Why are black Americans called "African Americans"?

Right on the money bonbon. Anyone born in the United States are Americans period. I have nothing against hispanics, blacks, chinese, italian, irish etc. When the lights are out we are all the same you can't tell us all apart. I take partial afront to anyone choosing to call themselves Afro-Americans, Irish-Americans, Luso-Americans, Franco-Americans, Sino-Americans, Spanish-Americans, etc. etc. The message that the US born blacks and hispanics send to me is that they are prouder of their African/Hispanic heritage than they are of simply being an American just like the rest of us. What gripes me even more is the fact that most of the Afro-Americans don't even know where Africa is let alone know anything about the countries their ancestors came from. So why should the prefix Afro have so much importance). This was never a problem for me when I worked in the government and many of my co-workers were black. This was pre-Roots days. I respected them as people not as blacks. The color of their skin made no impact on me one way or the other. I imagine, however, that my being from Maine where blacks make up less that 1% of the population has a bearing on my not being predjudiced. My first contact was when I was in Junior College, there was a black (known as negro in those days) girl sitting next to me in several classes. We became good friends and remained so a number of years until we lost contact. I have no idea what I should be called using these guidelines. 7 of my ancestors arrived on the Mayflower...some were from England, one was from France, one was Scottish and one was from Wales. So does that make me an Anglo-Franco-Scottish-Gaelic-American? Whew....makes me tired just thinking about it. I am not a racist by any stretch of the imagination, never have been and don't ever intend to be. We are all Americans and that should suffice for all of us. United we stand, divided we fall.

I've asked this question before. It seems to divide people and it also seems unneccessary. I guess it helps to classify people, so as to clarify, but I think with so many different ethnicities in AMerica, especialyl when African Americans are usually Americans that have been here for generations and generations.

Ya man!!! u hav gat a point.....It's even racist to call somebody 'African American'...