whites have always had the liberty to label THEMSELVES as they see fit

[datasuspect]

i.e., in terms of some ancestry or history: german-americans; irish-americans; polish-americans; etc.

some 4th and 5th generation european americans still identify themselves as solely "irish" or "german" or whatever (and many times, for reasons still unknown to me throw in some native american ancestry in there like "my grandmother was 1/8th cherokee" or some such bullshit) and often have never set foot in their ancestral homeland.

other races, nationalities have had this privilege.

african americans are the only group in this country who have had their history made invisible to them. the power structure has saw fit to place the labels on black americans since this nation's inception: from niggers to coloreds to negroes to blacks, african americans are the ones who have had their history, ancestry, and lineage erased from their culture. they have had their labels placed upon them.

so why would anyone have a problem with "blacks" wanting to identify themselves as african americans? why deny african americans this?

or is this yet one more time where whites still refuse to accord a basic privilege to an oppressed class that the white culture in this country takes for granted?

[zanne]

1. I've heard people from Jamaica and Haiti called "African Americans"

When they're corrected, they say something like "Oh, you know what I mean".

[brmdp3123]

2. During the rioting in France a few weeks ago

I heard one of the CNN babes refer to the 2 young men whose death started the whole thing as 'African-American'. The idiocy of that comment was pointed out by one of her peers.

I don't know why she needed to refer to their race at all.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. Personally I don't know anyone with a problem with saying

African American. I say it a lot as a teacher. I say Black. I say white. I say "of color."

That said, you might be surprised at the strides being made in finding information about genealogy and African Americans. There are more records than you might think, and DNA sampling has been helping as well.