What's with all this 'African-American' stuff?
-
shandy8 — 11 years ago(January 08, 2015 08:18 AM)
I stopped using the politically-correct term after mislabeling several black people. When I was recently corrected by a student and explained why I don't use 'African-American' ("how do I know if s/he is not Canadian of of Haitian descent?), I was given the deep-freeze from my classroom aide ( who is black).
-
DreTam2000 — 9 years ago(October 17, 2016 06:39 AM)
The Native people of Canada are Eskimos, while the 5b4native people of Haiti are Taino "Indians." Haitian is not an ethnicity or a race. A black person from Haiti is ethnically no different from one born and raised in the U.S. or in the UK or Brazil.
The same problem exists within the terms "Jamaican" and "Puerto Rican." These are not races. A person who is not from Puerto Rico or Jamaica cannot be Puerto Rican or Jamaican. Those are nationalities, not races. Taino Native is the only original heritage of Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. Unless you have Taino blood in you, you cannot be of Haitian or Jamaican or Puerto Rican heritage (unless you mean to infer that you are descended from people who settled in these places a couple hundred years ago; in which case, you'd still be "White" or "Black" or African or English or Spaniard or whatever else those settlers were).
I'm not a control freak, I just like things my way -
-
joystar5879 — 9 years ago(September 14, 2016 10:45 AM)
This was probably posted here because Ms. Winfrey is an intelligent and cultured woman, who could explain the history and origins of the term. OPRAH would give "OP" the benefit of the doubt.
I do hope he won't upset Henry -
Galactus03 — 10 years ago(July 05, 2015 06:20 PM)
..the general american population does t use this term because they want to. The pc crowd has made it seem wrong to use anything here. Sill i know. I just describe people by their cloths now rather than heritage.lol
-
Screen_O_Genic — 10 years ago(January 29, 2016 02:36 AM)
OP: Political correctness run amok. Smart minds are amused by it.
I don't think Americans are anti-British (well, the
real
Americans.) Ever since the U.S. became a superpower Americans have generally lost their inferiority complex and have become smug about their country's global status. It's the Brits who have issues with their cousins from across the pond ever since 1783 and when the U.S. replaced them as the one who calls the shots who everyone loves to hate.
After all tomorrow is another day. -
Screen_O_Genic — 10 years ago(January 29, 2016 02:54 AM)
As for hyphenated nationalities, it's merely a reflection of reality. If a race created or contributed most to the founding and maintenance of a country, and that race is the majority, then naturally they'll be accorded the eminence they deserve. Whites created and maintain America as we know it, so it'll be silly and insulting to hyphenate them. And since the nation as we know it has always been inhabited by multiple races the hyphens are used to distinguish those who aren't of the founding majority. You don't call a black South African as such because his people have lived in that land and its continent for centuries long before any other race and his people are the majority. It'll be redundant. But one can definitel5b4y call a person of European descent who's from there a white South African. It's as simple as that.
After all tomorrow is another day. -
activista — 9 years ago(June 25, 2016 04:50 AM)
@ScreenOGenic
Whites created and maintain America as we know it, so it'll be silly and insulting to hyphenate them.
White people did not create this country by themselvesblack people built up the South for 300 years under slavery, and various other folks of color helped too. So white folks don't get to hog all the credit for it. That is what's silly and insulting to us.