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There is the rub. Trevor was BORN in AFRICA.

This makes him an African. He moved to the US with his parents and is now a US Citizen. That makes him an African-American.

He just isn't BLACK. They don't want us thinking about RACE. Just the image of an oppressed people. Even if they haven't been oppressed by anyone or any institution still opperable in the US. It isn't about equalizing the scales anymore, it is about turning the tables and making their racism work for them.

Affirmative Action? Call it by what it really is. Affirmative Racism.

You don't have to be black to BE "Black". Consider the example of the "Former Occupant of the Oval Office, 1993-2001", declared to be our "first Black President". (Never mind that part about "President", he never served in that position, he only sat in the chair.)

It is all a matter of SOUL, doncha know, and if you don't have that, you are an Uncle Tom (or an Aunt Jemima, depending on gender).

"There is the rub. Trevor was BORN in AFRICA.
This makes him an African. He moved to the US with his parents and is now a US Citizen. That makes him an African-American.

He just isn't BLACK. They don't want us thinking about RACE. Just the image of an oppressed people. Even if they haven't been oppressed by anyone or any institution still opperable in the US. It isn't about equalizing the scales anymore, it is about turning the tables and making their racism work for them.

Affirmative Action? Call it by what it really is. Affirmative Racism."

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"African American" has plenty of problems as a term and those are showing up on this thread. It's clear to me that the term refers to the descendents of black Africans who were almost invariably kidnapped from the continent of Africa and brought to the Americas. In the few cases where free Africans came crossed the Atlantic (before the 20th century) and stayed, their descendents were absorbed by the larger African American group, both voluntarily and as a result of segregation laws. African Americans are genetically linked to black Africa, but have centuries-old roots in America and American culture.

"African" can mean anyone from the continent, including non-black Africans such as Berbers, Afrikaners, Malagasies and Khoi/San.

"Black" refers to skin color and is usualy further confined to the people of tropical Africa (although in other contexts it is used in Southern Asia and Papua New Guinea [hence the name])

An African immigrant (black or white) is African. African-American describes a different culture and different historical experience.