African American vs Black vs African American

[mccoyred]

Your (and others') reasons are precisely why I believe we should identify ourselves as Black and not African-American:

1) many Black people in this country are not American;
2) most Black people in this country are multi-racial or multi-ethnic;
3) we should identify with others in the Diaspora around the world who share our African ancestry and hence our struggles.

Also as a previous poster indicated, there are a number of groups around the world who 'look Black' (ie Hindu Indians, Arabs,etc) but do not identify with our struggles. These people are not included in my definition!

So you see, the same reasons why you insist we should call ourselves African-American are precisely why I feel we should not.

BTW, the name 'Africa' is a European appellation that we can reject for a number of reasons. I'm doing some additional research to back up some thoughts I have on that subject so I'll get back to that subject later.

Originally posted by The Original Ape:
In attempts to be "Politically Correct", most places of employment and govt agencies now label the boxes "African-American"; and thank God they do so. Most of us don't know why we should call ourselves such. Being members of Greek-Lettered organizations(and thus leaders of our people), we especially should demonstrate pride in the origin of our people, and how we classify ourselves.

I started a thread addressing this issue some time ago on the Alpha line. I acknowledged the fact that most "black" people here are really bi-racial or multi-racial. My father was 1/4 Seminole, and my mother is African-American. I am proud of BOTH heritages. I refuse, unlike so many other people in this country, to deny my African ancestry and just simply claim to be Seminole; doing so would leave me half-defined. I am proud of both, but will acknowledge the one most people see when they see me;and that is the African-American part of me. Like Peter Tosh said: No matter where you come from; just as long as you're a black man, YOU'RE AN AFRICAN!!!

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MCCOYRED

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