Ask The White Guy: Is A White Person From Africa An African-american?

[NotreDame]

 

It worked for C Thomas Howell, but that was a while ago...

[Lilllabettt]

. I choose not to identify myself as an American because I never have, and on top of that it's not really something to be particularly proud of. :P

 

you are the wierdest prarie boy I never met.

 

my people are recently off the boat and English was my father's 2nd language, but being american was something his family strove many years to achieve and they would never claim to be anything else. Actually when I was little and I asked where they were from I was smacked and told they had no country before this one.

 

 but it makes sense that If all you've got is that when you were born your Mom was in America, and you wanted to be near her at the time, then that makes sense. Also you probably never NEED to i.d. yourself as an American to anybody in the prarie. It's not exactly the UN HQ.

[Luigi]

Theresa Kerry billed herself as African-American when her husband was campaigning for the presidency.

 

The law may provide specific definitions, but most people aren't lawyers. They bill themselves how they see fit.

[PhuturePriest]

you are the wierdest prarie boy I never met.

 

my people are recently off the boat and English was my father's 2nd language, but being american was something his family strove many years to achieve and they would never claim to be anything else. Actually when I was little and I asked where they were from I was smacked and told they had no country before this one.

 

 but it makes sense that If all you've got is that when you were born your Mom was in America, and you wanted to be near her at the time, then that makes sense. Also you probably never NEED to i.d. yourself as an American to anybody in the prarie. It's not exactly the UN HQ.

 

Thank you for the flattery, but you already had me at "weird prairie boy". :love:

 

I just don't like to identify myself as American. If I were in a different country and people asked me what I am (If my accent wasn't a big enough giveaway), I would say I live in America, but I wouldn't say I am American. To me, those are two different things. Kind of like living in the world but not being of it, if that makes sense. I differ too much with the stereotypical American to really call myself one. From what I've gathered, what really makes you an American is if you are a nationalist -- nationalism has been like a cancer in America's bones for centuries. I love it when people say "America is the greatest country in the world!". No, it's not. It's an equal country with every other country. Is it better to live here than Baghdad? Depending on which town and neighborhood you live in, yes; but that doesn't make America superior in any way.

Edited November 13, 2013 by FuturePriest387

[blazeingstar]

The whole "soft race" or legal definition is so bizarre anyway.

 

I will now describe 3 of my grandma's grandkids

 

I have a cousin who is 75% Irish and 25% native american, yet he looks as native american as those photos of native americans on reservations 100 years ago.

 

I have a cousin who's actually hispanic and about 1/8 or less native american who's father was adopted as a baby and therefore he inherits the 1/4 rights of native americans by their birth.  He looks native american by far and no one even questions it.

 

My brother on the other hand is a mix of european nations and 1/4 native america, has blue eyes and blonde hair, grows facial hair like a chia pet.  He looks Irish...yet because of his blood he is entitled to indian rights.

 

People don't tell my cousins...even my 1/8 one...that they are scamming the system, yet my brother....the only one of them who speaks  a lick of the native language or has any idea of the culture gets the brunt of alot of hate.

 

 

 

In regards to my white friend with parents from africa...its somewhere on the ivory coast...I know his mom is from Cape Verde...she actually looks a little "black".  I guess the accent is Portuguese?  But not the same Portuguese accent as from the Brazilian students I work with.

[Archaeology cat]

A friend of my mother's was sent to the US for work and was baffled that people kept describing her as African-American. She's British, of Caribbean ancestry and somehow people couldn't understand her irritation at being called African-American.

some former neighbours of mine were irritated at being called African-American because they were Caribbean, too.

[Gabriela]

Thank you for the flattery, but you already had me at "weird prairie boy". :love:

 

I just don't like to identify myself as American. If I were in a different country and people asked me what I am (If my accent wasn't a big enough giveaway), I would say I live in America, but I wouldn't say I am American. To me, those are two different things. Kind of like living in the world but not being of it, if that makes sense. I differ too much with the stereotypical American to really call myself one. From what I've gathered, what really makes you an American is if you are a nationalist -- nationalism has been like a cancer in America's bones for centuries. I love it when people say "America is the greatest country in the world!". No, it's not. It's an equal country with every other country. Is it better to live here than Baghdad? Depending on which town and neighborhood you live in, yes; but that doesn't make America superior in any way.

 

Nothing will make you feel more American than going to live overseas. I talked exactly like you before I went to live overseas for 7 years. There I realized how very American I am.

 

And yes, it is better to live in America than in a lot of other countries. That's why they're flocking here, fetus. Go live overseas and then see how you feel about all this.

[southern california guy]

When I lived in Utah I heard people call the Mexicans the "Spanish people" -- even though some of them did not speak Spanish very well, because they were from the hills and they spoke a different language.  They also called the Brazilians the "Spanish people" -- which I thought was funny.

[Gabriela]

I once had a client who was white as they come, but his mom was from an Israeli family that had immigrated to Israel from Morocco, and then she had come to the US. On the basis of this, he wanted to write on his MBA applications that he was African-American. Considering the guy was from a family of quite well-off entrepreneurs and he wanted the title to get scholarship for the MBA, I was pretty disgusted.

 

I don't think that simply "identifying as" something makes you that. Part of what makes you something is the social consensus that you are that. At least for government form purposes.

[CatherineM]

My mom was mostly British, Swiss, southern French, and northern Italy. She had coal black hair, black eyes and olive skin. No idea why.

[PhuturePriest]

Nothing will make you feel more American than going to live overseas. I talked exactly like you before I went to live overseas for 7 years. There I realized how very American I am.

 

And yes, it is better to live in America than in a lot of other countries. That's why they're flocking here, fetus. Go live overseas and then see how you feel about all this.

 

Yes, it is better to live here than in a lot of other countries. But that's because of government, not the countries themselves. It's completely acceptable to say "Our government is better than Iraq's." It's another thing entirely to say "America is better than your country.", because a country is a people. It's not a set of laws or a government, it's a people. Saying "America is the best country in the world" translates into "We, as a people, are superior to you." That is why I take offense when people say that.

[Semper Catholic]

Why does this bother white people so much?

[Gabriela]

Yes, it is better to live here than in a lot of other countries. But that's because of government, not the countries themselves. It's completely acceptable to say "Our government is better than Iraq's." It's another thing entirely to say "America is better than your country.", because a country is a people. It's not a set of laws or a government, it's a people. Saying "America is the best country in the world" translates into "We, as a people, are superior to you." That is why I take offense when people say that.

 

I would agree with that entirely. I was referring more to the fact that you think you're not American.

[Gabriela]

Why does this bother white people so much?

 

Why does what bother white people so much?