quote:

ORIGINAL: ShoreBound149

"Other" chicks give great head.

Once ya go "Other" ya don't want another.

quote:

ORIGINAL: BLoved

I've no objection to the generic term as it applies to all light-skinned people of European descent.

quote:

ORIGINAL: MrRodgers
I don't like the whole idea of hyphenation. When we are talking about being an American citizen, one is American period. Maybe one is of African descent or Irish descent...or whatever.

When immigrants apply for and do obtain their American citizenship, to my knowledge most judges tell the newly admitted..."You are no longer a hyphenated American...you are simply American."

quote:

ORIGINAL: cadenas

quote:

ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

quote:

ORIGINAL: BLoved

~FR~

I mean, are we to believe there is something insulting about just being "African", that we have to add "American" to make it acceptable?

We are one of the of the few places that does this... and it is not as if we are ashamed of our roots that we do it, it is actually a statement of pride in them...

I'd agree with you if "Black" was also available as a choice. But offering "African American" exclusively isn't a statement of pride, it's a statement of coercion. So what that Desmond Tutu is a South African national hero - we require him to call himself AMERICAN? So what that Naomi Campbell is a British citizen - she still is required to call herself AMERICAN?

And what about those American black people who decide that they want to identify as just Americans? I don't go around calling myself Polish American or Czech American all the time (in fact, I find it insulting when people do it - I chose to become an American for a reason).

If a black American citizen wants to refer to himself as African American - more power to him. But mandating it even for non-Americans is really quite offensive for all parties involved.

quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyAngelika

quote:

ORIGINAL: Missokyst

Technically, if one was Canadian of African descent they would then also be African American, since Canada is part of the America's just as Brazil might be, though they are on the southern part of this continent.

Actually, it isn't quite so. Technically, yes, all the countries in North, South and Central America are part of the Americas and we are all technically Americans.

However, because US citizens have appropriated the American title so strongly, it has been taken away from the others. I'm not saying this in a snarky or bitter way, just very matter of factly.

If one says they are American, guaranteed the overwhelming majority will consider them being from the United States of America.

- LA

quote:

ORIGINAL: kiwisub12

Coming from the rather small and insignifigant country of New Zealand, I was very confused by all these Americans that would blithely proclaim themselves "Irish" or "Swiss" or "African". For a while I thought they were all immigrants and had been in the country for a long time. I finally asked one why she did that, and she told me that it was a pride in ancestry thing.

quote:

Spoken like a white person.

quote:

ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

quote:

ORIGINAL: heartcream
This is from the 1992 Spike Lee movie Malcolm X. I dont know if he ever really said this but he certainly had this point of view. I think in this instance putting African in African American was a matter of pointing out the fact that these people were stolen and therefore African and not American.

quote:

ORIGINAL: BLoved

quote:

ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

I regret the comment because of its incendiary nature, and have removed it from the original.

However, I do find myself less patient with members of a majority group who tell minorities they can choose "other or nothing at all".

People are people, whether they are a majority or minority. They all have the same needs.

As a white man from Canada I don't have to self-identify as a hyphenated American. I can choose "Caucasian".

Were I a black man from Canada, I would have to self-identify as a hyphenated American, even though I am not nor ever have been an American.

It is either that, or "Other", and just what groups does "Other" cover.

Why should any Canadian be required to self-identify as an American?

quote:

ORIGINAL: twistedwillow

Just a quick note the Caucasus Mountains are not in Africa but in Europe, they are generally deemed as the line between Europe and Asia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus

twisted