[Susan]

Why do black people like to be called African American when they weren't born there? They call white people white. People would think I was nuts if I started demanding people refer to me as Irish American. If they want to be referred to as African, why don't they move?

User Detail :  

Name : Susan, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Wiccan, Age : 22, City : Parma, State : OH Country : United States, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Middle class, 

[Denise]

Heritage. Are you Irish American? Is that where your family is from? Well, since my ancestors are from Africa, I chose to honor them with this description ...particularly given some of the names others have chosen to call me. I also have the ability to chose to live wherever I wish, be it America or Africa, but I chose HERE because.... since my ancestors had no choice in the decision to come to this country, but worked hard overcoming all types of obstacles to survive in this country, invested their blood, sweat and tears in this country...that makes me a full fledged citizen of THIS country, where I have the RIGHT to call myself by whatever name I chose. You too have those rights -- to call yourself by whatever name you chose, to honor or not honor your ancestry with some descriptor, AND to chose to go back to Ireland, if that is where your family is from.

User Detail :  

Name : Denise, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 36, City : Atlanta, State : GA Country : United States, Occupation : budgeting, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Katie]

Not all African Americans want to be refered to as African Americans that is something that the goverment has bestowed upon them. Just because you are black does not mean you are African you could be; Haitian, Dominican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, many different things. But if they want to be refered to as African American they have a right to be with out being told to go back to Africa.

User Detail :  

Name : Katie, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Age : 22, City : Loveladn, State : CO Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Cynthia31741]

I know many people, whether American or Canadian who refer to themselves as XXXXX-Canadian or XXXXX-American (i.e. Italian-American, German-Canadian). The only people who don't do so are people of known English descent (unless you're in Quebec, where anyone English speaking is an 'English-Canadian'). Therefore, in some circles, you'd be referred to as Irish-American.

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Name : Cynthia31741, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Age : 22, City : Somewhere, State : NA Country : Canada, 

[EBONI]

IT JUST REMINDS US WHERE WE COME FROM. ON APPLICATION WHY DON'T THEY JUST ASK ARE WE AMERICAN. WHY DOES RACE HAVE TO GO INTO EFFECT AT ALL. I SURE YOU DON'T SEE IRISH AMERICAN ON THE APPLICATION, BUT THERE IS AFRICAN AMERICAN. WE ARE NOT ASHAMED TO STATE THATS IS WHERE OUR PEOPLE ARE FROM, ORIGINATED FROM. AND YOU SHOULD ALSO STATE THAT YOUR ARE IRISH AMERICAN IT IS YOUR HERITAGE. i'M AMERICAN BUT IF YOU WANT TO DID THEN I'LL STATE AFRICAN AMERICAN. WHY SHOULD YOU RUSH ME BACK TO AFRICAN THAT IS WHERE MY HISTORY IS FROM BUT JUST BECAUSE I'M PROUD DOESN'T MEAN THAT I WANT TO GO BACK, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO GO AND VISIT. IF YOU SAY THAT YOU'RE IRISH AMERICAN I'M NOT GOING TO SAY GO BACK TO IRELAND. YOU ARE JUST TELLING ME WHERE YOUR ANCESTORS ARE FROM

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Name : EBONI, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Catholic, Age : 27, City : OAK PARK, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : BENEFIT ADMINISTRATOR, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Selena]

I am 'African-American'. I myself don't really care for the lable 'African-American'. I've never been in Africa, do not speak an african language, and my ancestors were not immigrants. I'm simply American. If you want to know what color I am,it's black; this can also be argued.

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Name : Selena, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 21, City : Frankfurt, State : NA Country : Germany, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Justin26846]

as a white person, i rarely have to define myself by my race.

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Name : Justin26846, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Gary]

Perhaps for the same reason some people refer to themselves as 'Italian-Americans':-) I have sat in a room full of Blacks of varying ages and heard them say that some preferred 'Black', some preferred 'African-American' and some preferred 'Negro'. Different generations preferred different 'labels'.

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Name : Gary, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Methodist, Age : 45, City : Dallas, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Trainer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Michael E.]

Personally I don't think most Black People like to be called African American. The African American term is used mostly by white people. First because it is 'cleaner' persay than using the term 'Black' which I myself along with most 'Black People' prefer. African American is used for a number of reasons one: to remind us of our hertiage and two it is 'cleaner' and socially correct to say African American as opposed to black. The term African American I think was coined by Jessie Jackson and we all know he had his own agenda.

User Detail :  

Name : Michael E., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 47, City : Burleson, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Inventory Manager, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Jennifer31033]

Honestly, what's it to *you*? I'll never understand why some white people gat so up in arms about this. You may not choose to call yourself Irish American, but plenty of people of Irish descent *do*, as do Italian-Americans. Heck, for that matter, they'll sometimes omit the 'American' part altogether. Oftentimes if you ask someone whose ancestors come from Korea but who have lived here all their lives 'what they are', they'll often either say Asian or Korean. If you ask an American whose religion is Judaism 'what they are', many times, they will say Jewish. Ask an American whose ancestry is Mexican 'what they are', or simply observe how they describe themselves. This isn't always the case, but it's common enough that I don't believe you've never experienced it. Maybe you don't notice because your unconcious bigotry makes you think that only non-blacks have the right to identify themselves with their ancestry or culture without being questioned or reviled. As for your remark that if blacks want to identify with their African ancestry by adding it to their cultural appelation, they should move there, well, you're pretty hypocritical, aren't you? How would you feel if I said, 'if you aren't going to sleep with men, as most women do, why don't you go somewhere else?'

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Name : Jennifer31033, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 31, City : Saint Paul, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : Non-profit, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Ken Lim]

I think its a fashion, trendy, PC thing. Pretty silly, too. Why homogenize yourself with a 'Continent-Label'. There are so many countries, ethnicities, religions, cultures, tribes in Africa that African-American means absolutely nothing to me. Same goes for Asian-American. Why would a Mandinka or a Tutsi want to lump themselves in the same category as a Morrocan or Egyptian? Even more of a stretch - why would a Mandarin Chinese lump themselves in the same category as a Byelo-russian, a south Indian or Siberian? I don't think even White Americans should be called that except there is no other name for them. Maybe USians?

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Name : Ken Lim, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Age : 43, City : Cupertino, State : CA Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class, 

[Greg21556]

I think people want to be called African American because it is more reflective of who they are than 'black.' The reason this is important for African Americans and not for whites is that there are historically negative connotations that come along with 'black' while calling someone white is seldomly used as a slur.

User Detail :  

Name : Greg21556, City : Austin, State : TX Country : United States, 

[Ed25567]

i agree susan. i don't understand why anyone wouldn't just want to be 'american.' by definition we're a melting pot. A japanese family i know gets really mad when you refer to them as anything but 'american' and that always makes me feel really good... however, maybe someone besides me (who is german-french-scotch-irish-6th generation-american, whew!) should answer. that's what we're here for!

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Name : Ed25567, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 30, City : State, State : NY Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Sherman]

actually no one would think you were crazy for being called irish american at all, many white people are called Italian american, Irish american and so on. The fact is that my people are from the african continent and i simply acknowledge my heritage, If i were Japanese or chinese then that probably wouldnt seem so strange. that doesnt mean that i don't love this country thats why i use both african and american instead of choosing one or the other

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Name : Sherman, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 34, City : Richmond, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : contractor, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Middle class, 

[dotpr]

because white people colonized america. this is americas introduction to the 'modern-age', even though native american were quickly entering their own industrial age, europeans very much have culturally defined the modern age. much has been said about whites colonizing the americas that generally suggested we did it out of political / religious or economic reasons. while the latter is more true, the real reason we colonized the americas was because there was no were else to go. a large scale plague had recently killed most of the native north-americans leaving ample room for us to occupy.

given this, there was no reason for africans so colonize america. although there were trade routes between most of the world and america for a very long time before it was 'discovered' (note that rome, greece, egypt, china, vikings and japan all trade with america long before it's more modern day 'discovery') other peoples / nations had no need to come here. so, as the whites came we brought africans with us after either buying them in african slave markets from other africans or capturing them. this was before it had become clear that slaves were more expensive then labour (hence the 'emancipation' of black and white slave (yes there were white slaves)). the poor, slave class, suffered horribly and in an attempt to further assimilate them into a predominantly white culture, whites began to make amends for real and false grievences.

now you have a large, displaced populace that is expected to adapt and contribute to a system that they distrust - not because of slavery so much as because of the unbearable suffering of being so poor and under payed (this is something whites and blacks have very much in common and a major reason the south refused to go along with the federalists and unionists and why so many blacks fought for the south and fled the north (contrary to what you may have learned in highschool)). but I digress.

because of this blacks have always been somewhat displaced with in the american culture. there is still a lot of mistrust and prejudice. this causes people to try and correctly label blacks. are they americans? historical they have not been treated as such, so are they africans. well ask any african and they'll laugh at you. no, of course their not africans. so their some thing in between. african american.

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Name : dotpr, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 25, City : Redwood City, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : graphics design, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, 

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