I prefer black because I hate when people refer to people who are black from other countries (like my mom) as African-American. I have heard people say things like "He is African-American from the Bahamas" or seen newspaper articles with things like "Thandie Newton, an African-American actress" when they fully acknowledge that she is from ENGLAND. I just drop my jaw, it's downright ignorant!
I have even heard a woman "school" a white lady in Wal-mart that she should not refer to their daughter as black because she is A-A. Well, how in the hell is the woman supposed to know? It's easier to see that someone is more likely than not black skinned, than it is to know where they are from. I am vehemently against the term African-American. I'm about as African as a Swede.
On Oprah, many years ago, I saw a white lady raised in Ethiopia who currently live in the U.S. She said that she was African-American. People like this more than qualify. I, however, do not feel that I do.
__________________
I am not my hair. I am not this skin . I am the soul that lives within.
|