Posted on 09/19/2004 8:28:12 AM PDT by Dog Gone
It's time we descendants of slaves brought to the United States let go of the term "African-American" and go back to calling ourselves Black -- with a capital B.
Modern America is home now to millions of immigrants who were born in Africa. Their cultures and identities are split between Africa and the United States. They have last names like Onwughalu, Nwangwu and Senkofa. They speak languages like Wolof, Twi, Yoruba and Hausa, and speak English with an accent. They were raised on African cuisine, music, dance and dress styles, customs and family dynamics. Their children often speak or at least understand their parents' native language.
Living descendants of slaves in America neither knew their African ancestors nor even have elder relatives who knew them. Most of us worship in Christian churches. Our cuisine is more southern U.S. than Senegalese. Starting with ragtime and jazz, we gave America intoxicating musical beats based on African conceptions of rhythm, but with melody and harmony based on Western traditions.
Also, we speak English. Black Americans' home speech is largely based on local dialects of England and Ireland. Africa echoes in the dialect only as a whisper, in certain aspects of sound and melody. A working-class black man in Cincinnati has more in common with a working-class white man in Providence, R.I., than with a Ghanaian. With the number of African immigrants in the United States nearly tripling since 1990, the use of African American is becoming increasingly strained. For example, Alan Keyes, the Republican Senate candidate in Illinois, has claimed that as a descendant of slaves, he is the ''real'' African American, compared with his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, who has an African father and white mother. And the reason Keyes and others are making arguments such as this is rather small, the idea being that African American should refer only to people with a history of subordination in this country, as if African immigrants -- such as Amadou Diallo, who was killed by police while reaching for his wallet, or Caribbean ones such as torture victim Abner Louima -- have found the United States to be the Land of Oz.
We are not African to any meaningful extent, but we are not white either -- and that is much of why Jesse Jackson's presentation of the term African American caught on so fast. It sets us apart from the mainstream. It carries an air of standing protest, a reminder that our ancestors were brought here against their will, that their descendants were treated like animals for centuries and that we have come a long way since then.
But we need a way of sounding those notes with a term that, first, makes some sense and, second, does not insult the actual African Americans taking their place in our country. And our name must also celebrate our history here, in the only place that will ever be our home. To term ourselves as part African reinforces a sad implication: that our history is basically slave ships, plantations, lynching, fire hoses in Birmingham, Ala., and then South Central, in Los Angeles, and that we need to look back to Mother Africa to feel good about ourselves.
But what about the black business districts that thrived nationwide after slavery was abolished? What about Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois, Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Wright and Thurgood Marshall, none born in Africa and all deeply American people? And while we're on Marshall, what about the civil-rights revolution, a moral awakening that we gave to ourselves and the nation?
My roots trace back to working-class Black people -- Americans, not foreigners -- and I'm proud of it. I am John Hamilton McWhorter the Fifth. Four men with my name and appearance, doing their best in a segregated America, came before me. They and their dearest are the heritage that I can feel in my heart, and they knew the sidewalks of Philadelphia and Atlanta, not Sierra Leone.
So, we will have a name for ourselves -- and it should be Black. Colored and Negro had their good points but carry a whiff of Plessy vs. Ferguson and Bull Connor about them, so we will let them lie. Black isn't perfect, but no term is.
Meanwhile, the special value of Black is that it carries the same potent combination of pride, remembrance and regret that African American was designed for.
I have used African American for the same reason that we throw rice at a bride -- because everybody else was doing it. But no more. From now on, I will be returning to the word I grew up with, which reminds me of my true self and my ancestors who worked here to help make my life possible: Black.
McWhorter is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Does this mean that I can no longer say that I am American/American and European/American mix.
Good article.
No, I will call you "Al Gore" because that's your name, Al.
Call me whatever, as long as you don't call me "late for supper"!
Mc Whorter is a sharp guy.
I like "American" for all of our citizens. We are all on the same team.
John McWhorter is not only a very wise and talented man but handsome to boot!
To which adjective would the University of Michigan Law School give the most admissions preference?
Excellent article.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, "The Manifesto of Pukin Dog"
If you haven't already joined the anti-CFR effort, please click here.
I'm not someone who's automatically against the term "African-American". What I don't like is that these same people still insist on calling me "white".
All I want is consistency. If you call me "white", then call yourself "black". If you insist on using the hyphenated terms, then you need to hyphenate everybody including "whites", not just yourselves.
Personally, i'm still trying to figure out why "colored people" is a no-no, but "people of color" is perfectly fine and used constantly.
Fear the Fro!
Why can't we just all be Americans, no matter what our race or creed?
Good morning,
I still get a chuckle our of a story that happened to us. We were visiting my parents who lived in the country in MS. There was a Black family who lived nearby and they would come over to use the phone. One day they did when our then 2 year old daughter was outside playing. She came running in the house and told us to come quick. "There are chocolate people coming here". The visitors heard her and thought it was funny. Guess it was a new name for them.
I say we all just wear name tags, to avoid any confusion.
Why not call yourself an American with a capital A?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.