What is white peoples obsession with calling black people African American?

Question

With the emergence of Barack Obama its just getting completely out of hand now. It gets annoying when people say it 4 or 5 times all within a paragraph..European-Americans are the main ones complaining about all people should be called American but your the only ones keeping up this hyphenated bullcrap. Do you EVER see us calling each other African American? I am as offended by the term African American as I am the N word...We tell you time and time again we want to be called black and you keep refering to us as African American...Africa isnt even a country..if anything we're American-American..

Blacks should start refering to white people as Irish, Germans, English etc..If where going to break people down into categories we might as well go all the way.. Lets just do it that way.We'll just be a jumbled mass of meaningless ethnicities....

Answer 1

I can't answer for all white people, because we are all as different from one another as black people are. I use the term "black people" because that is what is seems that black people want to be called. White people who refer to blacks as "African Americans" are mainly just trying to be respectful.

Obviously being a white male makes my opinion on this one sided, but then again, being a black man makes your opinion one sided too.



From my white male perspective, I would rather be the recipient of misguided respect, and hyperactive sensitivity than I would the carelessness or insensitivity.

Keep in mind that for every white person attempting to be sensitive and respectful by using African American, there is another person throwing out terms like ******, jungle bunny, and porch monkey.

Getting hung up on the terminology misses the larger point that for the first time in history, white people (me included) may well elect a black man to lead our country. That to me says a whole lot more than the argument over the perfectly chosen term to indicate how dark a person's skin is.  

Answer 2

I don't know but the S**t is irritating if a white person calls me african american they had better be ready to be called cracker

Answer 3

You find that as offensive as I find being called "Native American".  I prefer to be called Muskogee Creek or just Creek. There are many different tribes with many different mixes. For example: The Inuit do not look like the Mayas now do they? The first "Indians" discovered were Central and South American.

Most Natives just refer to themselves as Natives, Amerindians, Indians, or by tribal name as opposed to "Native Americans".

My black coworkers call themselves just that - black. Not African-American, black. Just as most white people do not call themselves Caucasian, but white.

Answer 4

i say black american, why african?

Answer 5

Will you assassinate Barack Obama if he becomes president?

I understand your ashamed of your African ancestry but I do get what you mane with the naming African American. Cause I aint African British but I though African American was used during the civil rights movement and its stuck since. You see in the USA its the only place where black and white people had lived in division for a long period so Whites claimed the real and the only America while Blacks claimed to be connected with their mother land Africa being their real home sadly both were wrong. USA was built on slavery murder and division and in my eyes its only lost one of those things today.

Call yourself what you want Im guessing your a grown man but at the same time I dont know why its pissing you off we all know your American. Its just formal pollitcal ways of naming a group which Im guessing will one day change and youll probly celebrate init

Answer 6

It doesn't matter anymore, people will all ways say that.

Answer 7

I dont know. but im tired of whitey's posting questions on this. I think its all in their head, I never thought it was an issue until i joined Y!A

Answer 8

1. They think that's what blacks want.

2. They are scared to offend someone.

If I say black and a person says, "please don't call me that," I won't call that particular person black.

However, if I am describing someone, I rarely use their race. I'll say, "he's about 5'10, around 200 pounds, etc etc" and if they ask if he is white/black, then I declare a race.

But the blacks I work with don't mind being called black.

Answer 9

I'm BLACK! I'm not African American. My ancestors come from Africa I don't. I'm Caribbean, Puerto Rican, Dominican and Jamaican. But I consider myself to be BLACK. It don't find it offensive at all....Black people in Canada and Britain don't call themselves African British or African Canadians. They call themselves BLACK. There is nothing wrong with the term Black. It's short, simple, and has only one syllableel.

Answer 10

their very own organization says "colored people".

Answer 11

I'm a Black American, and like that more than African American. I was born in the US, so why should I accept something I was never apart of.

Answer 12

Jesse Jackson popularized the term in the 1980's, and it was quickly adopted by major media.

Whites who are uncomfortable around blacks, (especially liberals with a guilt complex because whites enslaved blacks a couple hundred years ago)  use the term like a title of respect i.e. asskissing because they're terrified of being thought of as possibly racist. It betrays their own unease with blacks which in turn makes blacks feel singled out and viewed differently.

Answer 13

Yeah, I've wondered the same thing.  If white's can be called white (when mostly they're pink), then why can't blacks be called black (when mostly they're brown)?

It's like they're not really Americans.  I'd start calling them English-Americans.

Answer 14

I use both terms, but when I say "black" and when I say "African-American" I mean two very different things.

I've lived in Europe. African-Belgian just doesn't work; you'll get a weird look if you use it. You can say "African," but if the person's family has lived there for generations, it isn't very accurate. Still, most people there say African, though some say black.

If you call someone "black," you're not giving any details except about their skin tone. It could be someone from anywhere in the world, not necessarily American. Same goes for white.

But calling someone African American is referring to a specific group of people with a common experience, and generally has the connotation of slave ancestors.

If I use the term black I am referring to all black people from all countries. If I use the term African American I am referring to black Americans who are not just off the boat but whose families experienced slavery and/or the heavy racism of times past and the barely lighter racism of today.

Answer 15

You are just paranoid, some blacks get offended when they are called black, some don't like african american. Can you all (the paranoid ones like you) just fax us what you each want to be called. It's just crazy that you are mad about what some white people call you that is NOWHERE near offensive.

I have a friend from Algeria, she CAN'T be called african american because she is not s descendant of the slaves so most blacks in america ARE african-american because that is what it means. Don't blame me, I didn't make that rule up. Myabe you should look up what african american means. But if it makes you feel any better I always call you "blacks". African american is too long for me. I just think it is so dumb you blame all white people when its not our fault that term was given to you.

Yes, I have. I was in a riding the bus home one day and I was talking to my friend and I said "oh! Thats the black guy I was talking about" and all the black people on the bus looked at me like I was a racist just for saying the word black. The whole thing is just dumb to me, I don't see why you have to go around telling the whole world you are black (or white, or asian) when Im pretty sure its obvious, why not just use your name, unless you live somewhere where people wake up and say "Good morining, black guy!"