"African American"

[Imran Siddiqui]

For Christ's sake, not every issue has to be about the ultimate battle between Good and Evil.

Ah, don't worry about it, loin. Che has recently resorted to the tactic of *******-ary.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Q Cubed

Now, as for white south Africans, tricky-after all, they are as native Africans as some englishman is a native American after being born in America..

bloodlines should not be the determiner of what ethnicity you are. it is the environment you were raised in.

Should and do not same thing. Does this mean Q that you are the same ethnicity as a Japanese American?

Also, almost no African slaves came from South Africa-mostly West Africa, so even if environment is what matters, the"environment" is never the same accross an entire continent.

[Elok]

I've lived near DC since birth. Raised in a majority-black county. Been saying "black" all my life. Haven't been punched yet. I'm going with what works. You folks are putting too much thought into this.

Whose DL is TripleDoc, BTW? I haven't been here long enough to make a good guess. Black people took inspiration from Eminem, Farrakhan is one of the best speakers of all time...who acts that blandly and unabashedly daft?

[Japher]

idea 2 is the same as idea 1.

Actually I was think of racial slurs, not just insulting names based on appearances. I.e. White - Cracker, Black - Nig.., Chinese - Chink, etc... (<- need to keep that so you all know I'm kidding)

[Q Classic]

gepap:
yes. why? because we were both raised american. we have more ties to our parents' home countries than others might, but the fact remains that even when we do visit, it's not a homecoming for us. it's a visit.

[Q Classic]

i know you were, japher.

but calling an asian a slant-eye is a slur.

why do you think i often sardonically refer to us asians as slants?

and i find it amusing that it's not ok to spell out ni.., but it's perfectly fine to spell out chink.

[Zero]

Originally posted by loinburger
I knew a fellow back in high school who was a white immigrant from South Africa, so whenever he had a chance to fill out the "ethnicity" section on a test or application or whatever he'd always fill in the "African-American" bubble for ****s and giggles.

they are "african-american". I had an argument about this witha south african couple of years ago.

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Zero
they are "african-american". I had an argument about this witha south african couple of years ago.

Well, the tests generally provided a "white" bubble and an "african-american" bubble, so he could have filled out either. Nowadays a lot of ethnicity tests allow you to darken as many bubbles as you want ("darken all bubbles that apply" or whatever), but my guess is that this is more from an increased prevalence/acceptance of mixed-marriages rather than from a clever way to make white South-African immigrants fill in both bubbles.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by loinburger


This is why I'm always left floundering in these threads -- the use of the term "African-American" may strike me as being imprecise and probably unnecessary, but I certainly don't believe that this warrants its being struck from the lexicon, but at the same time I certainly don't believe that personal attacks are warranted against those who believe that the term is imprecise and probably unnecessary. It leaves me in a position wherein I can't agree with anybody without being tainted by their jackassery. For Christ's sake, not every issue has to be about the ultimate battle between Good and Evil.

Loinburger -- it's that time of the month again for Chegitz -- PMS and everything else.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
gepap:
yes. why? because we were both raised american. we have more ties to our parents' home countries than others might, but the fact remains that even when we do visit, it's not a homecoming for us. it's a visit.

American is not an ethnicity. It is a nationality.

As someone said, is Italian-American or Irish-American equally as "PC"? Or is the arguement against identifying an entire continent? But then, how dare we call ourselves Americans?

[Q Classic]

now that's what i call empathy. the hallmark of a true liberal-- they can feel others' pain.

[Japher]

American is not an ethnicity. It is a nationality.

What's the difference?

When a bunch of ethnicities meet, mix, and change it becomes a nationality and not an ethnicity? How did ethnicites even begin?

[loinburger]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
to "natural" americans here--the white and black people--they can't tell if we're native or not, and so they assume almost always that we're foreign.

In my experience it's usually a question of accent rather than appearance. If I meet a student with a thick Chinese accent then I'll generally assume that they're a foreign national, but it's the same when I meet a student with a thick Russian accent.

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Ah, don't worry about it, loin. Che has recently resorted to the tactic of *******-ary.

It's interesting to come back and see who's become more/less trollish in the meantime. (Even JohnT seems to have made a profitable career of trolling! I never expected that...)

[GePap]

Ethnicity is a mix of culture and blood-people in the US can claim a common culture by now, after 200 years-but we are too mongrel a state to claim common blood. Few great empires with multiple nations could ever claim one ethnicity: just like at what happened to the Ottomans.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Drogue
I think ethnicity is bull****. African-Americans are Americans. The African part is superfluous.

It's not superflurous to them. Just because you *sshole-Americans would perfer not to be considered such doesn't mean the rest of us hyphen-Americans aren't proud of our ancesters, our cultures, AND our nationality.