Is my caucasian friend, whose parents were both born and raised in South Africa and came over years ago (naturalized citizens), African American? Just curious.
That depends on where he lives right now -- either way, he's not Negroid. Just like African Americans that live in the United States. They don't need to be called African Americans. They're Americans. But they like to be recognized as such.
Which to me is extremely annoying. The cultural insecurity of such a thing would embarrass me if I were an intelligent black person. My grandparents were from England and Sweden - right off the boat - as they say. My Swedish heritage is vastly closer than the African heritage of most blacks in the US. I would be pissed if my cultural group all of a sudden decided we were all "Swedish Americans". Why are we "whites" but they are "African Americans". Seems divisive to me. Perpetuating a cultural rift. Bah. Humbug.
Here in SA races are known in pop culture as white, black and coloured. White as in white, black as in Xhosa, Zulu or other, coloured as in a mix of the above. This is kinda acceptable. I was just thinking recently how PC `ness has become a 21st Century obsession. When I was a kid things were a lot simpler. What is the point of all the pussyfooting around? Remember, the rules are made by the administrators. Who says they are in touch?
This is an old story, but if you haven't heard of it: OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- Officials disciplined students who papered their nearly all-white high school with posters advocating a white student from South Africa for the school's "Distinguished African American Student Award." http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/01/22/king.controversy.ap/ Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I have an SA friend. He's very racist! Really funny talking with him! He hates those 'damn caffers'! Anyway, luminal, good point - personally I think race should be totally ignored. The British governement recently decided to, in a simular fashion to the US, re-label our (UK) immagrants 'British Indian' or otherwise respectively. However, it is not widely appreciated as those communities generally prefer the term 'British'.
My SA friend filled out 'african american' in all forms she had to fill out in the USA. She knew of course that they meant 'negro'. But then they shouldn't write african american.
I've noticed that on forms everyone gets a whole list of ethnic backgrounds (i.e. Asian Chinese, British Chinese, British Indian, Asian Indian, Black African, Black Caribbean, etc) but if you're white, you only get white. No White Russian, White German, White Austrailian...just white. And for some reason the word white doesn't even look right even though I know it's spelled correctly. Bizarre. :bugeye: Also, have you noticed that it is okay to be racist/sexist as long as you're not a white hetrosexual male. All in the name of progress I guess. Bring on the MOWOs!!!
In Latvia it is prohibited by law to mention person's ethnic origin on any form with the exception if the person specifically requests that.
Heh, yeah, I had a buddy in high school who was white and from South Africa do the same thing when he was applying for college to see if he could get some "African American" grant that would get him into school for free or at least cheaper, lol. Woulda been better if that kid was from Africa though. I would have LOVED to see the school officials excuse for not allowing him to be in the running. - N
Technically. In the same way a German immigrant to the USA can be called German-American or a French immigrant can be called a French-American.
He was. Unless South Africa's relocated to another continent recently Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Yeah, white people settled in South Africa in the 1600's, I think. So that makes them African. Just like John Kerry's wife.
I think the whole thing is just ridiculous. Just call someone by their country of birth. If you are black American you are black American period, but for some reason I think partly political correctness they call these Black people African-Americans(many never even set foot on Africa). Now they appropriately call white Americans caucatians instead of European-American, after all America is still not their native land as well. If you call white people caucatians whatever hapened to the word Negro for blacks?
On second thought, white South Africans that move to the US should be called European-African-Americans.
Oh, duh, I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in the article, but it's shown in the first, bold opening sentence. I get to wear the dunce cap for the day. - N
