This being and site dedicated to the many historically black colleges and universities, are any of you selective or argumentive(lol is that a word?) over what is considered black these days? In my eyes you're black if you ancestors were brought over here from Africa in chains. Personally, I have become very accepting of different cultures granted I live in the melting pot of the country- new york. Yes, I am accepting however when other cultures such as: Jamaicans, Haittians, Trinis', and other dark skinned islanders begin to say they're black I start to have a bone to pick with them. No offense to any of yall but if you're from a particular island inhabiting dark skinned people or from any other country wit dark skinned people why is it that from my perspective, when you're out in the street you reppin ya country but when its time to apply for a job or whenever its conveinent (sp?) you're black? And black people are all of a sudden wanting to be what they're not. Like I said, this is a trend I've seen in my neighborhood. The only country Im reppin is America. Another point that needs to be made is the herritage of America. America is a country that is a melting pot in its self because nobody accept Native Americans have any true origins here. Next in line Id say would be the quote unquote settlers of this country and the slaves they brought with them. so now you have Native Americans, White people and African Americans (blacks) who are here. Where does everybody else fall? How many generations have to have lived in America to be considered American? Do you believe all people of color should be lumped into the catagory of being black or better yet African American? Id love to hear your responses but I hope I haven't caused too much controvery. I just want to get another view point on this.
Funny enough, I wrote a paper in the HILLTOP on this topic.. LOL.. I think that a main difference in my views and your views are that being Black is one thing, and being African American is another. BLACK is the term to describe all people of African-heritage all over the world. African-american is used for the black people in America.. LOL.. you can't be African american and living in china can you?
Now, the whole thing about the trinis, haitians and jamaicans thing.... I am a Nigerian.. born there, but lived here for all of my life.. (like a week after birth)... so my question to you is, based on your definition above, am I Black? I'm a legal US citizen now, so its not like I'm about to be deported... America was built on the backs of African slaves... African slaves who were separated from their families and taken to places like the Carribbean and the collective Latin America. So.. are the African Brazilians Black? Are the Haitians who fought for their independence just 200 years ago Black? Or do they have to prove themselves to everyone? Let's not forget that they were the first legally free Africans outside of Africa... 200 years ago they rebelled against their captors and made a place for themselves.. so perhaps you are barking up the wrong tree with that one..
i think that you mean to be talking about the Latino people who are not derived from Africa in anyway.. and are grouped w/ Black people because they are a minority....
Just to test your theory once more... A White girl from South Africa moves to AMerica.. is she Black or African-AMerican, or White?
Think About It...
Wait a min. The Jamaicans, and our other brothers and sisters in the Islands did come over in shackles and chains. If you study the **** Trade Triangle you will see that slavery didn't just take place in America but when the colonialist snatched up our ancestors from Africa they dropped us off in the islands, South America (IE Brazil has the largest number of black people out side of Africa) and even in Europe. So I consider whole heartedly our brothers and sisters in the Islands and in other parts of the world as black. They come from the same ancestors but were placed in different environments and now speak different languages and many other things which have been adapted. But all in all we are all brothers and sisters.
Just to test your theory once more... A White girl from South Africa moves to AMerica.. is she Black or African-AMerican, or White?
Think About It...
I posed the same question to my history teacher.
It all depends on your use of the word "Colored." In the media, "woman of color" is used to describe any non-White person. So a "colored" person could be of Asian descent, African descent, Indian descent, Spanish descent(As in Spain), and so forth. I think adding the hyphen to yourself, as in "African-American" confuses things. If you were born and raised in America(as in North America and South America) and your ancestors were slaves stolen from Africa, you are Black. If you are an immigrant from an African country but get citizenship here, you are African-American, just as much as a Nigerian moving to England is African-English.
I think Black should be used if you were born and raised in a place, and the "african-" used if u emigrated.
I'm black. I am of African descent. I will not say I am African-American, however, because I am not an immigrant, nor has anyone in my family stepped foot on African soil since 1798(when my ancestors were stolen from ghana and imported to mississippi).
It's kind of funny now with everyone trying to represent as if they are from Jamaica and the DR when they are not, they are just Black.
All Negro people are of African descent, whether they be from the US, the DR, Jamaica, Brazil, or England.
The white South African immigrant is technically African-American.
If Craig David moved to the Bronx, would you call him Anglo-American?
Didn't mean to preach, but that is a touchy subject for me.. lol.. I feel like HU_INtellect right now... droppin' knowledge and shyt...
oh nah not at all. i feel you and thanx for droppin that knowledge cuz its appriciated. quite frankly I wasn't goin to that level.....the worldwide level only because I dont know enough about the subject on a world wide level so I was only basing my opinions on America.....not even. My community and other communities I've seen because I haven't seen anything close to the country in entierty(sp?) so I can only speak for what I have seen.
and a lot of the points you made were very valid. Especially the one concerning what you call people of African decent living in different areas of the world. Point well taken.
Just to test your theory once more... A White girl from South Africa moves to AMerica.. is she Black or African-AMerican, or White?
Think About It...
I posed the same question to my history teacher.
It all depends on your use of the word "Colored." In the media, "woman of color" is used to describe any non-White person. So a "colored" person could be of Asian descent, African descent, Indian descent, Spanish descent(As in Spain), and so forth. I think adding the hyphen to yourself, as in "African-American" confuses things. If you were born and raised in America(as in North America and South America) and your ancestors were slaves stolen from Africa, you are Black. If you are an immigrant from an African country but get citizenship here, you are African-American, just as much as a Nigerian moving to England is African-English.
I think Black should be used if you were born and raised in a place, and the "african-" used if u emigrated.
I'm black. I am of African descent. I will not say I am African-American, however, because I am not an immigrant, nor has anyone in my family stepped foot on African soil since 1798(when my ancestors were stolen from ghana and imported to mississippi).
It's kind of funny now with everyone trying to represent as if they are from Jamaica and the DR when they are not, they are just Black.
All Negro people are of African descent, whether they be from the US, the DR, Jamaica, Brazil, or England.
The white South African immigrant is technically African-American.
If Craig David moved to the Bronx, would you call him Anglo-American?
Yea the issue of black or African America comes up often in our community. I happened to see it a little different than my sista Afropoetic. You see when you limit yourself to just being black your are (in my eyes disowning your African heritage). You can't limit yourself to being just "Black" because in doing so you dislocate yourself from a place of cultural origin. Although neither I nor my parents have ever stepped foot on Africa soil physically (I plan to do so soon), many things that make us who we are African. I think that mind, body, and soul are what make you complete. My mind, the teachings and the education that I have received in the quest for finding myself, body my African features (lips, nose, hair and "wang wang" :lol: ), and my soul, the soul of a king, are all still very close to Africa. So you see in my opinion you never have to step foot on the continent to be Africa American. I am a proud one.
Are the Haitians who fought for their independence just 200 years ago Black? Or do they have to prove themselves to everyone? Let's not forget that they were the first legally free Africans outside of Africa... 200 years ago they rebelled against their captors and made a place for themselves.. so perhaps you are barking up the wrong tree with that one..
i think that you mean to be talking about the Latino people who are not derived from Africa in anyway.. and are grouped w/ Black people because they are a minority....
I could kiss you for that statement :lol:
hmmm here's a question.....my father's family is from Italy...now when my grandparents got married,they moved to Haiti and had all their kids there. SOO, what would yall consider my father!?!? HAITIAN-ITALIAN? JUST HAITIAN? ITALIAN?? HMMMMM.....
