Sen. Kerry's Wife Claims She Is An African American
 

I don' t know if this was posted on here (couldnt find it anywhere), but I thought this article from BET was interesting. What are your opinions? Most of the opinions was that she said nothing wrong, But do you think most may question this and could it affect the black vote? And what about the GOP?

:eek: Wow. I'm going to have to come back and read this fully and process it more.


Thank you, UM Girl, for sharing this.

It's obvious from her skin tone that she didn't mean AA it in that way. So I don't really see what the big deal is. The reason why some black people don't refer to themselves as African American is the same reason why she feels she's African American. I wasn't born in the Caribbean, but was raised in the culture. I refer to myself as Caribbean American.

Overall, I'm not offended. I think I'm more offended by the Republican group-People of Color United- using her statement as a way to get black people upset, not vote for Kerry and/or switch sides. I need them to do better and not insult our intelligence.

Heinz Kerry was born in Mozambique, in south-eastern Africa, to Portuguese parents, and at the convention she affirmed her African roots.


So she is a Portuguese woman born in Africa? Okay.

Ditto with AllSmiles' last paragraph.

Ditto. ditto

That article makes me laugh & insults me. It makes Black Americans seem stupid & simple. African-American does not automatically make you black. As a matter of fact the term can only be used to describe a person of African(nationality) descent who now has ties with America. To further clarify. I can not be called African-American although I am black. This is because I am not American. Too often this term is used in the place of Black, where Black is pretty much the term for people of Black African descent despite their present nationality. African-American is only applicable if you are also American(nationality).

All this to say that Mrs. Kerry being African-American is not an opinion. It is fact. She was born in Africa...she is African. She now lives in America & I think is a citizen. Therefore she is an African-American. Only someone who does not understand the concept that Black & African-American does not mean the same thing anywhere else but the States, would have a problem with her statement.

To think that she means it as being black is to be simple.:rolleyes:

She was born in Africa (Mozambique), so technically she's from the continent. She became an American citizen, so she's American.

Sounds simple enough to me. ;)

Does anyone remember the skit with Charlize Theron (South African) and Tracy Morgan on SNL where she claimed the same thing?

Please excuse me for crashing, but this thread intrigued me enough to call my cousin, who is bi-racial. In her words, "She knows about as much about being an African-American in the United States as I know about being a billionaire!" She had more to say, but I'll leave it at that.

Technically, THK is, of course, an American born in Africa. But it surely doesn't make her what most Americans consider an African-American.

It's not possible to ever crash. :)

I think it is comical how folks want to use her to attempt to sway votes away from Democrats and to the Republicans. No thank you, I am still voting for Kerry and Edwards.

Me, trying to sway your vote? Never. ;)

Actually, the way Monique had said it to me was so funny, I just wanted to share it.
No voting agenda intended!

Could be mistaken but I don't think she was referring to your post but to the ads attempt to "rile up" African American/Black voters. Not to be rude lol but I can't imagine any INTELLIGENT voter being convinced that from ONE random statement made by Heinz Kerry means Bush is somehow better. And no where in the statement, from what I've seen, did she say she knew what it was like to be an African American just that she was one. Which by the way we define fill-in-the-blank American she is. I'll be very very glad when this election is over and we have hopefully have another Bush out of the office.

Ditto what msn4med said. I don't get the sense that Heinz Kerry ever said that she knew/understood what it was like to be a Black person in American society. I don't think her calling herself African American is as relevant -- or the vast insult -- that folks on the right are trying to make it out to be.

VERY interesting thread :) . Personally, I think it's great that she called herself "African-American," because it challenges us to think outside the "boxes" and categories that we force people into.

A few other categories to think about:
What about Black people from Latin American countries? Most people want to look at them and automatically label them "African-American," but if you ask them, they are 100% Latino.

Or what about White people from Latin American countries or Latin American descent? Cameron Diaz, as blonde-haired and blue eyed as it gets, is of Cuban descent (1/2 Cuban on her father's side). But is she just "white"? There are plenty of people out there who look like her and are 100% Latina, but would we consider them "white" or Latina?

What about Spanish people--meaning people from SPAIN? Are they Hispanic, or European-American/White? They look "White", they are from Europe, but they speak Spanish. Are they a different "race" than Italian people just because they speak a different language?

And one category that has had me perplexed for a long time--ASIAN. When we describe someone as Asian or Asian American, we usually mean Chinese, Japenese, Korean, etc. descent, right? Do we include Indian, Sri Lankan, Pakistani people in that category? And what about RUSSIAN people? A HUGE part of Russia is in Asia. If you are Russian, from the Asian part, now living in America, does that make you Asian-American?

SIA has it right. All these labels out here are just plain dumb. You end up with sitautions like this. Its not really necessary.

I've had a few arguments about this on other forums. I believe the problem is that oftentimes people see race and ethnicity as synonyms...and they are not.

I believe Mrs. Kerry is correct in saying that she is African American because this is her ethinicity. Your ethnicity can be just about anything you want it to be and can include your nationality, place of citizenship, race, religion etc.

Co-Sign

Actually that's incorrect. Just because you are born somewhere that doesn't make you that ethnicity. Her parents are Portugese that makes her Portugese. She has an African nationality, which is totally different.

For example a kid who is born on an American army base in Germany w/ two Russian-American parents would be American by Nationality, Russian by Ethnicity.

Edited to say that neither ethnicity nor nationality necessarily determine race.

double post

Umm, markmywords...how are you saying anything different than what I am saying??? You are proving my point. Like I said, your ethnicity can be just about anything you want it to be and it can include any or all aspects of your being. She is very much at liberty to call herself Portugese American or Portugese African American, or Jewish Portugese African American or whatever she chooses. And that is my point. Ethnicity is not defined any stringent rules. It is almost limitless.

I am not agreeing with you. Your ethnicity cannot be anything you want it to be. Just b/c you live in Africa that doesn't make you African by ethnicity. Your ethnicity is your ethnic background. Where your ancestors come from. You can change nationality like the wind but you can't change your people.

That's the difference b/w an Afrikaaner and an African. Both live in Africa but the Afrikaaneers have mostly Dutch roots. So their ethnicity would be Dutch even if their nationality is South African.

*reaching for nearest reference...dictionary.com*

eth·nic·i·ty ( P ) Pronunciation Key (th-ns-t)
n.
Ethnic character, background, or affiliation.
An ethnic group.
ethnicity

n : an ethnic quality or affiliation resulting from racial or cultural ties; "ethnicity has a strong influence on community status relations"



An affiliation can be anything with which you associate yourself. Definitions of background and culture are equally broad. Therefore, ethnic groups are constantly overlapping. So, despite common belief, ethnicity is extremely broad in definition and is not limited to what you have defined it to be.

Dictionaries are never good references for debates b/c they don't capture the full essence of any word. But...


We will never agree. I just don't see how you can argue that someone can move somewhere and claim that culture. If that were true since I used to live around a lot of Jamaicans and like Chicken patties w/ Coco bread and occasionally listen to reggae then I'm West Indian by culture right? Heck no and I'm sure they would let me know that.

Ethnic groups do overlap, but moving to a new country and then claiming that ethnicity is not one of the ways it does. Heinz-Kerry lived in Africa for a period of time--so what. I lived in the south for five years that doesn't make me southern.

When people say that cultural ties also make up ethnicity they are correct. You can have two Puerto Ricans of different races who have the same ethnic background because they participate in the same cultural heritage.

For Heinz-Kerry I think you are stretching.

Well, I don't know where else I would go to get a working definition of a term outside of a book that defines terms, such as a dictionary.

Anywho, you said "since I used to live around a lot of Jamaicans and like Chicken patties w/ Coco bread and occasionally listen to reggae then I'm West Indian by culture right?" and I will clarify your statement by adding that culture is not a noun used to define people, but, the way of life of a people. Therefore, if you did live around a lot of Jamaicans and like Chicken patties w/ coco bread and occasionally listen to reggae music, and you assimilated other aspects of the Jamaican culture, then, by all means claim it if you wish. (I know many persons of all nationalities who do) We might just be flattered. ;)

But, on a serious note, this discussion is going nowhere. I have given you the evidence to support my argument and we still disagree, so, let's not wear each other out. :)

Agreed

and that is how you agree to disagree...no name calling or anything.. lol. A GC FIRST!!! *just jokes, people*

anyway, this proves a point that labels are just that. Mrs. Heinz-Kerry is an African American of Portuguese descent. Does that make her black? No. I am black, but I dont consider myself African American. I can trace Native American ancestry on both sides of my family. I consider myself an American. period (but i check Black and other on forms when I need to).

A guy at my school did that - checked "African-American" instead of "white" since he was born in some country in Africa. It was so crazy b/c when he got to school, he was "white" for all intents and purposes but he was "African-American" on the application. My entering class was less than 5% of the population (there were supposedly nine of us out of almost 200) and we looked for that 9th African-American. It was so crazy to find out who it was...guess he wasn't joining the black law students association. smh

The craziest thing about it was that I don't think that he was confused b/c all of the other categories were "race" categories so why would they throw in a random category like "African-American" if it wasn't meant to indicate a race as well? I was kind of blown away by the whole thing.

SC