I think it's stupid to use 'African American' as a substitute for 'black'. Why? Because not all Africans are black. Yeah. Surprising, isn't it? Welcome to the present.
Also, it's really long to type every time. I first noticed that when writing a paper in high school at some point. I started shortening it to 'AA' but I use those initials for something else these days.
Unlike, say, Asians, blacks in the U.S. don't have deep cultural connections to their motherlands. For example, Chinese immigrants, they and their children and grandchildren will know they're from Chinese stock.
I hope. ABC's these days.... I dunno...
Same for Japanese, Korean, Filipino, etc. But black people whose ancestors were slaves? They don't know where. Sadly, that kind of thing didn't get passed down to the current generation. It's ironically parallel to how most white Americans are just 'white' even in their own minds. They feel little to no connection at all to wherever their ancestors came from. Polish, Greek, Irish, British? Nope, just American. Hell, they definitely don't speak anything but, that's for sure.
I think it's stupid to use it as a substitute for black because not every black person is American. But I guess here you mean more in America. I don't know all of my roots, but a friend of mine does. She's tracked her ancestry down and even though she's "English" she's actually got some Irish in her and some German. There are some Americans who are interested in their heritage, even white ones. I know another person who really routed and found out that she was descended from Russians and a mix of Europeans. She has since moved out of America, so I'm not sure if it counts. To most Americans though the consensus seems to be "I was born in America, so I'm 'Merican." For the most part they're right, but a whole lot of them don't accept where they came from. I imagine some of them don't even consider the possibility that they came from outside America.
ReplyDeleteI fudged up and meant that she rooted, not routed. It's quarter past one in the morning. I'm allowed to make mistakes. As long as I correct and accept them.
DeleteNo worries, I understood what you meant.
DeleteTotally agree. I actually find all those presumptuous PC terms more offensive than the words they are trying to replace.
ReplyDelete