I want to add a disclaimer before I start this...........
I am not racist, and I am not trying to be so PLEASE forgive me if something I said is offensive, I do not mean it to be.
What I want to know, is what do "Blacks'', African American's", "coloreds", etc want to be called. (Let me explain)
African American
I don't quite understand this one because if you are an American, you can't reallly be from Africa, can you? I am not called a German American because my ancestors were from Germany.
Blacks
Well, I understand why you're called this....but you're not really black, black is like the color of my shirt, I've never seen a person match that color before with thier skin. I am called White, but I've seen a piece of paper, which is white, and I am definitely not that color. I'm more of a peach color, but we can't be called peaches, because that's already taken!
Colored
Okay....but as I said before, since we are not all the absence of color (white), then EVERYBODY is colored! I am a little darker than a sheet of paper (I hope), and my name isn't Casper.
I guess what I am trying to say, is that why can't we all just be Americans? Sure, it would mess up BET, and Black History Month...but I bet if we brainstormed we could come up with something else to call it. I also feel uncomfortable when I have to make a statement that involves the words, "black", African American", or "colored". I'm not sure which one I, as a white person, am allowed to say! Are you going to be offended if I call you colored? I don't know, but seeing as you're not really, truely, any of these names...I don't know what to do!
Also, I fond a lot of the "white" names pretty funny: "Cracker" (because we're so flaky and salty?), "Honky" (Because we're loud and obnoxious?) "Caucausian" (Because we have a desire to create big words that nobody can say, spell, or understand?)
Haha, anyway, like I said, I am not trying to be rasist, I'm just trying to point out a few things that I have noticed and wondered about.
~Proud to be JUST an American~
Robin
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The term "colored" is dated and a little racist. "Black" and "African-American" are both PC, and "black" is my choice word. I mean, I'm white, and that's not a big deal. Also, no one says "African-British" or "African-Brizilian." Just black. But i don't know why we even have to lable it, especially because there are so many people somewhere in between races.
I find the whole fact that we are still labeling people at all a little strange. I mean, we're all immigrants somewhere along the line.
Colored is a little dated, I have to agree. I don' personally use that term, but I felt like I had to throw it in there since it IS a term that was once used. (I didn't use the "N" word, for obvious reasons, although I don't quite understand that either.) I guess I will never quite understand any other race completely expect for my own, although I CAN ask questions to try to understand. I think that's the most anybody can expect from another person: that they try to understand them.
doesn't mean you are from Africa. It means you are of the African race. Asians, Caucasians, Africans, Hispanics, etc., are all racial categories.
It's the same thing as saying Asian American. It doesn't mean you are born in Asia, it means that you are Asian, and an American.
If you are white, then you can be called a Caucasian American. Unfortunately, only minorities are dashed Americans, because all Americans are assumed to be Caucasians first.
I guess it is a general assumption that everyone is white. Hmm, well that's dumb. I stil say we are ALL Americans, and being from America, we are ALL from different countries. (Somewhere in each and every single one of our histories, SOMEBODY came over here) I think I am going to protest this entire title thing by calling myself a "German American".
I'm not bashing anybody, but if you were born here, you're an American, nothing else. It's almost like what Lance Bass (formerly from N'SYNC) said about being gay. When asked if he's gay he says, "No, I'm also gay."
PS: Did all blacks originate from Africa?? I personally don't know...I'm sure somebody does. Well if not...what do we call them? Are they still black, or does this only apply to people of an African desent? Where do we draw the line?
Just say black. and let go of all the racial slurs and the meaning behind them
thank you
Liv Life Your Way
Haha, I try to say whatever it is that comes to mind, at the time, and it's usually, "black", which seems outdated. That's basically why I made the post. I feel weird saying these terms because to me, they are racist. (It's a term about your color, therefore racism, in my opinion anyway.) We're people first, and colors second.
I could say I am color-blind, but it's not true. I do notice gender first, then color, which is odd. Haha
I just say black. *shrug*
btw, it's "racist", not "rasist".
Holy Crap!!! I KNEW that..why did I spell it like that? Haha, thanks. I feel a little dumb now, but oh well. It's probably because I don't have that built in spell checker thing everybody always talks about on here. Oh well, now you know I know how to spell "Rasict"...duh.
.......OKAY...I just posted this and realized that I spelled it wrong AGAIN!!! RACIST...geeze
...lol. Type your documents in Microsoft Word, it had a built-in spell checker. :p Some web browsers also do. And READREADREAD. It helps SO much with spelling, seriously.
Usually I can tell if a word is spelled wrong if I look at it, and then I will look it up on dictionary.com or something like that. For some reason, today when I typed that "rasist" looked right, and I couldn't even tell you why. Haha. Oh well. I'm glad somebody said something though~!