known as 'People of the First Nation' in Canada.)

 

[Inwood]

I just think Native Americans should be called Americans. I mean they were here long before Europeans came over and nearly wiped them out after all.

So they should be called by what our ancestors called the continent AFTER the natives were here WAY before us? That's just disrespectful.

 

[levenshulme31]

Didn't Jesse Jackson once call Nelson Mandela an African-American?

I find the whole thing very confusing. Most black Americans were born in America and are at least 3 or 4 generations away from being actually African. If you go back far enough, everyone could claim the prefix "African".

It seems that people tie themselves up in knots trying to not offend anyone. The pre-occupation with skin colour and heritage could do with goin gin the dustbin. Then we can all just be people. (Sorry, came over all hippy-dippy for a moment)