Why I won't say "African American"

Disclaimer: This is a fairly touchy subject. I am in no way a racsist, nor am I pointing fingers at one particular group. I am just posting my experience and thoughts, as honestly as I can.

At work today, a customer came in and bought a product. Well, the customer left, forgetting to bring one of his purchased items with him.

I asked a co-worker," where'd that guy go?"
Co-worker " what guy?"
Me " that black guy who was just here"

Co-worker (who is black): " you mean African American"
Me: " if that's the label you prefer, then yes, the African American. But to me, I don't need labels. I'm white, you're black. It doesn't mean anything, it's just person to person talk."

Well, this really got to me. Am I wrong for not saying African American? I felt rather guilty.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it's just a label. No one says to me, European American; no, I'm the whiteboy. If I were to reverse that, just think of the stink it would cause. It doesn't bother me. I AM white, some people are black, and so on and so on. But I'm not going to put on a false front. I am not going to be PC, because that's the trend right now.
In the 70's I believe Afro-American was the label, before that negro, before that colored, and before that the "n" word. For whites it was "honkey", now it's "cracker". Not saying any of these labels are right. I'm just saying they're labels. Maybe that's why I will stick to saying "black" and "white". I don't want to be accused of rascism for saying the wrong PC term that is "in" this year.

I just speak my mind, try to look at everyone equally, and call someone an ***hole, when they deserve it.

Just my feelings, nothing more. Please correct me if you think I am wrong.

I think that you were right in what you said.

I read and re-read your post, tried to read it as if I was "black" "african american" whatever...
I wouldn't have taken any offense to your statement.

On the same lines why is it that blacks can call each other n******'s but if someone who has white skin even mentions the word its discrimination?

Blacks were treated very unfairly in the past but I think that some, not all, would like for all people who are white to be treated the same way.

On the same lines why is it that blacks can call each other n******'s but if someone who has white skin even mentions the word

you can call a black guy that just dont be suprised when you get popped in the mouth...

I don't know what it's like in America, i live in Canada and the racism here is near 0%. Personally black white yellow red are the basic colors of our 4 main races, people need to get over their insecurities, i see nothing wrong in what you said, i dont care if im called white or even whitey for that matter, it's humorous and i think people are far too personal.

Such a difficult subject.

I just avoid these things by ignoring the color in conversation. Although, I would say something like "You know, Dave, the tall black guy?", but I wouldn't mean anything racist by that and I would hope black people wouldn't be offended by it.

How does 'cracker' mean white guy?


[Edited on 19-11-2003 by Zzub]

How does 'cracker' mean white guy?

A cracker is someone from the state of Georgia.
A slave state way back when, with a large black population.

we had a thread a few weeks ago...
If you were mother nature and could change us...

I posted that I would make everyone Purple !!

remember seeing the drawing of the purple "thing" that someone posted as to what we would look like based on everyone's suggestions ?

my cousin who is from Georgia ( and white by the way )
used to call me a "light weight saltine"

Not really the same thing as you are talking about, but I find the term "African American" confusing. During the last summer Olympics the announcers kept saying that Marion Jones is the first African American female athlete to do such and such. I thought to myself, is she the first black woman from the US to do this, or the first black woman in the world to do it. I wasn't sure because they kept saying African "American".

I looked into it and I found out what they actually meant was that she was the first black woman from any country to accomplish what she did.

If they had said Black I would have known what they meant, saying African American just confuses it. If people find the term Black offensive, then I think a better term than African American should be found.

we had a thread a few weeks ago...

How can I find this thread? I would be interested in reading post from it.

Thanks

Thanks, nathraq.

I'll never understand racism. To have that much hate-energy... I really can't understand it.

People are people, I judge them by thier actions, not by the color of skin.

I won't say African American, either, or for that matter Latin American, or any of the other "politcally correct" crap. Like you mentioned, I am not European American. Maybe, when people FIRST COME TO THIS COUNTRY they should still be called by what their nationality is. BUT WHEN YOU ARE BORN IN AMERICA, YOU ARE AMERICAN.

Same thing in regards to payment for the decendants of slaves. I my not like slavery, but it happened over a hundred years ago. If you make the arguement that your great grandparents were stolen from their homes and forced to live in another country, and now you want money to make yourself sleep better at night? MOVE BACK.

I am not racist, nor am I biget. I don't like ignorant people or those who carry a chip on their shoulders. I don't like people getting special treatment because of skin color (on the same note, I don't like people being prosecuted for skin color, either).

There will be some who say "You don't know what it is like" or "You've never been the victim of". Really? I have to hide my religious beliefs. I can't say what I want to say without idiots labeling me . But I am a victim... do you know how hard it is to be "the man" and repress the rest of the world? That puts alot of strain on me.

Anyway, back to the subject:
IF YOU ARE BORN IN AMERICA, YOU ARE AMERICAN. THAT'S IT

nathraq -

I don't know how to post a link to a thread...

go to search here at ATS and type in
"if you were mother nature" it should take you there.

Originally posted by sirCyco
On the same lines why is it that blacks can call each other n******'s but if someone who has white skin even mentions the word

you can call a black guy that just dont be suprised when you get popped in the mouth...

Thats true unless its Jesse Jackson then you get popped by a couple million lawsuits and the Rainbow Coalition.

Personally, I think anyone who gets all pissy about Political Correctivness lacks any knowledge of the workings of Real Politics and what is or isn't Correct in today's world. When it comes to Race issues like this one, the one's who spend too much time b!tching about the ideal pigeon hole, steriotypical label or what is today's accepted term of people classification, are in fact Racists! People who have moved beyond Race issues tend not to worry or feel the need to debate such issues. So I'd say you're just fine and your co-worker needs to evaluate his surroundings some more.

To be technical about it, Race and Nationality don't always go hand in hand. If someone is Born in America they are American plain and simple, even if they are White, Black, Brown, Plaid or Polka-dot. Mexican-American, African-American or whatever, is just American. If you're white and born in Africa would you be called American-African. Or what about Oriental-American's? Is that supposed to be said also? Like you pointed out, are there any European-Americans, Russian-Americans, etc. No. By doing so it just makes Race an issue once again because it's labeling people under different classes. Besides, the last I checked Black's are proud to be Black, call each other Black (or even worse!) and don't find it rude to be called black either. If somebody alerts me that they want to be called "Lord Jedi Master" ahead of time, fine, whatever. Until then however I believe the traditional terms work just fine as long as nobody is a A$$Hole about it or uses the term in an insulting way. Being "White" and associated with "The Man" or "Souless, Uptighte, Pompus Whitey" all the time is the same idiotic nonsense in reverse. The cultures of the world have started to mix especially in America, which is what America has always been, ever since the Europeans stole it. Nobody even bothers to bring up the fact that Native American's are still stuck with Native-American's when they may have had another term besides America and might like Native-(Something else here). Even worse is saying they're Indian since that was a total mistake all together! Let's hope someday the Human Race will get past such things and move to bigger issues. Better yet, maybe even respect the differences between us all, as something interesting rather than something to fear and destroy.

It's a thread for our PC expert.

I agree with the original poster, but what would you call a guy of Mexican decent who has never been to Mexico and whos parents have never been to Mexico?

Would he be the Brown Guy?
The Hispanic?
The Mexican American?
The Mexican lookin guy???

I got a friend who is black and he said something and referred to himself as "African American". I said, "I didn't know you were from Africa?" He just stared at me for a minute until he understood what I meant. Many white people are born in Africa and come to the U.S., yet they aren't called "African American". Only blacks that have never even been there are called that.

I always use the term "black" for the same reasons as you nathraq.