is it fair to call blacks "african americans"?

Steel X

Steel X

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of course, blacks were obviously from africa because of where the skin color comes from...when you are under the hot steamy sun and your skin turns darker and darker...etc big deal! anyway, they are no longer "africans" when they are already living in a different country that they are born in and is now an actual citizen of the country, so in my opinon, I would just consider them "black americans" instead of "african americans" because it sounds abit too formal and somewhat insulting because they are not africans anymore when they are born in a different country like America.

so what would you call someone in a different race who was orginally from a different country to america now? what about the asians? would you call someone "japanese american" or "chinese american" when they are no longer in a country they were in and were born in America, as well.

see, my entire family is mostly Irish, but do we get to be called "Irish Americans"? no, we are just called "americans" only because that we are "white" and other groups gets to be called with a country name that their race was orginally from and I dont really think that was fair, you know?

so, what do you think?
 
Steel said:
of course, blacks were obviously from africa because of where the skin color comes from...when you are under the hot steamy sun and your skin turns darker and darker...etc big deal! anyway, they are no longer "africans" when they are already living in a different country that they are born in and is now an actual citizen of the country, so in my opinon, I would just consider them "black americans" instead of "african americans" because it sounds abit too formal and somewhat insulting because they are not africans anymore when they are born in a different country like America.

so what would you call someone in a different race who was orginally from a different country to america now? what about the asians? would you call someone "japanese american" or "chinese american" when they are no longer in a country they were in and were born in America, as well.

see, my entire family is mostly Irish, but do we get to be called "Irish Americans"? no, we are just called "americans" only because that we are "white" and other groups gets to be called with a country name that their race was orginally from and I dont really think that was fair, you know?

so, what do you think?
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I hear ya, Steel...very good thought provoking question. However, I always call myself Irish American cos I am damn proud to be this fiesty stubborn and sentimental Irish lasse ;)
 
Makes sense to me Steel. I use either. I didn't think it would make no differences but I do see your point. :)
 
Honestly, I have always use the word " black " when I am speaking about them or whatever but I haven't use the word " African American ", because not all black people do come from Africa....
 
Well, the best way to properly call them is to ask them how they would like to be called themselves.

Makes sense? :confused:
 
IMHO, we should not see the color of skin and we should not divide ourselves to different race. It bothers me when I apply the job, they ask me what color of my skin. Who cares what color of skin. We all have same red blood inside, outside just make up gene.
 
why we have to be black american? there is no black german, white african, black russian, black chinese, black japanese, black mexican, black canadian, black french, black spanish, or something like that...

So why we wanna be call BLACK AMERICAN,
why can't we just call ourselves Americans????

And stop putting races on job application and other...
because Arabians or Spanish people wouldn't know
how to answer that question, Arabian wouldn't want to put down
white or black.

What difference does it make, we all need jobs!!!!!
 
In the sixties people called them Negroes. In fact They are negroes. JFK called them negroes so i think its the right name to call em.
 
uh...okay have fun getting beaten to death when you say that word to a black dude someday
 
Miss*Pinocchio said:
why we have to be black american? there is no black german, white african, black russian, black chinese, black japanese, black mexican, black canadian, black french, black spanish, or something like that...

So why we wanna be call BLACK AMERICAN,
why can't we just call ourselves Americans????

And stop putting races on job application and other...
because Arabians or Spanish people wouldn't know
how to answer that question, Arabian wouldn't want to put down
white or black.

What difference does it make, we all need jobs!!!!!
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of course I would still consider 'em americans but I was just trying to say that I think the word "african american" is sort of pointless since some people aren't even born from Africa but are in fact, born in america so thats when I just call them in a short and simple term "black american" because obviously they are black, but are true citizens of America as well. it's just something that I think should be replaced over "african american" or something like that, that's all.

as for job applications, they just have to put down the number of races so that they would know what you look like...not by skin color but the looks of you and your group...that's just the way it is. I guess it has something to do with idetifintion by the cops or whatever like that...they don't just need your race, but needs your name, your date of birth, and what other jobs you've applied, etc...

because if you run a company, you wouldn't want to hire a person who sell drugs, murdered or raped someone or anything like that before, do you? it would be kind of hard to trust a person who commited such crimes like that.
 
I think the concept of "African Americans" and "blacks" are getting old. Nowadays, different people have different preferences. I can never really tell what they prefered to be called. I have a supervisor who refers herself as black at some times. At other times, she will refer herself as an African American. Boy, there's no knowing what to say without insulting her! Heh!
 
steel- there is already a label for the white population and its European-Americans its the same concept that applies to African-Americans what are you complaining about us, whites not having a label when we already do?
 
Kai Onca said:
steel- there is already a label for the white population and its European-Americans its the same concept that applies to African-Americans what are you complaining about us, whites not having a label when we already do?
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:rofl: naw I ain't complaing about whites not having those kinds of labels, but on most applications and other things like that, there was always a race group of which you are in and they always put in "african american" and I thought that kind of concept was kinda annoying though we already know that blacks were orginally from africa, but do ALL blacks come from Africa? the simple answer is "no." so there are blacks all over the world now and it would be weird if they call them something like "african german" if a black person was born in Germany...so why not just "black german" since that sounds just more respectful?

hope you get my point.
 
Steel said:
of course I would still consider 'em americans but I was just trying to say that I think the word "african american" is sort of pointless since some people aren't even born from Africa but are in fact, born in america so thats when I just call them in a short and simple term "black american" because obviously they are black, but are true citizens of America as well. it's just something that I think should be replaced over "african american" or something like that, that's all.

as for job applications, they just have to put down the number of races so that they would know what you look like...not by skin color but the looks of you and your group...that's just the way it is. I guess it has something to do with idetifintion by the cops or whatever like that...they don't just need your race, but needs your name, your date of birth, and what other jobs you've applied, etc...

because if you run a company, you wouldn't want to hire a person who sell drugs, murdered or raped someone or anything like that before, do you? it would be kind of hard to trust a person who commited such crimes like that.
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Why does it matter if the person is a criminal... just because
a person has a clean criminal record, doesn't mean he or she won't
kill anyone or commit a crime.
Criminals pay their due... they were in prison or probation or pay their
fine, but why punished them forever? What is the use to let them
out of prison, when they will do crime again, because nobody will
give them a job or whatever.
 
Steel said:
:rofl: naw I ain't complaing about whites not having those kinds of labels, but on most applications and other things like that, there was always a race group of which you are in and they always put in "african american" and I thought that kind of concept was kinda annoying though we already know that blacks were orginally from africa, but do ALL blacks come from Africa? the simple answer is "no." so there are blacks all over the world now and it would be weird if they call them something like "african german" if a black person was born in Germany...so why not just "black german" since that sounds just more respectful?

hope you get my point.
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Because some White people still don't accept us... and
give us hard time. And we African Americans want to hold on
to the name, African... Some African Americans went to
Africa to study cultures and all...
And we want to hold on to that African roots.
White people in the past took away the Slaves' real name, change
identity, forced Christianity on us....
And we just don't want white people to take away our word, African, either, cause that is the only only only thing we need to hold on to...

The word Negros isn't a bad word... at least we know that we were
probably from Nigeria.
So anyway... we will stick with African American.
 
Miss*Pinocchio said:
Because some White people still don't accept us... and
give us hard time. And we African Americans want to hold on
to the name, African... Some African Americans went to
Africa to study cultures and all...
And we want to hold on to that African roots.
White people in the past took away the Slaves' real name, change
identity, forced Christianity on us....
And we just don't want white people to take away our word, African, either, cause that is the only only only thing we need to hold on to...

The word Negros isn't a bad word... at least we know that we were
probably from Nigeria.
So anyway... we will stick with African American.
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So you prefer to be called an African American, rather than black or or some other names, right?
 
African is a beautiful name. I don't see why people complaining about it.
Leave us alone.
 
I always call them African Americans, because i dont like calling them the color of the skin. I dont like calling them Negros, Blacks, Colored People. Because to the African Americans... The whites would be colored people to them too. I think we shouldnt judge by the COLOR of our skins, But by our nationality i.e. Americans, Italians, Russians, Germans etc.
 
Nusentinsaino said:
I always call them African Americans, because i dont like calling them the color of the skin...
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So we shouldn't call "white" people white because that is a skin color?

If a "black" person lives in Canada, is it proper to say "African-Canadian"?
What about a black person living in Sweden? African-Swede?

What about someone who has an "Asian" mom and an "African" dad who was born in France then moves to USA--"Asian-African-French-American"?

It gets complicated, huh?
 
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