[78-L] One person's opinions...?!^

[Bud Black]

Question:  If an American person of color cannot trace their roots back to
Africa, are they still "African-American?"

Bud 
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: Julian Vein
Date: 1/24/2009 1:11:05 AM
To: 78-L Mail List
Subject: Re: [78-L] One person's opinions...?!^
 
Tom wrote:
> Why is it that some people have a problem referring to people of color the
way they would like to be referred to?
>
> The word "negro" was the correct word choice for decades, until the end of
the civil rights era in the 1960's. So that word -- the word "negro" -- had
been correct for, oh I dunno, 350 years or so. At about that time, most
African Americans wanted to be called "black" instead. That lasted for a few
decades. Now most African Americans prefer to be referred to as, well,
African Americans.
>
> Listen to how role models within that community refer to themselves --
people like President Obama and Oprah Winfrey, for instance, refer to
themselves as African American.
>
> We're talking once-in-a-generation changes in word choice here.
>
> So why is that so problematic for some people to understand?
----------------------
I seem to recall that there have been several name changes over the decades:
 
Coloured people.
People of colour.
Negro.
Black.
African American.
 
These are names that have been used by those people themselves or, more
probably, their self-appointed leaders (usually people who wish to climb
to power on the backs of discontented--in this case--black workers). Is
African American the final word?
 
      Julian Vein
 
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