"African American"

[Q Classic]

american not an ethnicity? no, i suppose not. but what would call that environment that we were raised in?

even if our parents didn't, we took on american values. our language of choice is english, not our parents' native tongues. when they scold us, instead of meekly bowing our heads, we talk back--in english. we eat fast food without a second thought; coke is as much of a part of our diet as rice. we feel comfortable fooling around and being noisy with others; we're less buttoned down than our forefathers.
we date people who our parents might not approve of. some of them are even "outside the race", which our parents think should be pure. our asian "ethnicity" we wear and shed as if it were no more than another shirt we would wear: when it's convenient, we're asian. when it's not, we're generic american.

sure, our bloodlines show that we're from asia. our faces make us look foreign, "inscrutable" and alien. but internally, we're all-american. so what is our ethnicity? it's not korean, it's not japanese, it's not chinese. it's not vietnamese, nor thai, nor laotian.

what is it then? our default culture is american. who are we? not foreigners.

[Q Classic]

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.

of course.

however, not everyone is like you.

i can't tell you how many times i've been complimented on how good my english is (without an accent! shocking! he even uses idioms correctly!), or asked when i'm going back...

[Zero]

Originally posted by GePap


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?

Irish american and african american is equally PC imo.

I dont see why we should consider african-american as being unpc because it identifies with continents. Thats rediculous. What about asian americans instead of chinese americans? should chinese not consider themselves asian americans because theyre chinese?

[Az]

Q^3.

[Zero]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


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.

i agree.

If you think its superflous to you fine be americans who cares.
If you think its everything to you fine be hyphened who cares.

moving on...

[Q Classic]

the problem with calling asian americans asian americans is that unlike a lot of other ethnic groups, we're not monolithic. we've a fragmented culture.

japanese americans have no need to feel too strongly about tiananmen. korean americans have no need to be proud of the samurai tradition. chinese americans have no need to parade korea's making the first metal movable type. none of them need to be proud of the kama sutra.

in contrast, a lot of the other minority groups, such as the latinos, have a much strong bond with each other. take an argentinan and venuzeulan, and after you get past the dialectical differences (and the general distaste of argentina), you find they have a lot of common ground. when you set three cjks together, what language do they talk in? english.

[chequita guevara]

It's alsways funny how the psople who generally scream the loudest about liberty are also the people most upset that not everyone wants to be just lke them. Like it's a personal insult or something that Black/Mexian/Italian/Chinese people actually have their own culture which is different from Wonderbread America.

[MrFun]

Chegitz I agree with you, but your PMS rage still scares me.

[GePap]

As I said, culture is not enough to claim a comon ethnicity. Being an American is not an ethnic label yet- a national one, a cultural one, yes, NOT an ethnic one.

Many African-Americansm, given their hisotry in this country, do not like the term Black. Now JG ask why use "white" then- well, one mighty big difference-- African slaves werte classified by OTHERS as black: "white" was created by the very people we describe as white to separate them from "blacks" An Irishman might not be an Englishman, but at least they are all "white", as opposed to them Negros. An Italian might not be british, but at least he is "white", and not some negro... Black came first, and then "whites" came to describe themselves with that monicker as a sign of what they were not.

"blacks" decided to use this term African-American, probalby becuase your average slave decendent did not have the luxury of ebing able to trace exactly what piece of the African shores their decendents were taken from. All other immigrant groups came by choice, so they do have the luxury.

As for the "white" African-American..is a Colombian an American? He is form the Americas, undeniably..so is an Argentine, an ecudadorian, a Brazilian, heck, Fidel Castro is an American-after all, Cuba is part of the Americas.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Just because you *sshole-Americans

Is that what you refer to the British now?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
in contrast, a lot of the other minority groups, such as the latinos, have a much strong bond with each other. take an argentinan and venuzeulan, and after you get past the dialectical differences (and the general distaste of argentina), you find they have a lot of common ground.

This is not actually true. Cubans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans (who are the three largest groups of Hispanics in the US.) all have very different concerns and cultures. About the only thing they have in common is that they're all Latinos. I've lived in a Mexican neighborhood and a Cuban neighborhood, and it's really quite different (can't find a decent taco anywhere in the latter )

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by MrFun
Chegitz I agree with you, but your PMS rage still scares me.

Serial stupidity in other people brings out the worst in me.

[Drogue]

Che: Sure, I agree. Be proud of it if you want, but accept that others will want to be proud of theirs. I don't see a white power t-shirt any differently from a black-power t-shirt, and I don't see black people as any differently from white people. However, I don't use the term African-American, because I don't know if they're African, or even if they're American. If I want to say someone's skin is black, I'll say it's black, the same way if I wanted to say someone's hair is blonde I'll say blonde.

I was affirming the point about national pride. If someone is an American they are an American. They may be black, white or asian in skin colour, but that doesn't change the fact that they are an American.

To me, someone's ethnic origin is not important. I think the term African American implies that all black people are African, and highlights that fact. Quite frankly, I don't care where they come from. If I am refering to someone's ethnic origin, then I will use African American. However when I am talking about soemone who has black skin, then I'll use black. For instance, if I was pointing someone out in the street, I don't know where his ancesters came from, but I do know he has black skin, which is a distinguising feature, the same as if it was a white person. If I'm trying to refer to a person with white skin, I don't call them Europeans, I call them a white person. If I see someone with blonde hair, I don't call them Scandanavian (because many blonde people's ancesters came from there) I use the term, blonde.

Be proud of your ethnicity. However when I talk about a person's skin colour, I'll use a colour to differentiate, if I needed to point out a person, for example. To me, the ethnic origin of a person doesn't matter in the slightest, and since I do not know the origin of someone I haven't met, I can't refer to it. An American is an American, a Brit is a Brit, the colour of their skin doesn't make a difference in their nationality.

[Tripledoc]

Originally posted by Elok
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?

This is the second time I have been accused of being a DL. Well I am truly sorry that I don't conform to your CIA/Mossad culture but please refrain from ad hominem attacks and adress the issues.

[Az]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
It's alsways funny how the psople who generally scream the loudest about liberty are also the people most upset that not everyone wants to be just lke them. Like it's a personal insult or something that Black/Mexian/Italian/Chinese people actually have their own culture which is different from Wonderbread America.

One could easily turn the argument around.