Why r AfricanAmericans offenden when ppl call them African?

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Why r AfricanAmericans offenden when ppl call them African?
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browneyesblue
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Location: new jersey

Posted: Fri 07 Dec 2007 16:24 Post subject: Re: Why r AfricanAmericans offenden when ppl call them Afric

From what my mother told me when I was younger blacks were calling themselves "black" in the 70's and Jesse Jackson came up with the phrase african american.

anonymouse wrote:

browneyesblue wrote:

African American's haven't been African for 400 years. They really have no classification to tell you the truth. They are not considered African's but they are not considered full American either. They word African American was placed upon blacks kind of like the word colored, negro and black.

Actually I thought the term African American was chosen as opposed to given

punjabtrini
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Posted: Fri 07 Dec 2007 16:29 Post subject:

browneyesblue wrote:

African American's haven't been African for 400 years. They really have no classification to tell you the truth.

AA have always been African as opposed to European or Asian with the exception of Charlize Theron! The fact is that there is a misapplication and missappropriation of naming 'terminology' based on economic and social constructs. That does not lessen the 'Africaness' of AA.

What so I mean by misapplication and misappropriation? The same naming construct does not apply with the term European American.
to wit, If a black person has been has been in AMerica for 400 years, said person is stated to be an African American! If a white person has been in AMerica for 400 years he is not a European American! C'est what?
Yes I do agree that AA do get MAD when they are called Africans! I have heard the many shout "I aint no African' chorus!

fwsweet
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Posted: Fri 07 Dec 2007 17:23 Post subject:

punjabtrini wrote:

If a black person has been has been in AMerica for 400 years, said person is stated to be an African American! If a white person has been in AMerica for 400 years he is not a European American! C'est what? Yes I do agree that AA do get MAD when they are called Africans! I have heard the many shout "I aint no African' chorus!

For every African American who considers him/herself American first and African second (if at all) I can show you one who identifies as African first and American second (if at all). It has been thus throughout U.S. history, from the earliest colonial times to today. I am reminded that James Weldon Johnson specifically asked in his will that "Lift Every Voice and Sing" not be called "the Negro national anthem" because, in his view there was only one nation and only one anthem. I am also reminded of a Congresswoman who insists that in the song's last lines...

Quote:

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our GOD,
True to our native land.

... "our native land" means Africa, and that the song is a national anthem to Africa.

I guess all I am saying is that if you ask four African Americans if they are Americans first and Africans second (if at all), or vice-versa, you will get six or seven opinions.

browneyesblue
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Posted: Sat 08 Dec 2007 05:23 Post subject:

There are quite a few africans who do not want anything to do with African Americans.

punjabtrini wrote:

browneyesblue wrote:

African American's haven't been African for 400 years. They really have no classification to tell you the truth.

punjabtrini
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Posted: Sat 08 Dec 2007 15:29 Post subject:

browneyesblue wrote:

There are quite a few africans who do not want anything to do with African Americans.

Rightly so but it happens on both sides! That does not make AAs less African.

To me. it seems one of attitude where AAs tend to be 'loud' as compared to the 'cultured behaviour of Africans'. I am not saying one is 'mo better' than the other. Only that perceptiopn of external behavioural charactistics colours acceptance and its degree. I am not not saying that Africans cannot be loud or are not loud but the social background and place is a determinant for expression of disgust and dismay!

browneyesblue
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Posted: Sun 09 Dec 2007 03:31 Post subject:

Of course african american's are african but they are not native africans. Their facial features differ from native africans.

punjabtrini wrote:

browneyesblue wrote:

There are quite a few africans who do not want anything to do with African Americans.

Famu
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Posted: Mon 10 Dec 2007 20:21 Post subject: Re: Why r AfricanAmericans offenden when ppl call them Afric

Quote:

Actually, I was not in a "debate" with anonymouse. I merely stated that there are few Asians (nut cases, if you will) who are willing to get upset, much less use violence, to force hypodescent on Hapas or part-Asian whites (one issue) but there are too many African Americans who go into a rage and are sometimes willing to use violence to force hypodescent on mixed white/black folks. Apparently, Anonymouse chose to interpret my remarks as an attack on all "African Americans."

From my experience in Asia, I am more inclined to say that because many Asians do not consider themselves socially subordinate, there isn't a concept of "hypodescent" that we see expressed when you have other biracial/multiracial mixes.

For example, when I lived in Japan, hapas or haafu were always assigned "American (white)" status or "black" status based on their (usually) father's heritage. There was a lot of discrimination in school towards mixed people, mainly because they weren't "Japanese" enough.

Not to mention inter-Asian thoughts on race and ethnicity. But I'm sure that's best for another conversation.

Just wanted to add a thought.

Famu
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Posted: Mon 10 Dec 2007 20:23 Post subject:

fwsweet wrote:

punjabtrini wrote:

Quote:

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our GOD,
True to our native land.

I agree with this post.

I know my mom and others say they are "Africans in America".

browneyesblue
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Posted: Mon 17 Dec 2007 14:59 Post subject:

Well then how come African's don't accept them as such. They all came from the same origin.

Famu wrote:

fwsweet wrote:

punjabtrini wrote:

Quote:

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our GOD,
True to our native land.

I agree with this post.

I know my mom and others say they are "Africans in America".

fwsweet
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Posted: Mon 17 Dec 2007 15:20 Post subject:

browneyesblue wrote:

Well then how come African's don't accept them as such. They all came from the same origin.

In the eyes of modern-day Africans, African Americans are simply Americans, just like other Americans. To them, African Americans have all of the traits, prejudices, assumptions, and social mores of other Americans.

There was even a serious anthropological study done of America Peace Corps voluteers in Africa. In their social lives, the Americans (Black and White) hung out together, fell in love with each other, got into arguments with each other, and did all the things that people of the same culture do. On the other hand, to the surprise of the African American volunteers, the local people did not accept the Black Americans as their peers, Indeed, the locals saw nothing socially in common with the African Americans.

In short, I was only talking about how African Americans see themselves, not how they are seen by modern-day Africans. The whole question of whether they are true Americans (with irrelevant distant African ancestry) versus being Africans (who happen to be in the United States) is one that has plagued the A-A community since before the Revolutionary War. Although the pendulum of fashion has swung many times from one extreme to the other, there have always been people at every point along the opinion spectrum on this issue. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote extensively about it in The Souls of Black Folk and I have summarized the issue in the Jacksonian northeast in "The Integration versus Separatism Pendulum" section of my essay, The Color Line Created African-American Ethnicity in the North.

BlueDreams
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Posted: Mon 17 Dec 2007 22:08 Post subject:

I find this interesting...I didn't realize there's people in America that consider themselves African in America. Would the people who mentioned this say it's on a downward trend or about the same. It just seems odd that people could hold onto that identity for so long...especially considering that the variety of African cultures are far removed from the various cultures here. Heck I don't consider myself African and I'm half Nigerian from the Igbo tribe (don't consider myself AA either). My bio-dad has a house being built next to his family compound there. I consider myself American first and of western european and nigerian decent second. With luv, BD

fwsweet
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Posted: Tue 18 Dec 2007 01:34 Post subject:

BlueDreams wrote:

I find this interesting...I didn't realize there's people in America that consider themselves African in America. Would the people who mentioned this say it's on a downward trend or about the same

I would say that the pendulum reached the African-identity end of its swing during the 1965-75 Black Power movement and has been moving towards integration as Americans-first since then. This has been despite the strenuous efforts of some Black politicians at the federal level to hold on to Afrocentrist ideology.

BlueDreams wrote:

It just seems odd that people could hold onto that identity for so long...especially considering that the variety of African cultures are far removed from the various cultures here. Heck I don't consider myself African and I'm half Nigerian from the Igbo tribe (don't consider myself AA either). My bio-dad has a house being built next to his family compound there. I consider myself American first and of western european and nigerian decent second.

U.S. Afrocentrism probably seems odd to anyone with actual knowledge of Africa's huge diversity of languages and cultures. The ideological homogenization of Africa into a single fantasy world reminds me that many generations of European Jews would say "next year in Jerusalem" to each other precisely because they had no first-hand knowledge of the actual city. Probably the best example of the creation of an imaginary eden-like "Africa" for ideological ends among Americans is the story of Marcus Garvey. Read the man's biography to get an understanding of how "Africa" can be rhetorically transformed into a lost homeland.

Famu
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Posted: Sat 22 Dec 2007 18:18 Post subject:

Quote:

It doesn't seem odd to me, especially since many U.S. Afrocentrists don't see Africa as one homologus mecca. In fact, many of my professors and colleagues view the ideology not so much as a discourse just on Africa, but as a multicultural movement that not only shies away from Eurocentricsm, but has also evolved to become incorporated with various other "-centrist" ideologies (think: anti-Orientalism and the Asiacentric ideology.)

I respectfully ask that you not make condescending statements about the intelligence of Afrocentrists based on the false premise that all of us don't have "actual knowledge of Africa's huge diversity of languages and cultures."

fwsweet
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Posted: Sat 22 Dec 2007 18:27 Post subject:

Famu wrote:

I respectfully ask that you not make condescending statements about the intelligence of Afrocentrists ...

Sorry. I made no implication regarding the intelligence of certain Afrocentrists--at least I did not intend to. My intent was to refer to their ignorance, not to their stupidity.

Famu
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Posted: Sat 22 Dec 2007 18:48 Post subject:

fwsweet wrote:

Famu wrote:

I respectfully ask that you not make condescending statements about the intelligence of Afrocentrists ...

Sorry. I made no implication regarding the intelligence of certain Afrocentrists--at least I did not intend to. My intent was to refer to their ignorance, not to their stupidity.

Ah. Thank you for such a swift response. Smile

browneyesblue
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Posted: Mon 31 Dec 2007 22:12 Post subject:

I see myself as American as well. I think everyone should be able to call themselves whatever they want to. Why should blacks call themselves african if they are not accepted as such.

BlueDreams wrote:

I find this interesting...I didn't realize there's people in America that consider themselves African in America. Would the people who mentioned this say it's on a downward trend or about the same.

It just seems odd that people could hold onto that identity for so long...especially considering that the variety of African cultures are far removed from the various cultures here. Heck I don't consider myself African and I'm half Nigerian from the Igbo tribe (don't consider myself AA either). My bio-dad has a house being built next to his family compound there. I consider myself American first and of western european and nigerian decent second.

With luv,
BD

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