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by RumpleTeazer
I've never fully understood the reasons behind calling a dark skinned person an "African American", but after an odd chain of events recently, I think I may understand it a little better.
It always seemed to me, that calling anyone with dark skin an "African American" was just another way for us to separate the "them" and the "us". It's seems to be a way of lumping an entire people into one easily defined category. Much like we do with CDs at the music store: you have your rock here, and you country there and so forth. However, we know that there are many different types of music lumped into say... rock, for instance. You have heavy metal mixed with the pop, mixed with the classic rock, mixed with the soft rock and everything in between.
I always felt that, seeing how we are in America, we should be proud of that and just call ourselves Americans regardless of origins. But it occurred to me, after watching a movie of all things, that some people may not want to be simply associated with America. For instance, Native Americans. If you think about the way this nation was acquired, I don't know why they would want to be known as Americans at all. It's the same with African Americans. Their ancestors had no real choice in the matter, and just because they are here today, doesn't mean they want to be. So I see it as an honor to have these people want to be here and actually call themselves Americans.
During a recent discussion with a woman of African decent, I asked her why dark skinned people preferred to be called "African America". She explained to me that it was a matter of heritage. That's where her family came from and she felt it was important to remember and honor that. I also asked her if she agreed with the title and thought it was appropriate for everyone. She never answered my question, per say, we just talked a bit more about different peoples origins, and although it frustrated me at the time, I later realized, she could no more answer the question than I could. How could she? She couldn't speak for everyone that was dark skinned either.
So the way I see it, if you know someone is of African decent and they prefer to be acknowledged as being so, then out of respect for that person, by all means, call them that. Otherwise, don't just assume that that is what they are.
I can honestly say that I am proud to be an American. Even though we've made our mistakes (and some Major Screw-ups), we've also tried to correct the areas where we went wrong and while I understand, some scars will never heal (nor should we try to heal them, that would be to act as though it never happened), we can always learn from those scars. I feel that for the most part, we are a decent people who are trying the best way we know how, to make it a better country.
So what do you call a dark skinned person? Well, for starters, how about: "Hey You!"
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