Dear finler-ga;
I?m not sure how much I can add in terms of ?what?s new? with this
subject. You might want to refer to WIKIPEDIA, a user input online
encyclopedia, as it seems to offer another (more recent perhaps)
perspective.
WIKIPEDIA: AFRICAN-AMERICAN
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American
It says in part that the term African American carries important
political overtones, and goes on to explain how prior terms were
conferred upon blacks as a whole by whites ? regardless of the
person?s origin ? but how the term ?African-American? differs because
it is largely a self-adopted terms selected by African-Americans
themselves. In addition, it defines the term as one used to define
American citizens exclusively and that it is not intended to be a
universal ?catch-all? terms for all blacks from all regions, as it is
frequently (and incorrectly) used by many people.
Unlike terms such as Italian-American, Irish-American,
Polish-American, etc where the people tend to stress their American
affiliation over that of their native countries, the term
African-American seems in contrast to be more intent upon stressing
the pride of African kinship while making the point that these people
are, by the way, American.
A discussion of the term African-American and related terms can be
found in the journal article "The Politicization of Changing Terms of
Self Reference Among American Slave Descendants" in American Speech v
66 is 2 Summer 1991 p. 133-46.
In the section called ?Who is African-American?? the article takes
asks the interesting ?How black does one have to be in order to be
African-American?? and mentions Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 court
case that bascially held that if a person had "any" black ancestors,
he or she was to be considered ?black?, as if even one drop of ?black
blood? irrevocably polluted the rest of a man?s otherwise ?Caucasian
blood? (which we know now, of course, is absolute drivel).
Plessy v. Ferguson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessy_v._Ferguson
More recently, MedicineNet.com?s medical dictionary now attributes the
term African-American to a 1988 speech by Jesse Jackson in which he
urged Americans to start formally referring to blacks in this way.
This of course spawned debate over whether or not a white African who
migrated to the United States could (or should) also be called
?African-American? and subject to all the same regard since the
description on it?s face is equally accurate. Apparently this has not
become politically correct and therein lies somewhat of a perplexing
debate.
MedicineNet.com
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=38705
Finally, having said that let me offer another take on the
ever-unsuccessful and endlessly frustrating attempts at defining the
term, which Slate Magazine, called ?a folly? (an understatement at
best):
?The correct definition of racial identities seems important to a lot
of smart people. But that doesn't make it at all important in fact.
Maybe if we argued about it long enough, we could all agree on an
omnibus definition of racial identities. And maybe there are angels,
they do dance on the heads on pins, and if we thought about it long
enough, we could figure out how many could crowd on before one would
topple off the edge. Because nothing whatsoever depends on the answer
to the latter inquiry, we've all quite reasonably stopped caring. I
expect the angels will forgive us. And soon enough the nation's
blacks, whites, Latinos, Chicanos, Hispanics, Asian-Americans,
Orientals, Negroes, colored people, and African-Americans will thank
us, if we stop caring about the terminology and definition of races
and get on with the important work of fighting racism.?
Name Games
?The folly in the attempts to define "African-American.?
http://www.slate.com/Default.aspx?id=2106753&
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Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
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Clarification of Answer by
tutuzdad-ga
on
27 Jan 2005 17:46 PST
Having an almost equally number of black friend and acquaintances as I
do other races, it is my experience that the majority of ?blacks?
refer to themselves as ?African-American?. In areas where black people
are not the exclusive minority and the interests of all ethnic people
are an issue in much broader terms, people tend to refer to themselves
as ?people of color?, including mixed races, original peoples, Arabs,
Latinos and Asians.
Here is a good (recent) online debate on the subject where you can
read varying opinions on what is common with regard to the term
African-American in different peoples? societies and cultures:
AMERICAS DEBATE
http://www.americasdebate.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3549&st=0
In my personal observation the subject is not an issue with the
African-Americans I know. For the most part, among themselves they
simply refer to their group as ?us? and only use the term
African-American if there is a need to differentiate. There are of
course some elements of the black community who oppose the term
African-American and refuse to embrace it, not because it doesn?t
accurately describe them, but because it is an unnecessary label. It
tends to single them out, in some peoples? view, as ?less than?
American, and continues to place them in a class lesser than white
European-Americans.
THE BLACK MARKET
http://www.theblackmarket.com/yblack.htm
Professionally, I work in a field where accurate physical descriptors
of people are a necessary part of my job. Blacks and whites alike in
my field commonly describe themselves and others like them as ?black?
or ?white? and think very little of it. There is no evil connotation
to it and, for simplicity sake, it makes a universally understood
point that we are both comfortable with. In truth however, among
ourselves it is almost never used. In other words, none of us look at
one another and think ?black?, ?white? or ?African-American? so
there?s rarely a need to say it. In the interest of political
correctness, both black and white in my line of work commonly address
the black race when speaking of them broadly (in training or at public
speaking engagement, for example) as ?African-American? simply because
that has become somewhat of a standard expectation. As an example,
linguists have not embraced the term ?Ebonics? as a name for the
?black vernacular?; instead they prefer to use ?African-American
English? or ?African-American English vernacular?. Clearly this
suggests that the term ?African-American? is the more appropriate term
to use rather than ?black? or some other conferred adjective, while
the US government continues to refer to them as?black? in official
census documents:
CENTER FOR APPLIED LINQUISTICS
http://www.cal.org/ebonics/wolfram.html
BLACK POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20-541.pdf
People have become aware of the complexity surrounding the
African-American term. Initially the term was used as a catchall
replacement for the term ?black? or ?colored? but people quickly found
that it didn?t work for everyone. Blacks and their ancestors who
migrated to the US through Europe are not always comfortable with the
term, and people from Island Nations such as Jamaica and locations in
the Pacific don?t appreciate the tag either.
As for William Saffire, I haven?t known him to chime in on this issue.
I hope this helps to add to what I have offered as much as there "is"
anything more I can add.
Regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
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