In America, we don't dare refer to a black person as a "black" person. It's not considered to be politically correct. They want to be called "African American", even if they were born and raised here in America, and have never been out of the country, much less to Africa.
So the thought occurred to me to ask a question of my brethren (and sistren) from locales other than these here United States of America.
In your respective countries, what do black people call themselves? Are there such things as "African Canadians"? "African English"? "African Japanese"?
For that matter, do you have any other groups who practice any similar name games?
Just curious...
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I remember in the mid 90s I was working at a security company in Germany at the Frankfurt airport. we had people from every country but two at the time, as well as the usual smattering of ex GI's who married local girls. There was these couple of guys from Philly who kept going on about how African they were, how the evil white man kept them down back in America, etc. Finally one day Mustaffa had enough. He was a friendly guy, loved everyone, and seeing him angry was a bit of a start. He unfolded out of his chair and stared down at the two African-americans, thumping them in the chest with his finger, as he said "You are NOT African. You do not speak any language other than english. you have never been to Africa. You do not know the land, do not know the customs. you are American. She"he said, pointing at a blond girl from South Africa who was in the break room" is African. you are not." They shut up after that.
thats probably a local thing for you. I'm from the nyc metro area, and myself and all other black people i know refer to ourselves as black. It may be from the fact that there is a large Caribbean community, but i and many like me want to be called black and detest being called african american
I happened to read a definition in an NYT article that neatly addresses this. The short answer of course is to use whatever term the individual prefers. The definition from the article (a review of the new movie {Pariah") is as follows: "I use African-American, as opposed to black, very specifically in describing the drama at the heart of “Pariah,” since African-American means descendants of African slaves brought to America. Black, however, casts a wider net in dealing with works that depict the lives of people from the entire African diaspora."
I have heard African-Canadian, although I'm not Canadian myself and can't say how common it is.
Late to the party but -- I refer to black people as black people. I am white. A few times I have used the term African-American I have been yelled at by people whose origins are from the Caribbean or South America, who do not consider themselves as having African heritage but from where their more recent ancestors were from.
Frankly, the only people I know who yell at me for using the term "black" are white people who are stuck on the politically correct bandwagon. If a person I know prefers to be called African-American instead of black, I honor that. But I have found that they are in the minority. No pun intended.
Very late to the party, but having a husband from South Africa, thought I'd chip in that to him, "black" means tribal African, as in, full-blooded Zulu or other tribe member. "Colored" means mixed-race.
As for people who insist on being called African-American, and came to Africa expecting to be greeted as long-lost brothers and sisters? With a very dry scorn, they are referred to as "White men in a colored skin. They don't even know who their ancestors are."
can't help but point out that we had italian americans long before we cared about being PC toward 'african americans'.
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