Welcome to SomaliNet Forums, a friendly and gigantic Somali centric active community. Login to hide this block

You are currently viewing this page as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, ask questions, educate others, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many, many other features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join SomaliNet forums today! Please note that registered members with over 50 posts see no ads whatsoever! Are you new to SomaliNet? These forums with millions of posts are just one section of a much larger site. Just visit the front page and use the top links to explore deep into SomaliNet oasis, Somali singles, Somali business directory, Somali job bank and much more. Click here to login. If you need to reset your password, click here. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

WHAT'S IN A NAME: WHO IS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN? !!!

Daily chitchat.

Moderators: Moderators, Junior Moderators

Forum rules
This General Forum is for general discussions from daily chitchat to more serious discussions among Somalinet Forums members. Please do not use it as your Personal Message center (PM). If you want to contact a particular person or a group of people, please use the PM feature. If you want to contact the moderators, pls PM them. If you insist leaving a public message for the mods or other members, it will be deleted.
OUR SPONSOR: LOGIN TO HIDE
Daanyeer
SomaliNet Super
SomaliNet Super
Posts: 15781
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2003 7:00 pm
Location: Beer moos ku yaallo .biyuhuna u muuqdaan

WHAT'S IN A NAME: WHO IS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN? !!!

Postby Daanyeer » Sat Jun 28, 2008 12:20 pm

Source: http://www.diversityinc.com
June 26, 2008 Author: By Raymond Arroyo


One of the goals of this series is to clarify and provide a historical context regarding diversity-related terminology commonly used in American culture today. By being clearer about using the "right words," this series aims to encourage employees to have candid conversations with one another, regardless of their differences, to promote an environment of openness and trust.

Any discussions about the terms used to describe African Americans as a group must begin by understanding the historical context within the United States in which these terms were used. It is a history that encompasses more than 300 years, when Blacks were brought to the United States against their will. During the subsequent three centuries, many terms were used to describe African Americans as a group in the United States.

During the 1950s and 1960s, common terms "negro" and "colored" were used, often disparagingly. Today, these two terms are unacceptable and are almost never heard, with the exception of old books and movies.

Many of the baby boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) and silent generation (born before 1946) may still remember the posting of signs that read "Whites Only" and "Colored Only," used to segregate one group from another. Thus, it is not surprising that terms like "negro" and "Colored" can still carry a negative emotional connotation for many African Americans (and other Americans) living during the era of segregation.

The emergence of the current terms "Black" and "African American" came about as a result of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s through the 1980s, when Blacks had a desire to formulate group reference terms that they could embrace. The wide popular acceptance of both terms shows the value of that approach.

Contemporarily, the most common and generally accepted terms are "African American" and "Black," even for the growing number of biracial individuals who have only one African-American parent (consider Barack Obama, Halle Berry or Mariah Carey, for example).

Another important point is that members of the African Diaspora--the exodus of large numbers of people from Africa to places around the globe--who reside in the United States have originated from many parts of the world. Using one term to describe an entire group can be tricky and is sometimes met with disagreement. Terms such as Caribbean American, Haitian American or Jamaican American are viewed as more descriptive names by certain segments of the population. Finally, there are also Blacks who are not American citizens, so the term African American may not be the appropriate term for them.

Bottom line: People should be comfortable using either "African American" or "Black" in their conversations and in writing, if race is being discussed or has any relevance to the conversation. In making a formal reference, the term "African American" is more commonly used. In informal references, either "Black" or "African American" is appropriate, and both are generally accepted by most people.

User avatar
FAH1223
webmaster
Posts: 33838
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:31 pm
Location: THE MOST POWERFUL CITY IN THE WORLD
Contact:

Re: WHAT'S IN A NAME: WHO IS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN? !!!

Postby FAH1223 » Sat Jun 28, 2008 12:40 pm

lets be literal...i can be classified as an "African American"

my roots are in Africa, but I am also an American

but the term african american is synominous with the West African descendants of the slave trade, of which I am no part of

its a semantics game!


OUR SPONSOR: LOGIN TO HIDE

Hello, Has your question been answered on this page? We hope yes. If not, you can start a new thread and post your question(s). It is free to join. You can also search our over a million pages (just scroll up and use our site-wide search box) or browse the forums.

  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “General - General Discussions”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 32 guests