L.A. riots: Good Samaritan remembers his scary truck-driver rescue

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Especially if you read it in the media.

According to the AP Stylebook (the journalists' bible):

"African-American
Acceptable for an American black person of African descent. Black is also acceptable. The terms are not necessarily interchangeable. People from Caribbean nations, for example, generally refer to themselves as Caribbean-American. Follow a person's preference."

It's not usually a term used to describe white people.

Unless they are white Africans in America.
 
Biologically and evolution wise we all go back to Africa. But everybody isn't Black. And everybody isn't Black in America.
His statement was that there is no Black race. Do you agree or disagree with the guy you quoted?
 
Unless they are white Africans in America.
According to the media, white people from the continent of Africa who live in America are NOT referred to as "African-Americans."
 
His statement was that there is no Black race. Do you agree or disagree with the guy you quoted?

Depends on context. The whole human race has black roots if you go back far enough biologically and from evolution. However, there is a definate Black race in America. Why else would a marriage between a white person and a Black person be called "interracial" or why would a child with a Black parent and a white parent be called "biracial"?
 
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!

Tell that to the Jamaicans, Haitians and such!!! Read my post above. How about the Olympic Gymnast, Dominque Dawes. She is black, but FRENCH, not African American.

When discussed in the context for an American so by saying African American means black American. Hence, it is a direct reference to a person who is black. That's why the 2010 Census asks what race you are: Black, African American or Negro.

When you read the words "African American" it can only mean one thing, and that it is a de facto description of a person who is black and citizen in the United States. I've said earlier that saying "African American" is misnomer because you can have a white "African American" but that isn't the distinction that most people would see it as when instead the term is about a black American and nothing else.
 
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!

Tell that to the Jamaicans, Haitians and such!!! Read my post above. How about the Olympic Gymnast, Dominque Dawes. She is black, but FRENCH, not African American.
I believe his point is that in the USA, the term "African-Americans" always refers to black people. It does not mean that all black people living in the USA are African-American. It just means that they aren't white people.

Black people from other countries are referred to according to their national origin or preference.
 
I believe his point is that in the USA, the term "African-Americans" always refers to black people. It does not mean that all black people living in the USA are African-American. It just means that they aren't white people.

Black people from other countries are referred to according to their national origin or preference.

Only if they are recent immigrants. If they have been here for years and don't identify with their ancestors culture, they are just referred to as Black Americans.

How come we don't call white Africans in America African-Americans?

Do you call yourself a white......whatever heritage your ancestors are?
 
When discussed in the context for an American so by saying African American means black American. Hence, it is a direct reference to a person who is black. That's why the 2010 Census asks what race you are: Black, African American or Negro.

When you read the words "African American" it can only mean one thing, and that it is a de facto description of a person who is black and citizen in the United States. I've said earlier that saying "African American" is misnomer because you can have a white "African American" but that isn't the distinction that most people would see it as when instead the term is about a black American and nothing else.

Ahhh....so it give the option of saying "Black" or "African American". So they must not be the same thing to everybody.
 
Why not? That is what they are.
The term "African-American" was created as a more politically correct replacement for Afro-American and Negro. It was never designed to cover all people from the continent of Africa regardless of color or ethnicity. It was specifically created for black Americans only.
 
When discussed in the context for an American so by saying African American means black American. Hence, it is a direct reference to a person who is black. That's why the 2010 Census asks what race you are: Black, African American or Negro.

When you read the words "African American" it can only mean one thing, and that it is a de facto description of a person who is black and citizen in the United States. I've said earlier that saying "African American" is misnomer because you can have a white "African American" but that isn't the distinction that most people would see it as when instead the term is about a black American and nothing else.

Only in the white way of thinking. Blacks keep saying that they are not African Americans they are Black Americans because they don't have any connection to their African heritage.
 
The term "African-American" was created as a more politically correct replacement for Afro-American and Negro. It was never designed to cover all people from the continent of Africa regardless of color or ethnicity. It was specifically created for black Americans only.

Better to call them Black Americans.

Why do we need to label people with dark skin with some long ago heritage that may not even be true for them? We don't do it to white people.
 
The term "African-American" was created as a more politically correct replacement for Afro-American and Negro. It was never designed to cover all people from the continent of Africa regardless of color or ethnicity. It was specifically created for black Americans only.

Yeah, negro was another term that was given to the Blacks by the whites. And it was a politcally correct form for another word that begins with an N. So, politically correct in one person's mind isn't always acceptable to the person they are talking about.
 
African American or Black American - Which Term is Accurate?
Back to Africa - I Think Not

By G.A. Afolabi

As an African immigrant one of the things that perturbs me about living in the United States is the relationship between Africans and native-born blacks. For a long time I have had a problem with the term "African American." I guess I am one of those old-school people who believe in the 1970s motto, "Say it loud I am black and I am proud." I grew up saying I was a black person, and that is the word that rolls of my tongue naturally. Funnily enough I remember living in England in the 1970s, when it was acceptable to refer to black people as "colored." (They are little behind the times across the pond!)

The problem with the using the word "black" to describe people of African descent is that is not strictly accurate. African people, are brown skinned - although there are some ethnic groups, such as Ghanaians and Sudanese, who have extremely dark skin that could be described as black.

For years I used the term black to describe myself and other Africans, until an old girlfriend of mine, who was white, pointed something out. She said that she found the term "black" offensive. I said, well how would you describe people who originate from Africa, and she said African or African American.

The problem with calling black Americans (my preference), African Americans is culturally they are not African. Black Americans watch American football, celebrate July 4th and Thanksgiving, and take part in rituals such as homecoming and the prom. That makes them American first and foremost. These cultural traits define black Americans, as much as the traits that make me an ethnic Yoruba person, of British and Nigerian extraction.

In my travels around the world I have encountered many Africans in the Diaspora - Caribbeans, black Latinos, black Americans and black Britons. I have even encountered second generation European Africans with Swedish, German, French and Portuguese names. I used to think in Pan-African terms, believing in the idea that if we had the same skin color we would have a certain kinship. That's a noble idea but it's simply not true, if you compare a Nigerian raised in Lagos and a black American raised in Mississippi they will probably have more differences than similarities.

After visiting Zaire, (now known as the Congo) Muhammad Ali said that he was glad that his great-granddaddy caught the boat out of there. Black Americans often have a fuzzy view of Africa, partially due to the myopic American media. They seem to either view Africa, as a black Shangri-La, where they will be welcomed with open arms, or like something out a Tarzan movie. Few black Americans are aware of the depth of the economic, social and political problems racking the continent. A recent New York Times article about black Americans tracing their roots back to Ghana estimates that more Africans have left the continent in the last 15 years than during the slave trade. This time it is a voluntary emigration in search of better economic opportunities.

In reality, Africans and African Americans are not brothers, we are distant cousins. We were once part of the same family, but so much time has passed by that those family ties are threadbare. The development of black American culture, which is a combination of parts of African and Western European culture, has created a new tribe.

This situation often reminds me of a story I did when I worked as a reporter in Oklahoma. I interviewed a man who was the descendant of Scottish immigrants. He told me the town of Glencoe, Okla. was founded by a Scottish clan, who had been forcibly exiled by their kinsmen. As generations went by this exiled clan prospered. And in the late 20th century a clan member traced his roots back to Scotland and used his resources to restore the ancestral home. When he found his distant relatives, who had fallen on hard times, they asked him why he was so proud of his Scottish heritage when life was so miserable for them.

One of the biggest differences in the attitudes of black Americans and African immigrants is their view of America. Many black Americans tend to look at America and see its history of racial oppression and social inequality. Africans who have left behind countries with chaotic governments and few opportunities tend to look at America as a place where they can succeed. As always the truth lies somewhere in the middle, black immigrants learn very quickly that you can succeed in America, but if you have brown skin, you may have to work harder and face more obstacles. After all this is 2006 and we still have not elected a president who was not a white, male Christian.

I would hope that as we move further into the 21st century black Americans could be the guiding light for Africans in the Diaspora. Many black people around the world still look to black Americans for fashion, entertainment and political activism. My paternal grandfather, who was a cook for British colonial workers in Nigeria, decided to educate his children after reading about the exploits of W. E. B. Dubois and Frederick Douglas. The fight to end the apartheid regime in South Africa was modeled after the American Civil Rights movement. Also, rap music has become the voice of the underclass around the world, from the ghettoes of Paris to the favelas of Brazil.

Black Americans and Africans can work together, but like a child meeting a long lost father for the first time, we are going to have to take baby steps. Putting the family back together will not happen overnight.

Manny Otiko is a freelance writer based in Southern California. He also the creator of the comic strip "Ghetto Fabulous."
African American or Black American - Which Term is Accurate? - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com
 
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Only in the white way of thinking. Blacks keep saying that they are not African Americans they are Black Americans because they don't have any connection to their African heritage.

See my response about the 2010 Census. It's not a "white way of thinking." You ask anybody what color is a person who is an African American.
 
See my response about the 2010 Census. It's not a "white way of thinking." You ask anybody what color is a person who is an African American.

Ask me. I just told you. They can be Black or white. And the census gives a choice of Black or African American.

Read Reba's link. Maybe you will see the mistakes in the way you think about it compared to the way Black people think about it.
 
Quotes from Rodney King looks back without anger - CNN.com

"The dramatic video of the episode appeared on national TV two days later. At last, blacks in L.A. -- and no doubt in other parts of the country -- had evidence to document the police brutality many Americans had known about but had denied or tolerated."

"Nearly a year later, the four officers were tried in federal court on civil rights charges. This trial would be very different from the first: It took place in Los Angeles, two African-Americans were picked for the jury and King actually testified this time."

"One more trial awaited: Rodney King's lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.
This time, there was only one African-American on the jury, and she was a force to be reckoned with."
 
Ask me. I just told you. They can be Black or white. And the census gives a choice of Black or African American.

Read Reba's link. Maybe you will see the mistakes in the way you think about it compared to the way Black people think about it.

And that are for people who are black who have the choice of choosing Black, African American or Negro in the Census.

You ask anybody on the street the term "African American" and who does it represent in terms of color and they'll say black.

I've already made the distinction (before you did) that even white people born in African who become an American can call themselves as an African American. But that's silly given the context already established in America, with thanks to Jesse Jackson, race baiter and all, that blacks should use the term African American....and not that White people should use that term even if they were born out of African and became an American.
 
Quotes from Rodney King looks back without anger - CNN.com

"The dramatic video of the episode appeared on national TV two days later. At last, blacks in L.A. -- and no doubt in other parts of the country -- had evidence to document the police brutality many Americans had known about but had denied or tolerated."

"Nearly a year later, the four officers were tried in federal court on civil rights charges. This trial would be very different from the first: It took place in Los Angeles, two African-Americans were picked for the jury and King actually testified this time."

"One more trial awaited: Rodney King's lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.
This time, there was only one African-American on the jury, and she was a force to be reckoned with."

That is a white reporter wiriting the stuff you are quoting. Doesn't have much to do with the way Blacks call themselves or want to be called, lol. Or why it is necessary to label people with dark skin but not white people. How about we start always referring to white Americans as IrishAmerican, or German American, or Scottish America or British American, and so forth, no matter how long they have been in this country. How about every time an article is written about a white person, we are sure to mention the fact that they are white and call them white.....whatever their heritage is?
 
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