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Later, Obama's generation of leftist academics created the abominable 'A-A' appellation. I think I first heard it in the late seventies, and considered it a pretentious mouthful.

To show the silliness of this nomenclature, whenever I hear the A-A term bandied about, I am sure to refer to myself as a "British-Irish-German-Scandinavian-American."

Friends can refer to me as a BIGSA and I won't take offense.

whenever I hear the A-A term bandied about, I am sure to refer to myself as a "British-Irish-German-Scandinavian-American."

I'm sure most black folks of my generation blanched at first hearing the 'A-A' term. It used to be a widely known fact that blacks in this country are far from racially pure. Most of us are mixed with European and Native American of varying degrees.

If anything, we're a New World people, very distinct from Africans. Lord knows, we've lost all cultural memory and connection to Africa since our ancestors first came here. Nothing more than a romantic notion remains.

For myself, my paternal DNA line goes straight back to the Borders of Scotland. What am I supposed to do about that? Ignore it in favor of some untraceable branch of my lineage that originated in Africa? Why? Because I've got brown skin?

Nuts.