"I'm not African-American"

[R_C]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">&quot;Joan Morgan, a writer born in Jamaica who moved to New York City as a girl, remembers the first time she publicly corrected someone about the term: at a book signing, when she was introduced as African-American and her family members in the front rows were appalled and hurt.

&quot;That act of calling me African-American completely erased their history and the sacrifice and contributions it took to make me an author,&quot; said Morgan, a longtime U.S. citizen who calls herself Black-Caribbean American.

She said people struggle with the fact that black people have multiple ethnicities because it challenges America's original black-white classifications. In her view, forcing everyone into a name meant for descendants of American slaves distorts the nature of the contributions of immigrants like her black countrymen Marcus Garvey and Claude McKay.

Morgan acknowledges that her homeland of Jamaica is populated by the descendants of African slaves. <span style="font-weight: bold">&quot;But I am not African</span>, and Africans are not African-American,&quot; she said.&quot;</div></div>

<span style="color: #CC0000">Source</span>

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Peter Tosh</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
&quot;Nuh matta weh yuh come from
As long as you're a black man
You're an African
Noh mind yuh nationality
You've got the identity, of an African.</div></div>

[j-kid]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

Mi is very comfortable wid di word &quot;Black&quot;. However, many A.A. are not.

[Emperah]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

aye sah, wi a de only ppll inna de whool a de world wid dis problem.
Yuh si how dem mash wi up?

[R_C]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

I wonder if Joan Morgan, (the Jamaican woman quoted in the article above) had seen the video you posted if she would feel the same way.

I don't understand why some people feel that have to run away from their ancestors. So many North Americans of European descent are always talking about their ancestral homes in Ireland, Italy, Germany and so on and are proud to tell you about it (as well they should be) while some black people make it a point to distance themselves from anything African.

[Emperah]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

nuff ppl right ya suh pan dis site quick a clock fi tell yuh sen dem a nuh african.

You will never hear a chinese smaddy tell yuh seh dem a nuh chinese. NEVA!!

[RichD]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

how come people with roots in all the other contents are not referred to as generic?

[Peasie]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

A friend of mine was living in Brooklyn in the years before the 1980 census. When he responded to the race question, the census-taker told my friend that was the first of the many Jamaicans in the building who chose &quot;black&quot; as their race. Is what dem was so fraid of?

[Blackstar*]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

I don't understand or agree with Ms. Morgan's stance. She mentions Marcus Garvey in her argument, but her views contradict everything that he stood for. I wonder if she's even read about him much less his actual writings.

In any case, I bear the &quot;African-&quot; prefix with pride. Although I don't know what my country or culture of origin is, nobody can take away my place of origin.

[franksterr]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

I agree wholeheartedly with Tosh.

So she is a African/Jamaican American

[jah_yout]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

if her ancestors are from afrika then she actually is afrikan- at least ethnically/racially...so she is misguided on that one;

but i can dig it from the perspective that they don't call 'white' people european-americans,

i oppose the 'african-american' tag for so-called black people unless it is balanced out by calling so-called white people in america 'european-americans'...

as it implies that whites are somehow more american than blacks...
which is of course completely false

[Wendy]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jah_yout</div><div class="ubbcode-body">if her ancestors are from afrika then she actually is afrikan- at least ethnically/racially...so she is misguided on that one;

but i can dig it from the perspective that they don't call 'white' people european-americans,

i oppose the 'african-american' tag for so-called black people unless it is balanced out by calling so-called white people in america 'european-americans'...

as it implies that whites are somehow more american than blacks...
which is of course completely false </div></div>

Good argument Jah_yout

[R_C]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jah_yout</div><div class="ubbcode-body">if her ancestors are from afrika then she actually is afrikan- at least ethnically/racially...so she is misguided on that one;

but i can dig it from the perspective that they don't call 'white' people european-americans,

i oppose the 'african-american' tag for so-called black people unless it is balanced out by calling so-called white people in america 'european-americans'...

as it implies that whites are somehow more american than blacks...
which is of course completely false </div></div>

They do refer to them by country under some circumstances.....Italian American, Polish American, Irish American and so on. But you have a point, the Census Bureau allows &quot;Black or African American&quot; and &quot;White&quot;.........no European American as you say.

However, I personally have no problem being associated with Africa, regardless of how any other nation wants to identify or not identify themselves.

[j-kid]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

Soh di Whites whe bawn inna Afrika are called what? Also, di Whites born inna Afrika an come tuh say, di USA an get citizenship are called what?

[Blackstar*]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: J kid</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Soh di Whites whe bawn inna Afrika are called what? Also, di Whites born inna Afrika an come tuh say, di USA an get citizenship are called what? </div></div>Euro-&lt;Insert Country Name&gt;

I wonder why there is no issue calling people several generations removed from Asia Indian, Chinese, Korean, or whatever, but black people don't want to be called African and Boers, Rhodesians and their ilk want to be called African?

<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-size: 8pt">C'est le monde à l'envers ! </span></span>

[franksterr]

Re: &quot;I'm not African-American&quot;

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: J kid</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Soh di Whites whe bawn inna Afrika are called what? Also, di Whites born inna Afrika an come tuh say, di USA an get citizenship are called what? </div></div>

Whites born in African are still considered racially whites and as such are not African.
African and European denotes ethnicity not nationality (they are exceptions)....hence depending on where in Africa they are from they will be given that national appellation.