Posted on 06/03/2004 5:17:32 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
No, but if you live in a trailer park and drive an El Camino with an astro-turf bed liner and you lined your driveway with old tires cut in half and painted white I guess you could be referred to as "Euro-American Trash".
"White Trash" is so guache...
The Soul Patrol criticizes me for viewing myself as conservative every damn day.
But you won't tackle that one.If I want to call myself African American then what is the problem to you. Some of you who oppose this term make it seem like I am downplaying myself for wanting to be addressed as such.
You want to lie to yourself, that's your business. But don't expect me to be complicent in your self-delusion.
I was born in Indiana. Are some of my ancestors from Africa? Yes. Actually, as best as my research can determine, north Africa, most likely Morocco. But some of my ancestors are from Ireland, some from Scotland, some from France, and some from Spain. And, unlike those who toss out the "we came from kings" line like some kind of badge of honor, I have determined that I am a direct descendant of an Indian Chieftain that ruled over most of what is now the southeastern portion of the United States (Chief Tuskaloosa of the Chocktaw) more than 500 years ago.
Does that mean that I have to fit Jesse Jackson's pigeon-holed description of an "African" American? Considering that he coined the term, and force-fed it down the mouths of the American public, and considering the miniscule amount of respect I have for the man, I'm sure you'll excuse me if I don't buy into the delusion.
You just made my morning.
I refuse to check the box for "white." It's absolutely unacceptable for those of us with light skin to be lumped into one generic, vanilla-ice cream mold. I always check "other." After all, what continent/nation is known as "White?"
"No, but if you live in a trailer park and drive an El Camino with an astro-turf bed liner and you lined your driveway with old tires cut in half and painted white I guess you could be referred to as "Euro-American Trash".
Well, I guess that DOES describe Bill Clinton.
We prefer the term, "Agro-Americans".
This man's take is nothing short of brilliant, an inspiration to all, and an example of America at its finest.
...now watch 'em be excoriated.
Back in Alabama, Mamma always said we was "Colored". I think then you leave some stuff to the imagination, cause besides "Negro" other colored folks, red Indian-Yellow chicken, Green-Al Gore, Pinko Commie, well you see what I mean.
You obviously don't know who I am and what I've experienced.
I'm a black man who has experienced far more in this lifetime of vindictive BS than I care to elucidate.
You call my points hypocritical, yet you neglect to refute a single one of them.
You talk about my tracing my roots as if there is a problem with that.
You imply that I'm trying to "force feed" you. I am doing no such thing; on the contrary, it is you who is trying to force feed me with comments like your last.
"...until you step in my shoes..." Please. Expand your mind beyond your self-righteous victimhood. You might find that there are far more people who have ideological things in common with you above and beyond the "gimme, gimme, gimme" mentality that black America has been infected with over the past thirty-plus years.
I don't expect you will though. It'll be far easier for you, as others before and yet more in the future, to call me names (ready for the "Uncle Tom" or "Oreo" epithets yet?) and to say that I've sold out my birthright.
No challenge in that. No extra thought in that.
Negro was used by masters to separate the "Negros" from the "humans"(whites). Read the diaries of the time. The "Negro" was essentially a beast.
"When we all tear down walls of bigotry and prejudice and live in real harmony with ourselves and others, then we'll all say "I am an American," pure and simple. And "The Hyphen" will no longer apply to any of us. When that day comes, the world can count on us for another ten thousand years, for we'll be a brighter, a stronger and an undivided America."John Wayne, The Hyphen
Don't let the past hold you from the future, friend.
The word you are looking for is African which is more like Frenchman. Negro was a way to separate blacks from "our race".
I prefer black to the other names, not only because I was born after words like Negro, Colored, and even Afro-American went out of fashion, but because and black and white are equivalent words. Negro and Colored both seem like being black is some sort of birth defect to be whispered about. On previous discussions, I have seen some posters mention that colored was the word they used to be "polite" as if it was some sort of disease. African-American, on the other hand, is too wordly, and separates blacks from the rest of Americans. It is not equal to white, IMO, it attempts to place itself above it. Black and white gives a sense of equality, and is the best term, IMO.
"Negro is a legitimate form of "Negroid", a anthropological term, like "Caucasian" and "Mongoloid"."
William, thank you for pointing out what I was taught in school, that there are three basic race groups.
Now that I spend a lot of time in Europe, I have noted how much Nationalism is confused with Racism.
If Americans think race relations are bad here, they should spend time in Europe and see how much hate there is between
people of different countries, and these are all Caucasians.
My apologies for assuming.
I will clearly lay it out for you:
I refute you downplaying the usage of the term “African American”.
I'm glad you admit you are at least black if nothing else.
Exactly.
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