I think I stay too long in the shower

because we're stupid. duh.

I was told it was impolite to say African American that you're just supposed to say black. R is right. We're not black or white we're just American

African-Americans when abroad just say American

Many self identify as American while not abroad too. There's two parts to the equation- what others call us, and what we call ourselves. Not every person of Irish decent calls themselves Irish American either, not every lighter skinned person identifies as white, and may be a mix of things or just a lighter skinned member of a group usually not considered "white" such as Latino or Hispanic. The point is that the original question is nonsense.

Uhm, I mostly agree, but you're aware though where the "black" people in Jamaica and Haiti came from, right?

That reminds me of this white kid from South Africa who applied for a us scholarship for " African Americans " and got expelled from his school for it even though he is African American

*facepalm*

@halfdeadhammerhead- sorry. I had a new post thing here, and my browser defaulted to this area. I didn’t check the date before posting and didn’t realize the new comment was below and this was from a year ago.

I don't know why you got downvoted. I will say that I wouldn't consider it racist to consider oneself African American without confirmation, just as many claim to be a certain ethnicity from anecdotal evidence or family lore, then find out through DNA tests or other proof they aren't of the ancestry they think they are. But externally yes. You can't assume a country or continent of origin just by looking at most any person.

You are very correct, and not every "African American" is black (first two examples that spring to mind Charlize Theron and Elon Musk), and not every black person is African American (had a friend who was very adamant they were *Not* African American, they were Jamaican) but until the language is eventually settled (as in the past...50? years it's cycled through at least three main terms) that's what it'll be for the moment. It's no different than the Caucasian, Caucasian non-Hispanic specification for some.

Are you guys fucking retarded? White people come from Europe, black people come from Africa. Black people came to the carribean as slaves for the european white people to work in their "colonies" (= violently stolen real estate), after the indigenous population turned to be shitty slaves, So they killed them and got better slaves from Africa, like every white nation did, even when they cost money and had to be imported. Local non-whites(= sub-humans) just died to fast or ran away.

All people come from Africa near as science can figure to start. Secondly- most people consider Russians white and they are from Asia, not Europe, just as an example. "Black" and "white" are social constructs not precise classifications that can be used to dertermine anything about a person beyond how much melanin they have compared to the speaker. In many places in the world Cubans and Latin Americans are also called "black." At the first guest- it is common at the moment but many terms including sluts have been common and acceptable for different groups. Words like these change through usage, and through people being conscious of these things. As we see here in this thread- many are sadly misinformed, or ignorant.

^^

Plus, if you change "correct" terms every couple decades (now, People of Color is correct) you get to belittle anyone who slips up and uses the old preferred term because it's now offensive. Added bonus: you get to criticize anyone you want to if he/she uses the new term because there will still be people who identify with the old term. I recall a man saying, "Don't call me African American! I'm black!" in about 1992.

You'll always offend someone. There are indigenous Americans who hate the term "Indian" and others who identify as "Indian." Some feel that either term are disrespectful because they are names given by conquerors and feel they should be called by their tribal names. In reality nothing is ever so simple when you're dealing with individuals. The key is that we shouldn't belittle people for trying to be respectful- but there's nothing wrong with correcting people so they know better. You have a name and a user name. Likely nicknames too. But I can call you whatever you want. If you tell me your name is "sally" or "john" and we aren't close- you'll likely get offended if I call you something else, especially if you've told me repeatedly not to call you the other names. as for change- it took awhile to recognize "blacks" as even human. A lot is taking what we can get if it's a step in the right direction, and fine tuning as society becomes more accepting of the idea of respect and equality.

We aren’t all Africans

Thanks a lot Jesse Jackson

What the hell is “African?” Someone born in Africa who moved away never to return at 2 months old? Someone born in France who moved to Africa and never left for 50 years? Someone with some ancestry that can be traced to Africa? Are white South Africans “African” because they can trace their roots to Africa for a couple hundred years? Most of them seem to think so. If your parents are American humans and your born on Mars are you a Martian? A Martian American? A human Martian? Here’s the thing- you probably aren’t African, and even being born in Africa doesn’t necessarily make you African. But there is, based on pretty much every single thing that the combined human sciences and study can tell us, along with an overwhelming majority consensus of all the field matter experts on earth- an almost certain chance that you could trace the origins of your genetics, or some component of your genetics, to a group of people who at the earliest are traced to migration from Africa.