Why are blacks called African Americans?

[Thalian]

They've been here basically for as long as whites and they're of our culture group. What makes them that different?

[Hooked]

Al sharpton came up with the name. It sounded better to him than black.

[Deleted]

African Americans, also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.[3][4]

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

Basically underpinning the heritage...

[Lolretadin]

They've been here basically for as long as whites and they're of our culture group. What makes them that different?

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure it has to do with how the majority of black slaves in America, if not all of them, were taken from the African continent, bought from Muslim slavers. Hence African American became the term coined to refer to black Americans, even though it is actually somewhat of a racist term in itself as it means that you are assuming that someone comes from Africa because they are black, which is wrong.

[Dolus]

They've been here basically for as long as whites and they're of our culture group. What makes them that different?

"African-American" is just the politically correct term for "black." Most Caucasians aka "white" are from Europe. But, we're not going around saying "European-American."

“I mean, you get — politically correct stuff happens that you don’t want to happen. I all of a sudden became an African — political correctness, African-American. I’m not African.” - Morgan Freeman

""I hate the phrase 'African American'," he says, "because 'black' is beautiful. One syllable versus seven" – and other sacred cows such as Black History Month, which he sees as a form of temporal segregation, with blacks ghettoised within February, the Tuesday of the year. "I've said it before, black history is American history, they're completely intertwined." - Morgan Freeman

[belfpala]

They've been here basically for as long as whites and they're of our culture group. What makes them that different?

Perhaps certain parts of the US Constitution, you know, things like, "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

I'd be a bit pissed off if my ancestors were considered chattel, too.

[Surfd]

A very very large percentage of the people living today who are referred to as "african-american" probably could not name a person in their family tree less then 4 generations back who had ever actually BEEN to africa.

I mean, I am about as Scottish-Canadian as most of them are African-American. It just comes down to them wanting to hang on to stupid lables because it lets them play the card when they feel oppressed by shit that happened to their great great grandparents.

[Hooked]

I just call them black. Its easy and normal to say.

[Blueobelisk]

I just call them black. Its easy and normal to say.

Kind of disrespectful depending on context.

[Karaoke]

Because the originate from Africa. And now they're in America. Why is this even a thread?

[Kaleredar]

I'd be a bit pissed off if my ancestors were considered chattel, too.

Then black people must be pissed at most colonial European Nations then, eh?


At any rate... most people likely say "African-American" because they feel that saying "black" is too... I dunno... dehumanizing, or somesuch.

I mean, we don't go around calling Asian people "yellows," now do we?

[Morbownz]

By using the description "African American" you are differentiating them through their origin and acknowledging their heritage/roots... I don't call Asians "yellow people" atleast not too their face :-D jk!

[Caribald]

Kind of disrespectful depending on context.

No more disrespectful than calling white people white.

[Kaleredar]

No more disrespectful than calling white people white.

Not really. It's predicated upon the reason why you can make jokes about white people, but not jokes about black people.

[Chingylol]

I mean, I am about as Scottish-Canadian as most of them are African-American. It just comes down to them wanting to hang on to stupid lables because it lets them play the card when they feel oppressed by shit that happened to their great great grandparents.

You do know that only just 50 years ago, a black guy wasn't allowed to use the same public bathroom as me? Oh, and this was about 50 years ago as well.

http://bradley.chattablogs.com/black%20lynching.jpg Mod Warning: It's an image from a lynching, two people hung by the neck.

Racist white privileged individual is racist white privileged.


[Infracted]

[GreatOak]

I don't like hyphenated Americans very much as labels but I think it's a
Combination of things. Americans really love their heritage and like to distinguish themselves from others as much as possible. Unfortunately government policies treat people as if they were from different meaningful groups rather than just the human race

[Mihalik]

The politically correct and legally applied term for whites is Caucasian.

Other European or non European minorities also identify themselves by heritage. Irish-American, Italian-American, German-American, Asian-American, Latin-American, Russian-American, Greek-American, Hungarian-American and ANGLO-AMERICANS.

The problem is that "white" doesn't have the same historical meaning as "black". White is associated with civilization, power, wealth, martial might etc. "Black" with entirely other things.

I think this excerpt from Wikipedia explains it best.

The term African American carries important political overtones. Earlier terms used to describe Americans of African ancestry referred more to skin color than ancestry, and were conferred upon the group by colonists and Americans of European ancestry; people with dark skins were considered inferior in fact and in law. The terms (such as colored, person of color, or negro) were included in the wording of various laws and legal decisions which some thought were being used as tools of white supremacy and oppression. There developed among blacks in America a growing desire for a term of self-identification of their own choosing.

With the political consciousness that emerged from the political and social ferment of the late 1960s and early 1970s, blacks no longer approved of the term Negro. They believed it had suggestions of a moderate, accommodationist, even "Uncle Tom" connotation. In this period, a growing number of blacks in the United States, particularly African-American youth, celebrated their blackness and their historical and cultural ties with the African continent. The Black Power movement defiantly embraced Black as a group identifier. It was a term social leaders themselves had repudiated only two decades earlier, but they proclaimed, "Black is beautiful".
In this same period, a smaller number of people favored Afro-American, a common shortening (as is 'Anglo-American'). However, after the decline in popularity of the 'Afro' hairstyle in the late 1970s, the term fell out of use.
In the 1980s the term African American was advanced on the model of, for example, German-American or Irish-American to give descendants of American slaves and other American blacks who lived through the slavery era a heritage and a cultural base.[155] The term was popularized in black communities around the country via word of mouth and ultimately received mainstream use after Jesse Jackson publicly used the term in front of a national audience. Subsequently, major media outlets adopted its use.
Some such as Maulana Karenga and Owen Alik Shahadah argue African-American is more appropriate because it accurately articulates geography and historical origin. Thus linking a people to a continent as opposed to an abstract color. Others believe the term black is inaccurate because African Americans have a variety of skin tones. Surveys show that the majority of Black Americans have no preference for "African American" versus "Black,"although they have a slight preference for "Black" in personal settings and "African American" in more formal settings.
Many African Americans expressed a preference for the term, as it was formed in the same way as names for others of the many ethnic groups in the nation. Some argued further that, because of the historical circumstances surrounding the capture, enslavement and systematic attempts to de-Africanize blacks in the United States under chattel slavery, most African Americans are unable to trace their ancestry to a specific African nation; hence, the entire continent serves as a geographic marker.
For many, "African American" is more than a name expressive of cultural and historical roots. The term expresses pride in Africa and a sense of kinship and solidarity with others of the African diaspora—an embrace of pan-Africanism as earlier enunciated by prominent African thinkers such as Marcus Garvey, W. E. B. Du Bois and George Padmore.

I'm not a PC white knight, but I agree that African-American or at least Black-American (I can understand why someone would have issues with this) better describes the present and future aspirations of a minority then the catch all "Blacks" word. After all, they are not just blacks...they are Americans.

[Immitis]

people realize how stupid they sound when they call someone an african american and they respond in an english accent

[Mihalik]

people realize how stupid they sound when they call someone an african american and they respond in an english accent

It doesn't apply to European blacks. Also black in Europe doesn't have the same historical connotation as it does in the US. You know, slavery, segregation and all that stuff.

[leviathonlx]

I'm not a PC white knight, but I agree that African-American or at least Black-American (I can understand why someone would have issues with this) better describes the present and future aspirations of a minority then the catch all "Blacks" word. After all, they are not just blacks...they Americans.

By that same logic would you call whites 'white Americans' then since they're just not white but Americans.