The Term African American

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by RoyalEmpress33

I don't like the terms Black-American, Afro-American or African-American. As someone else already stated, my skin is not black, its brown. I don't wear an afro so I'm not an Afro-American. Now, I do have African ancestry as many of you do also, but I don't want a term that ANYBODY can use. All you have to do is be of another race, be born in Africa, then move to the U.S. or vice versa. Then you can claim African-American. I don't like that. I wonder how many people of other ethnicities have done that and then got financial aid for it? I mean, if they claim this term, can someone deny them of the aid? That money could have been mine.

I'm a Brown American.

So you'd say your color is dog poodoo or mud?

No, I'm skeerrrioussssssssssssssss. Because I get tired of the lack of pride from those who ashamed of their African enslavement ancestry. So what, SOME of my ancestors were raped and pillage, sent on waters, rounded up and herded in like chattel. That is what I have ALLOWED to be defined to me.

Your only concern that you can change is: But who defines you? What are you all about? Who ARE YOU? (I don't need to know these answers to these questions)

Why are you worried about others getting money and outdoing you? Are you worried that you might actually not be that good according to what others are saying?

The other issue is you need to do some research in your heritage. Not all things are horrendous. And when will you forgive the folks that kidnapped, enslaved and segregated us? Why do you give a rat's ass about a Klansmen or a Nazi?

Maybe the person you have difficulty with and hate is the one staring back at you in the mirror...

[BabyPiNK_FL]

I personally know more about the slavery ancestry of my Jamaican mother's background than that of my American father's.

That is a good point, we are "brown", but so are a lot of other people whom I wouldn't necessarily defined as black.

Also on wikipedia (yeah, good old "reliable internet") they discuss that there are people who are very dark brown from other parts of the word (like India)who also consider themselves black.

Then there are Africans (I remember from Real World: Voyage At Sea I think?) that an African woman told them that African-Americans aren't Africans! LOL!

So yeah, if we listened to everyone then we'd be nobody. And I'm too busy worrying about being somebody to worry about the color of my skin and the history of my people every second of everyday! So it's definitely a personal choice to go for something and stick to it and make it work for yourself.

[TotallyWicked]

Originally Posted by BabyPiNK_FL

Then there are Africans (I remember from Real World: Voyage At Sea I think?) that an African woman told them that African-Americans aren't Africans! LOL!

/Hijack

that was from Road Rules: Semester At Sea, that was good episode, Ayanna (who was offended by the speaker's remark of "If you're not born in Africa, you shouldn't be calling yourself African American), was assigned to visit a Black African family (other teams visited a European family, another visited a Muslim family). She said in her confessionals that she was upset "if I'm not African American then what am I?". She told the family she was staying with, and they quickly disregarded it saying "Oh you should have told her to shut up!" LOL

Just thought i'd bring that up

/End Hijack

[Sista]

Originally Posted by laylo

You kept responding to me by referring to titles, which I did not say or imply anything about. Race concepts are different from titles. If you were also talking about concepts, it didn't seem that way from what you wrote.

Say's who?

You conveniently avoided my questions, here they are again...

Please, you tell me, is there a such thing as a limitation on concepts of any nature? In this mattere race. If so, was what I discussed outside of the limit? Let me remind you. Again, outside the limit of race, concepts of race.

Is there no such thing as layers within concepts? If so, was what I discussed not one of the layers?

Is there only one degree to a concept? If so, I guess your degree was the one and the only one.

You are going to say I was discussing titles but lets make it clear. I was discussing that black people in America are having challenges when it comes to what their specific title is. Does that not fit into the scheme of this discussion?

Concept: Thought, Notion, Idea


Back @ at topic:

What do people in this discussion think about British settlers who by their own will, settled in South Africa? They were and still are racist against the black people who were already there, that being the black indigenous South Africans.

Those British people for the purposes of political reasons, as well as for many other underlining reasons, they are fighting for the right to become as South African as the real South Africans. They are fighting to be referred to as South Africans. This very same thing happened to the Aboriginals of Australia.

How does the above relate to this idea of "social constructs, social construction?"

[laylo]

Originally Posted by Sista

Say's who?

You conveniently avoided my questions, here they are again...

Please, you tell me, is there a such thing as a limitation on concepts of any nature? In this mattere race. If so, was what I discussed outside of the limit? Let me remind you. Again, outside the limit of race, concepts of race.

Is there no such thing as layers within concepts? If so, was what I discussed not one of the layers?

Is there only one degree to a concept? If so, I guess your degree was the one and the only one.

You are going to say I was discussing titles but lets make it clear. I was discussing that black people in America are having challenges when it comes to what their specific title is. Does that not fit into the scheme of this discussion?

Concept: Thought, Notion, Idea

I did not say or suggest that you were off topic of the discussion, I explained that your interpretation of my statements was incorrect. You interpreted me as saying that people should accept the label society gives them, which is not what I was saying. Generally when any social theorist refers to concepts of race, they are referring to an understanding of the existence of race and what race means in itself, not individuals' racial categorizations of themselves. So when you referred to my point as letting others title me, you were referring to my point inaccurately.

[Sista]

Originally Posted by laylo

I did not say or suggest that you were off topic of the discussion, I explained that your interpretation of my statements was incorrect. You interpreted me as saying that people should accept the label society gives them, which is not what I was saying. Generally when any social theorist refers to concepts of race, they are referring to an understanding of the existence of race and what race means in itself, not individuals' racial categorizations of themselves. So when you referred to my point as letting others title me, you were referring to my point inaccurately.

You made it a point to say that everyone in this topic was talking about Social Construction, if they were, that was not what this topic was totally about, this topic is about race period especially for black people and anything black people have to say concerning this topic is no more or less relevant than your idea of social construction. When you made it a point to say that everyone was talking about Social Construction, you eluded that I was the only one who was not. That is why my interpretation of what you said was that, I was off topic. I believe you know that but you are rather good at twisting things to look good in your direction.

This is what the initial poster of this topic said...

"I think the term african-american is not a good term for people who are of african descent,my family are from jamaica and since they live in the u.s. they should be called jamaican american or afro caribbean american.i call myself jamaican american,african american should be for people how were born in africa not america.


tell me what you think..."

If this person is not talking about titles or the ethnic labels black people have, I don't know what he or she is talking about. However, I woudln't say your idea as well as other peoples idea on Social Construction does not fall into the concept of what the initial poster is talking about but hey, what i wass talking about also falls into the scheme/context of this discussion as well.


Again, Attempting to Redirect:


What do people in this discussion think about British settlers who by their own will, settled in South Africa? They were and still are racist against the black people who were already there, that being the black indigenous South Africans.

Those British people for the purposes of political reasons, as well as for many other underlining reasons, they are fighting for the right to become as South African as the real South Africans. They are fighting to be referred to as South Africans. This very same thing happened to the Aboriginals of Australia.

How does the above relate to this idea of "social constructs, social construction?"

[laylo]

Originally Posted by Sista

You made it a point to say that everyone in this topic was talking about Social Construction, if they were, that was not what this topic was totally about, this topic is about race period especially for black people and anything black people have to say concerning this topic is no more or less relevant than your idea of social construction. When you made it a point to say that everyone was talking about Social Construction, you eluded that I was the only one who was not. That is why my interpretation of what you said was that, I was off topic. I believe you know that but you are rather good at twisting things to look good in your direction.

No, I said "other posters", not "every poster". And there was no implication in any of my posts that you were the only one doing anything.

Originally Posted by Sista

This is what the initial poster of this topic said...

"I think the term african-american is not a good term for people who are of african descent,my family are from jamaica and since they live in the u.s. they should be called jamaican american or afro caribbean american.i call myself jamaican american,african american should be for people how were born in africa not america.


tell me what you think..."

If this person is not talking about titles or the ethnic labels black people have, I don't know what he or she is talking about. However, I woudln't say your idea as well as other peoples idea on Social Construction does not fall into the concept of what the initial poster is talking about but hey, what i wass talking about also falls into the scheme/context of this discussion as well.

Again, I did not say your statements were inappropriate for this thread, I explained that your responses to me included incorrect interpretations of my statements.

[RoyalEmpress33]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

So you'd say your color is dog poodoo or mud?

No, I'm skeerrrioussssssssssssssss. Because I get tired of the lack of pride from those who ashamed of their African enslavement ancestry. So what, SOME of my ancestors were raped and pillage, sent on waters, rounded up and herded in like chattel. That is what I have ALLOWED to be defined to me.

Your only concern that you can change is: But who defines you? What are you all about? Who ARE YOU? (I don't need to know these answers to these questions)

Why are you worried about others getting money and outdoing you? Are you worried that you might actually not be that good according to what others are saying?

The other issue is you need to do some research in your heritage. Not all things are horrendous. And when will you forgive the folks that kidnapped, enslaved and segregated us? Why do you give a rat's ass about a Klansmen or a Nazi?

Maybe the person you have difficulty with and hate is the one staring back at you in the mirror...

Your response to what I typed is totally off base. You don't have a clue as to what I was trying to convey. Let me explain.

And before I proceed, let me just reiterate that this forum is about whether you had an issue with any of the terms: Black American, Afro American, and African American. I stated my opinion. If YOU go by any of those terms, that's your business. But if I say I want to be referred to as something else or nothing at all, that's mine. And just because I chose to do something different doesn't mean I'm lacking pride as you seem to be insinuating.

Ok. Why don't you answer your very first question as to whether I consider my color as "poo" or "mud"? What the hell kind of question is that? I mean, would you? I wouldn't and I don't. I'm not in that frame of mind to refer to my color as such. I'm not even thinking like that. Why would you even ask something that asinine?

Next, I agree with you about people not being proud of their heritage and race. You must be under the impression that I'm not proud of who I am or want to acknowledge where I came from and that's far from the truth. What I said was not stated to discredit my African ancestry or have a lack of pride about where I came from. I know I have African ancestry. And you know what? Contrary to what YOU might believe, and I don't really care what you do or don't, I do. Ask anybody that knows me, and they will tell you that I'm very much proud of where I came from. Your reading a little to deeply into what I was saying.

As for your question about financial aid and all that, it was a RHETORICAL QUESTION. Not something that was supposed to be literally answered. Just something to ponder about. Stop analyzing everything. I'm not WORRIED about anybody "outdoing" me or others doing BETTER than me, it was just something that crossed my mind. Aren't I allowed to at least think about something? Is it an abomination to have something simply pop up in my head? Its not that big of a deal. Well, not to me anyway.

Since when were YOU certified to tell me that I need to do some "research" about my heritage? Who are YOU supposed to be? What did I say about my ancestry that was so "horrendous" to you? Don't put words in my mouth. I have never done such a thing and NEVER would. I would appreciate it if you could go back and show me in my original post where I somehow down graded my ancestors. Where in my original post did I say anything about a damn Nazi or Klansman? Who said that I didn't "forgive" the people that enslaved mine? Who said I gave a rat's ass? Where is all this slavery talk coming from? I didn't mention it. Apparently it must be on YOUR mind, not mine because you were the one that brought it up.

One last question, who said I hated myself? I've never said such a thing or thought that either. Since you like to break everything down, go back to my post, read it again and show me where I posted that and repost it for me to see. I want to see this. I LOVE myself. I look in the mirror everyday and say it.

Anyway, back to Troy86. Thank you for posting this. I've wondered about this subject for a while now.

--Thank you and have a nice day.