A true American doesnt need a prefix.  Besides I guarantee most black people who use thise term cant even name an african country, let alone anything about it. Who cares where your ancestors are from 500 years ago?  And what does it mean really.  Are people from Egypt considered African-Americans, and if so can they get special benefits?  Is a white girl born in South Africa considered African american if she moves here?  The term itself is made up for INSECURE people who wish to continue to racial divide.
217086
Yo... Right on man! Absolutely spot on. In the land of the free, where everyone is equal they need terms like that.\nI learnt the term 'male Caucasian' from watching American TV. Can't they say 'white man?'
336578
Jesse Jackson is the one who made that name for us some time ago.I was born here and my ancestors are African,European and Indian.So what do I call myself,African,European,Indian-American? I know white people who come from Angola and they are Portuguese(European).I just consider myself a Black Latina,that's it.
441515
Ignorance.  I live in a community with a large black population and I never hear educated blacks use the word.  The whole "term of endearment" is BS.  Why would anyone refer to themselves in a negative way?  Its a learned response from a household that is probably poor and uneducated.  The truth is that there are many such households in our country.
59174
Because they're Egyptians (or Egyptian-American if they become naturalized).  Blacks are called African-Americans because they don't know from which african culture their ancestors were forcibly removed, so froma social standpoint, they're basically orphans.  Du Bois said the same thing (sort of).
656035
People use the word racism/racist too freely. Classifying people by race itself isn't racist. African-American, in terms of darker skin or "black", is really the most politically correct term you could use. The same goes for those who are termed Caucasian or "white". Generally, some people are never satisified, but that's probably the best it's going to get. You can't expect people who don't know you well to know your ancestry. People who do not know you can only really guess your race by what they see (I don't see why they would even be talking about that in the first place). If they are incorrect, politely correct them. There's no need to get yourself all worked up. If they're using a derogatory term, that's a different conversation all together.
90972
I have heard many white/Caucasian Americans call themselves Irish-American, or Italian-American etc.  It's just the fact that as the "Melting pot" we feel like we have to have an extra identifier.\n\nBecause of the negative connotation with the word Black I preferred African American, until I went to Africa.  That experience taught me how truly American I am.  African American is a huge misnomer.\n\nSo I prefer American, but if you must be specific Black or Brown.
198857
I don't know why.  You have a good point. I usually state that I am a New Yorker.  If I answer a question and they ask if I am an American I will answer yes but I always state that I am a New Yorker.  My g/f is from Holland.  My family has a tendency to state shes European.  No she's Dutch first. Europe is a big place.  Just as America is.  Need to be more specific in my opinion. People have been known to generalize.  And I for one dont like to be generalized so I help clarify where I am from.
311610
Blacks are not immigrants.......if you were born and raised in the US, you are not an immigrant. Yes our black heritage traces back to Africa but I am not an immigrant. Your whole idea of the black race is screwed up because maybe you watch too much TV, or you applied your few bad run ins with blacks to the entire race which is wrong. Its crazy that your husband is black and you want to change him, in essence you want to strip him of his heritage and want him to embrace what you feel, he say the things he says because he has been a black man all his life in which thats all he know, you can't say anything about him or how he feels towards whites until you lived in a black mans shoes or a black womans shoes for that matter. Your whole stereotype of blacks is crazy. I am black and well educated. If you feel so strongly about the miseducation of the black people why don't you reach out and try to help rather than put us down!! Then the whole religious aspect you are trying to imply is a whole different story and I do not want to get started on that with you because I am a God fearing woman myself..........BE BLESSED!!
335531
I'm african american and personally I feel that its not okay for anyone to call each other N---er, not even african americans to call each other that, I feel that our ancestors faught so hard to keep people from calling us that name they've died, bled got beating to fight for our freedom, so I will never understand why til this dayus african americans continue to call each other by that name,it very DEGRADING as well as disrespectful to our (african american) ancestors. but personally i dont like the word and NO I dont except ANYONE saying the so called N WORD. in truth no one really understand the meaning of that word so if you dont understand what it means why say it?
78391
I don't like the whole PC nomenclature because it's all based on physical characteristics anyway. Someone else mentioned white South Africans and alluded to the fact that they aren't truly African. Is that just because whites immigrated there from Europe or are descendants of those Europeans who claimed the land as their own? Well then, if those old "land bridge" theories are correct, then instead of referring to anyone as "Native Americans," we need to understand that technically, they are probably "Asian-Americans." Just how far back in one's ancestry do we need to go? And why isn't "European-American" as widely accepted and used as the other "(continent)-American" forms? And if I become a citizen of Berlin, will I be a "North American-German" or just "American-German"? "American-European"? And why aren't Middle Eastern natives referred to as "Asian-Americans"? Why are they often called "Muslims" and "Hindus" instead? Why aren't the rest of us referred to by our religious affiliations (if applicable)?\n\nThere are no perfect "labels" we can use - not everyone will be satisfied. What we need to remember is that the *intent* of someone's writing/speech is the important thing. Some black comedians have ridiculed the whole "African-American" terminology since it didn't magically make everything better. Furthermore, if someone says something such as, "That's just typical African-American behavior," is that person suddenly "sensitive" for using the proper PC term? How about "Hey, you know how those Asian-Americans are"?\n\nJust my two cents - we need to try to respect each other and accept our differences before we can really become color-blind.\n\n(EDIT: Hey gogo, does that mean Margaret Thatcher is "African-American"? What about Vladimir Putin? Osama bin Laden? Saddam Hussein? Ichiro Suzuki? We're *all* "African-American"?)\n\n(EDIT 2: My point is that we shouldn't be "concerned" *only* with the "hyphenated American" labels - that's a rather nationalistic viewpoint, don't you think? If we *in the United States* are *all* "African-Americans," then those in other countries are thus "African-[insert country.....or continent.....or something]." I wanted to extend this beyond our borders since not all of the world's 6.5 billion people ["humanity"] are living within the United States and/or the rest of the American continents.)
65147
>>>>Not to be racist, but it's as if only white people are >>>>allowed to have an identity.\n\nThat's simply not true. \n\nHow many people do you know of who could explain the cultural differences between a Libyan and a Turk? To most Americans they are simply Arabs, white or not. Similarly how many people do you know of who could distinguish between a Boer and a white Kenyan based purely on cultural difference? Both are simply Africans. How many people do you think understand the difference between a Georgian and a Muscovite? How about a Berber and a Taureg? A Kurd and a Sikh? A Lapp and an Norwegian?\n\nYet those are all white people. Quite clearly this cultural ignorance has nothing whatsoever to with skin colur or race.\n\n\n>>>>>Nobody confuses an Irishman with an Italian just \n>>>>>because they are "European".\n\nThat is because America has huge numbers of Italian and Irish immigrants. Try the average American on groups from European areas that haven't emigrated to the US in large numbers. How many people wouldn't confuse a Dane and Norwegian as both being Scandinavian? Or a Frenchman and a Belgian? Or a Spaniard and a Portugese?\n\nFor perhaps the perfect example, even after 20 years of being a major public figure my experience tells me that well over 25% of Americans still don't understand that Arnold Schwarzenegger is not and never has been German. \n\nThe simple fact is that there are far to many cultures and ethnicities in the world to have even a cursory knowledge of them all, even those of us that are interested. We need to lump cultures somehow to get any sort of handle on what is out there. Sometimes that lumping is ridiculously broad, as with your examples of "Africans" and "Asians" but we still need to do that. And African is no more ludicrous as a grouping than “Russian”, and Russians are largely white.\n\nAs we become more and more interested in regions and people we narrow down those divsions. So most Americans can separate out Sicilians and Italians generally. Many now can also separate out Hmong and Vietnamese generally, which is a very fine scale split. \n\nBut the parts of the world we have no reasons to be interested in tend be populated in our minds by "Africans" and "Russians", even though those groupings are more or less meaningless.\n\nBut rest assured it has nothing to do with race. Americans are just as almost as ignorant or European cultural differences as Africans.\n\nBut just to make you fell a bit better, my experience has been that most Africans don't draw any real distinction between Americans and Canadians either. The USA and Canada are usually treated the same way Americans treat Austria and Germany. Everyone more or less knows they're separate countries, but the differences in language, culture and so forth are so small that they feel they can be ignored.\n\nLike I said, nothing to do with race.
524320
In the last form I filled out I was referred to as               Non-Hispanic White. How's that for racism?\nAn implication that I am lacking as I am not a member of this group or that group. I have Black friends who also have problems with the hyphenated Americanism implying they are not "fully" American.\n\n I am Irish,\nNorwegian,\nEnglish,\nFrench,\nScottish,\nGerman-American :)\nThey would not let me hyphenate the whole way, they kept cutting it off at French, even when I used commas instead of hyphens
183476
It's a club mentality.  As we all should know, American black slaves were tragically persecuted and this name was used with vicious slander to degrade their existence to a level of inequality.  As the slaves gained freedom and modern society has evolved, the term is an insider way of being one of the club and a cultural reminder.  A person of different race, using the same term, even if attempted to be used in the same inclusive, brotherly manner, cannot expect to be recognized as one who could possibly relate, thus there is most often resentment and feelings of hostility.  It's one thing to tell people I'm a dirt bag, it's another to have someone else call me one...them's fightn' words.  Think it's a double standard?  Maybe, because it is discriminatory in its own way, excluding outsiders and promotes a negative sense of separation, holding on to a victimized past.  Then again, who didn't come from a victimized past?  If you live in America, most of our ancestors didn't come here because things were so wonderful in the old country.  They left because anything was going to be better than the life they had.  The sad difference for the blacks Africans is that they were kidnapped, forced into ships, and treated like livestock.  Most others had at least some limited choices.
511853
don't be mad at the use of a word, be mad at what their intention was behind the word. racism towards "african americans" is still here just as racism towards all the other races is still alive. And I am caucasion and have not heard the "N" word used by non "people of color" in probably 20 years.
612937
It's a personal choice.  If you don't want to be called African-American, then tell them so.  I myself am Black and I also use the term African-American.  I may be wrong, but I don't think the politicians came up with this term.  I believe we started using this term as a way to honor our ancestors.  Check on wikipedia.com for the origin of the term African American.
411025
Good question. No, I don't call people by "colour". They're people first.\n\nBut I don't get it how we're supposed to call black coloured people African American when some of them have been Americans or from Caribean for numerous generations. Many have never been to the continent of Africa and their parents and grandparents haven't been either.\n\nA lot of Asian Americans have never been to Asia -- or their parents or grandparents either.\n\nWhites get called whites, not European Americans or Hungarian - Icelandic -  French - Samoan Americans.... the whole ethnic thing gets old fast. \n\nEverybody's got 2 parents. Say your mom is British and your dad is Bulgarian. Your mom's mom is Swedish, your mom's dad is half Colombian and half British. Your dad's mom is Danish and your dad's dad is 1/4 Russian, 1/4 Bulgarian, 1/2 Irish...... if you think multi-ethnic backgrounds like "Irish - Bulgarian - Russian - Danish - British - Colombian - Swedish - American" is insane look at the background of somebody like Keanu Reeves. \n\nMaybe we can all get off the differences bandwagon and focus on similarities for a change.\n\nWe're all ONE race. It's called THE HUMAN RACE.
187808
Are you serious?\n\nBecause the country itself is called United States of AMERICA. If you say 'American' it means one coming from the continent of North America, residing/originating  within from the borders of the USofA. \n\nUnited Stadeians is just ridicilous?\n\nI mean it's perfectly logical to call Americans Americans. You don't hear the people of The Republic of Macedonia wanting to be called the Republicians??