Why is African American politically correct?

Question

What do you call a dark skinned person in England or somewhere else in the world? You can't call them African American. My friend is black and he is of South American decent. People call him African American and he thinks it’s ridiculous. The actual official term is ***** (as white is Caucasian) But ***** is a racial slur now. Why isn't Caucasian a racial slur? In Summary, African American is a really bad term.

P.S. See, yahoo bleeped out my word, which was "orgen" spelled backwards.

Answer 1

I don't think African American is politically correct. I didn't come from Africa, I'm American. And I'm not too sure about black american either because my skin isn't black. I think African American should only be used for people who are from Africa.

Answer 2

Most people use the word black, meaning it's a general term that many black people can fit into no matter where they are from. I think African American should only apply to those who are African American. Latino is a term used for anyone of spanish descent. Lately there are so many black people located in all types of parts of the world, but they should be named based on where they came from. Obviously African American means you or your ancestors were brought from Africa to America which is where we now live. Now as far as caucasian being a racial slur, it won't be because caucasian has never been used in a negative way to describe white people. It's the scientific name and the correct name. orgen was used in a negative way years ago, just like the words reggin, and nooc. A racial slur is a word that is used to describe people of a certain race in a negative way. Caucasian, African American, Latino, Spanish, these words are the correct terms to refer to people of a certain race or ethnic background. Most of these words are deemed by society as negative or positive, and most likely society won't change the meaning of Caucasian to a negative description of white people.

Answer 3

I agree with you that African American is very misleading.  Unless a person has a dual citizenship, they are not African American.  They are orgen spelled backward and many are proud to tell you they are kcalb spelled backward, too.  I have kcalb and etihw friends.  They are all "sdneirf's" spelled backwards.  Funny.

Answer 4

I believe this is largely artificial guilt. No one living today in America has ever owned a slave. Some people even believe in "reparations" to these americans of african descent whose ancestors were slaves. "Ogren" is not a slur of any kind, either is "latneirO", but since one or two love to be a constant reminder of times past we all have to walk on eggs in order to not be sued or misnamed racists."political correctness" is a cancer in our society. It is a fancy way of lying-not saying what you really mean. This is dangerous on a personal level in that you don't know what people are really about  so you can avoid them.The a c l u  is the chief problen in this area, these people have warped minds and are forever trying to destroy truth.

Answer 5

"orgen" should be the word used for dark skinned people since caucasian is used for white skinned people. I never did think the term African American was correct. My dark skinned friend from Haiti didn't like being called African American.

Yes, this politically correct stuff is very confusing.

Answer 6

I completely agree. 'orgen' shouldnt be politically incorrect. The word "reggin" (spelled backward) I dont agree with. It is a derogative word used to refer to the black slaves of colonial America. But 'orgen' is just the same as caucasian. Political correctness has just gone too far.

Like 'baa, baa, black sheep'. How is that racial? It's just literally a black sheep. Get over it people.

Answer 7

I don't know. PBS had a program where sample groups from various ethnicities were asked what they would prefer to be called... for example most African Americans responded that they'd prefer to be called BLACK.  Native Americans preferred American Indians. etc...

In response to the one gentlemen's comment about brown people outside of the US. I have heard Canadians referred to as Black Canadians, Brits called Black British... and people of direct African descent refer to their country of origin.

It's funny because while PC language is suppose to ease tensions, all it seems to do it bring more light to our differences.

Answer 8

Well, I think if you say "kcalb" [backwards ;)] it's good enough. =.=

I mean...what else could you possibly use??

am i wrong?

Answer 9

a person of color is what his forefathers were because you cannot change your descent nature. ***** is the official term only because america created the names. There is no and never has been a country or continent called ***** so you cannot be what your forefathers were not. African-American seems to be appropriate but it is not because it still does not identify who you are as there are over 500 nations of people on the continent of africa. most important however is that none of these names should matter because they are a divisive, divide and conquor tactic devised by america to continue her subjugation mission. fact is that we are all just humans.

Answer 10

I'm not African American/black, but I prefer to use the word black for the following reasons, some of which previous posters have already commented on. I think African American is only used in the US where many people are sometimes TOO afraid of being politically correct...

A black person in Europe is not an African American, and I don't think they're called African Europeans or African Italians, etc., either. A black person in Canada isn't an African Canadian...

A Haitian or Jamaican is not an African American.

I don't like the term African American or "orgen," and I definitely would not use "riggen." Until a better term comes along in the next 50 years or so, I'll stick with "black people."

I also don't like the term Caucasian. I consider them European Americans, since "white" people are immigrants/decendents of European settlers.