Is African-American a racist term?
By nykid29
@nykid29 (712)
United States
April 3, 2007 1:40pm CST
I was thinking about this the other day. Why do Americans call black people African-Americans? If someone from another country comes here and they are of African decent, they are automactically African-American, but in other countries they do not call them that. Also, why is it only black people called like that? What happened to the Chinese-American, Mexican-American, Canadian-American or German-American? If you do think about it though, we do call them that, but thats only when you are filling out papers and things of that sort not in public as a whole. So why do we have to be so different? What are your thought?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@stacyv81 (5903)
• United States
3 Apr 07
From the africans I know they do not like to be grouped with african americans. I dont really like the term, as I think we are all americans, but I am caucasian, so I guess I dont really have a say in it. I think it was coined as a politically correct term to describe a group of people. I dont think white, or black really describes anyone either, as no one is really white or black. Evidently "African Americans" are called this because most African Americans still have about 80% of african DNA. Who knows where it came from or why, but from what I have heard around where I live, that is what they choose to be called. There are chinese americans, mexican americans, but most of the time they are just called mexican or chinese. The problem is African Americans are americans, not africans, so, maybe that is why...Why cant we all just be Americans?
@stacyv81 (5903)
• United States
3 Apr 07
well, before they had different names, colored, blacks, etc. but I think that some didnt like that as it pertained to names they were called during slavery. And so they came up with the "politcally correct" term, when really if you ask me the PC term would be american, But its america, what do you expect ya know?
@evelynlyp (788)
• Japan
3 Apr 07
I think it has to do with the fact that the blacks in America were kept as slaves. Only the hardiest survived the trip from Africa to America. As slaves they were treated like animals. Owners will "breed" them to get new slaves who are bigger and stronger so they lift more and are more hardier. In time they created a different kind of people.
African American eventually became different from Blacks from Africa.
@wmg2006 (5381)
• United States
5 Apr 07
I always thought this term came Jesse Jackson who has always been a spokesperson for this group. The blacks of America have had many names and most of those names were coined by their own people. They have used different terms to differentiate themselves from the white man. Here is an actual account of this.
Dunn said the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the 1980s introduced the term ''African-American'' because it connected blacks to the continent of Africa just as Chinese Americans are connected with China. Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, is one of America's foremost civil rights, religious and political figures.
