Some Blacks insist: 'I'm not African-American'

LOL, dudes get sprung on that exotic mix. Some brothas would give a left arm for the much talked about redbones and yellow bones down South.

I know cats that say they don't date white girls, but they like the lightest black girls they can find with every mixture thrown in.

 

Exactly! Never understood that. And all that red bone high yellow nonsense never appealed to me either. I like pretty women period I just happen to prefer ww since our interests usually align more.

 

Most people say African-American or Black and either one is fine with me.

 

LOL!! That always trips me out. I knew a guy who was used to thump his chest about "not betraying his sisters" and has a girlfriend that looked like Rashida Jones (and yes, she was a dime). This guy would try to lecture me because I dated white women. When I pointed out his girl's skin tone and features, he accused me of trying to "throw her out of the race" (whatever, dude)

As for the discussion, I prefer 'black' - at least until something better comes along (which AA is NOT). I haven't referred to myself as "African-American" since probably the mid-90s when I started meeting real African-Americans (i.e., Senegalese-Americans, Nigerian-Americans, Ethiopian-Americans, etc) and seeing that the cultural differences were not minor.

The other reason is that Africa is a huge continent with many ethnic groups, language groups, tribes and cultures indigenous to it. If you visit North Africa (which I have) you will see many lighter skinned individuals, while in Sub-Saharan African you have dark skinned people. In East Africa, you will see darker people with "sharp" features. Then there are all the different cultures and languages in each region. Yet they are all jumbled into one group called "African". I cringe when someone says "African culture" and they are referring to one particular culture within Africa

As mentioned by someone else here, you don't see people lump French, Irish, German, and Italian cultures all into some crude amalgam called "European" when they are talking about culture. And you certainly don't see very many whites referring to themselves as "European-Americans".

 

Excellent points Darkseid.

 

Rep coming.

 

I think you made a valid point with the part of your post in bold. Some of those stereotypes are identified with uneducated people.

Also, in Nigeria even though we are all regarded as Nigerians, we have over 250 ethnic groups with over 500 languages. Yet, we all still identify with the Nigerian label, inspite of the our enormous diversity, although within Nigerian communities outside the shores of the country and in many city centers in the country you might tend to see ethnic cleavages.

Africans are diverse in culture and in world outlook.There are particular ethnicities that hardly travel outside of my country. Nevertheless, I would say there is a lot of identification with the "African American " culture and it has influenced many cultures within Africa, possibly because there are bits and pieces in the culture that one instinctively connects with and maybe because it represents the many African cultures that melted into what formed part of what later defined the " African- American culture".

 

Cosign bro. My sentiments exactly. Never been big on the whole darkskin vs lightskin thing. I know what I like and go for that as far as the type of white girls I dig.

:smt043:smt043:smt043

Yep, I've ran across those "conscious" brothas before.

Talking all that yack about man how you get down with the white devil and their girl is as bright as a halogen lamp. I mean I'm not knocking their taste but I'm gonna do me and you do you.

 

Dudes like that are hella insecure
When people feel the need to tell you about your choices it usually means they aren't sure about their own.

 

I prefer African-American.

You do enough traveling abroad and just label yourself "black", some people will disrespect you. There is no history or a connection to a country just being "black". Many smart people know all AA are not thugs or gang bangers. They know the american media propaganda better than most.

Black Wall Street, Rosewood, John H. Johnson, Thurgood Marshall, Benjamin O. Davis, Civil Rights Movement, Obama, etc., etc. Too many black men and historical challenges that I respect and will always be with me to just blow them off.

To each his own though, I'm not downing others just saying what works for me.

 

This is true. However when I travel overseas, I identify as an American - full stop. That blue passport with the eagle on it is pretty powerful

 

Amen sir. People abroad aren't as hung up on this race shit as we are.

 

whats funny is that in white america or other ethnic groups for that m,athere is no major discussion about this. they have no problem saying irish american or italian american or asian american but at the same they didnt have to go thru the same shit we did and did not lose their culture like we did

 

I say either Black-American or Afro-American. I remember the Black Power movement,African dress,and changing Negro to Black. African-American belongs to Kenyans,South Africans,Namibians,Liberians,etc. I was suprised no Black person cared about Liberia since it was former slaves who made that country and named locations after American places since they had lived on plantations or being freedpersons. That classification made by Jesse Jackson more than 20 years is a bit weird to me.

 

Include me as one of those who identifies as Black American of African descent.....by definition any white person from Africa is African American...i.e South African and Charlize Theron

 

Yes,those Afrikaaners and the colonizers from Britain and France whose ancestors lived on those estates in those African countries.

 

That is exactly what he told me... name was changed to avoid the hatred that went on due to the wars and change of the boarders etc. I am part Scandinavian, perhaps Slavic and then whatever ethnicity my American grandfather was.. American doesn't say much
. He could be from anywhere.

 

Neither am I. African-American is too wordy. I say Black or Black American. Plus its confusing since individually I have only superficial connection to the continent.

 

"Irish-American" or "Italian American" is different than "Asian American". This illustrates my point about the term "African-American". An Asian-American can be a person descended from disparate places as India, Nepal, Japan or China, yet they are all lumped into a single, crude category. This is why I try to avoid using "Asian-American".