____-American

[0zzy]

I have a question. Why do Americans consider themselves things like "African-Americans" when they, nor their father, nor their fathers father, etc. has ever lived in Africa (or whichever country)? Why don't they just consider themselves American?

A Kenyan-native recently came to work for my dad's department. She came here when she was 13 and became an American citizen. She is a true definition of "African-American".

Many Caucasians have ancestors from Europe, but people don't refer them to "European-Americans" do they? They just call them white or American.

I am part Thai and my mom was born and raised till she was 8 in Thailand. I'd be considered more "Asian-American" than some who consider themselves "African-American" since I actually have connection with my ancestors via my mom and grandma. But I don't, I consider myself "American".

Am I just ranting about nothing or do people really group themselves too much?

[BuddyRey]

Absolutely! Dividing people into groups based on identity politics is just another way to create hate and distrust, a favorite tactic of the politicians who want us at eachother's throats so we forget the ultimate cause of humanity. We're ALL Americans, and even more importantly, we're all human beings, equally worthy of respect, dignity, and absolute freedom under God and the Constitution.

[tati4freedom]

I believe people identify by racial identity rather than national identity partially because there is so much subsidizing of certain groups that individuals feel they benefit from such identification. Like the good DR. says, if you subsidize something, you get more of it. I think that if we return to strong individual rights, people will be more encouraged to be Americans first and identify with their various ethnic, religious and other affiliations secondarily.

[lucius]

Absolutely! Dividing people into groups based on identity politics is just another way to create hate and distrust, a favorite tactic of the politicians who want us at eachother's throats so we forget the ultimate cause of humanity. We're ALL Americans, and even more importantly, we're all human beings, equally worthy of respect, dignity, and absolute freedom under God and the Constitution.

We put! divide et imperium

[SeanEdwards]

I have a question. Why do Americans consider themselves things like "African-Americans" when they, nor their father, nor their fathers father, etc. has ever lived in Africa (or whichever country)? Why don't they just consider themselves American?

A Kenyan-native recently came to work for my dad's department. She came here when she was 13 and became an American citizen. She is a true definition of "African-American".

Many Caucasians have ancestors from Europe, but people don't refer them to "European-Americans" do they? They just call them white or American.

I am part Thai and my mom was born and raised till she was 8 in Thailand. I'd be considered more "Asian-American" than some who consider themselves "African-American" since I actually have connection with my ancestors via my mom and grandma. But I don't, I consider myself "American".

Am I just ranting about nothing or do people really group themselves too much?

I'm white, but I think I should list my race as African-American since my ancestors came from Africa.

Along with everybody else's ancestors.

[PennCustom4RP]

I wrote on this very topic in my Myspace blog.
Here is that entry:

The Terms of Race

I am a man of European descent, more specifically of Dutch and German descent, and yet more specifically a natural born citizen of the United States of America. My first ancestors came here from Friesland, in 1689, which is part of the modern day country called The Netherlands. Other ancestors came from the Black Forest region of northern Germany. My people have been in the US for 318 years. I do not refer to myself as a European American, nor do I generally refer to myself as a Dutchman or a German, aside from when other white people are asking of what extraction I am, like other German, Irish, Polish, Italian, etc. etc. Americans do.
I am simply a White man, an American, and have no problem with that.

This brings me to the point of this exercise.

Why do those of the Black race, here in the United States, constantly refer to themselves as ‘African-Americans’? They used to be simply called Black-Americans, but now they are African-Americans.
Doesn’t one have to emigrate from some country to some other country to get the hyphenated nomenclature? The Black population in this country are almost entirely native born.
To use these examples, we don’t call the Black inhabitants from Haiti, African-Haitians, or those Black inhabitants from the Dominican Republic, African-Dominican Republicans do we? No they are Haitians and Dominicans, even though these peoples ancestors were from Africa. If they become American citizens we call them, or they refer to themselves as Haitian-Americans, or Dominican-Americans, but usually, eventually, just as Americans.
When considering the Hispanic/Latino population here in the US, we don’t refer to them as European-Native Americans, which is in essence what they are ethnically speaking, descendents from the mixing of the white Spaniards from Europe and the native indigenous populace, as the terms Hispanic or Latino are language based associations, not racial ones. We call these people Mexicans, Cubans, Guatemalans, etc. etc., while they are just ‘visiting’ and when they become citizens, they are hyphenated as to origin, because they EMIGRATED! As are all peoples who come to this country, ‘Country of Origin-American’. Then eventually are just American.
Does this label of African-American apply to all those whose ancestors came from the African Continent? What about those in Northern Africa? These people are largely of Arabic descent.
This term certainly doesn’t apply to any of those descended from Colonials on the African Continent, case in point;
A friend from college, a South African Boer, an Afrikaaner, had applied for financial aide, and when he filled out the paper work stating he was African-American, he was Denied!, and had to alter his application to reflect that he was a White person of European Descent.
This man was BORN in AFRICA, had never been to EUROPE, and EMIGRATED to the US.
If he does not qualify as an African-American, how can any of the Native born Black people here in the US do so?

To take another perspective on this topic of hyphenated racial nomenclature, consider those who were previously referred to as American Indians, now known as Native-Americans. While I can agree that the term American Indian is inappropriate, as these people are not from India, I am not so sure that they themselves prefer being called Native-Americans, as America is named for an Italian mapmaker, Amerigo Vespucci . Almost certainly they would prefer being referred to by their proper Tribal group names.
This begs to ask the question again.
If calling someone native born to the US, of the race once referred to as an American Indian, was inappropriate, and now are referred to as Native-American, how can someone native born in the US, of the Black race, now be called an African-American?
This poses another question, what do you call a Black (African-American) who emigrates to Africa? Is this person now an American-African, or African-African? Who knows? Probably just call them Black.

And I am still just simply…an un hyphenated White man, an American…and have no problems being called that.