Europeans: What do you think of the term "African-Americans"?
 

I've always wondered this.

Does that term strike you funny? Or are there African-British folk too?

Not realy funny.. or strange for that mather..
I guess we have gotten used to it..

Also, there is quite a difrence between "African-Americans" and "African-Africans" even tho they all would fit under "blacks"

However, I dont realy see a reason why they cant just be Americans like the rest of you... Calling a portion of the population a spesific name alleways alienates them from the rest of the population in a way..
[And no, we are not any better over on this side of the pond. Here in norway we still distinguish between the Norwegians and the Sami, even tho most of the population (atleast up north where I live) have some Sami ancestors]

What are Sami? Like natives of some sort?

yea, that's a surprise to me too.. i've never heard of any sort of race distinction in Norway

R

I'm not British, but I've never liked the term. If a black person was born in the US they are not an African-American. They are an American.

If I were black, I would demand to be called a plain old American and not some term with a racial identifier in it.

You know the label "African-American" isn't used in other countries

kneegrows?

Maddox says it best:

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse....r_stupid_ideas

We call black people black without it being offensive in any way. You can't ignore skin color by calling it different names. We are not good or bad because of our skin color. What I don't like is all the classification on job application forms etc. in the US. Why do people need to know that?

PS: I am originally from Europe...

I have always been surprised that people allow the discrimination to continue on surveys and whatnot. It should have no bearing on whether you get hired or apply for a credit card or whatever what your skin colour or religion is.

As it was explained to me, the term "African-American" was used as an alternative to "black" due to the negative connotations that the word "black" carries with it while acknowledging that other Ethnic sects were referred, in their own P.C. way as "Irish-Americans", "Native Americans," "Italian-Americans", etc...

Personally, I think there's a point to the fact that we're all simple "Americans," but you European folks shouldn't think ill of it... gotta remember how young our country is, and there are still several, distinguished cultures inside our "meting pot"... I mean, say in London, when you have someone move in next door from India - despite what their passport currently might say, do you call them your "British" neighbors, or your "Indian" neighbors? We've come to call them, in the same analogy, our "Indian-British" neighbors to declare their ethnicity/cultural influences in a non-insulting way while affirming that they are, still, British.

Hell, honestly, I think we really should just call us all 'humans," and leave it at that. I'm a big supporter of the idea that we need to all keep having sex until we all pop out the same color, and be done with this race/ethnicity hoopla.

NYC is trying to make it illegal to use the N word, by anyone.

Retarded, at best.

I heard. Where's the ACLU?

What rock have you been living under?

Nearly all black people i know are the ones who are racially charged. Black pride. Fine black man/woman. etc etc. They are infused with the concept of racial identity.

I saw an american guy in london talking to a black brit and he called him african american. The black guy looked at him really funny and said he wasn't american or african.