White AND African-American

[racolvin]

Link to ABCNews article

Ok, this ought to really be interesting from a court results standpoint.

The guy is white but he was BORN and raised in Mozambique and is now a naturalized US Citizen. He identified himself as African-American and a black girl in his med school class got all offended, since his skin wasn't black.

This oughta be good ...

/lawnchair

------------------------------------
Thread has been locked because of racism and racist attitudes

Excuses for behavior and attudes will not fly

Senir Anandtech Moderator
Common Courtesy

 

[GoPackGo]

He is well within his rights to call himself that.

To assume African means solely black is a racist and ignorant point of view.

 

[nixium]

Originally posted by: racolvin
Link to ABCNews article

Ok, this ought to really be interesting from a court results standpoint.

The guy is white but he was BORN and raised in Mozambique and is now a naturalized US Citizen. He identified himself as African-American and a black girl in his med school class got all offended, since his skin wasn't black.

This oughta be good ...

/lawnchair

I see nothing wrong with what he said. I didn't read the article thoroughly, but it feels like a case of PC taken too far.

I hope he wins the case.

I'm not American, so maybe I don't understand the fuss about 'African American'. Most black people today have no elements of African culture, and are about as far away from Africa as a European-origin white person is. It looks like this guy thought the same too, and paid for it. People really need to lighten up and let go of this victim mentality, and stop attaching importance to silly labels.

 

[Genx87]

/shake head

A person born in Africa isnt allowed to call himself African American but some idiot who has black skin and not born there is?

No surprise the ACLU is silent on this issue. Hope the school get smacked down over this.

 

[mugs]

For him to call himself an African-American is as silly as a Russian-American calling himself Asian-American. Yeah, it technically fits - but it has an understood meaning in common usage.

Likewise, it is silly for a person to be offended that a white guy from Africa calls himself an African-American.

 

[n yusef]

Originally posted by: nixium

Originally posted by: racolvin
Link to ABCNews article

Ok, this ought to really be interesting from a court results standpoint.

The guy is white but he was BORN and raised in Mozambique and is now a naturalized US Citizen. He identified himself as African-American and a black girl in his med school class got all offended, since his skin wasn't black.

This oughta be good ...

/lawnchair

I see nothing wrong with what he said. I didn't read the article thoroughly, but it feels like a case of PC taken too far.

I hope he wins the case.

I'm not American, so maybe I don't understand the fuss about 'African American'. Most black people today have no elements of African culture, and are about as far away from Africa as a European-origin white person is. It looks like this guy thought the same too, and paid for it. People really need to lighten up and let go of this victim mentality, and stop attaching importance to silly labels.

That's just not true. Most black American culture is rooted in West African traditions. All of the music and dance so loved by the entire world can be traced to Africa. The emphasis on lyrics in hip-hop, and the history of black orators can be traced to African poetry and storytelling tradition. Here is a wiki article on griots.

 

[Mani]

Originally posted by: mugs
For him to call himself an African-American is as silly as a Russian-American calling himself Asian-American. Yeah, it technically fits - but it has an understood meaning in common usage.

Likewise, it is silly for a person to be offended that a white guy from Africa calls himself an African-American.

 

[nobodyknows]

Originally posted by: mugs
For him to call himself an African-American is as silly as a Russian-American calling himself Asian-American. Yeah, it technically fits - but it has an understood meaning in common usage.

Likewise, it is silly for a person to be offended that a white guy from Africa calls himself an African-American.

I suppose he should call him self being of White-African-American lineage.

 

[frostedflakes]

Yeah, pretty messed up situation, seems like this case would be a slam dunk for the prosecution.

The guy probably should have recognized that this would offend people and avoided the term (I think it's kind of BS that people have to be so PC these days, but that's just the way our society is), but he's an immigrant from Africa, so African American is correct. He probably used the term more tongue-in-cheek to get a rise out of his fellow students, but I guess that kind of backfired on him, lol.

 

[n yusef]

The survey is obviously of ethnicity, not nationality. Colonialists should not claim African, Asian or Indian ethnicity.

 

[spidey07]

Read the whole article. What they did to him is completely outrageous and I don't see anyway he could lose this suit.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: n yusef
The survey is obviously of ethnicity, not nationality. Colonialists should not claim African, Asian or Indian ethnicity.

He called himself "white african american".

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: n yusef
The survey is obviously of ethnicity, not nationality. Colonialists should not claim African, Asian or Indian ethnicity.

Yeah, I've never heard of English people born in Hong Kong and now living in America calling themselves Asian Americans. That's just crazy.

 

[n yusef]

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: n yusef
The survey is obviously of ethnicity, not nationality. Colonialists should not claim African, Asian or Indian ethnicity.

He called himself "white african american".

To me he's Portuguese.

 

[racolvin]

he's African by birth and was a full citizen of Mozambique until he came here and got naturalized as a US citizen. The fact that his skin isn't black seems irrelevant. Ethnicity isn't all about biology and skin color - he grew up in the traditions of Mozambique, its culture, its customs, even its foods. Does one have to have dark skin in order to be African?

 

[n yusef]

Originally posted by: racolvin
he's African by birth and was a full citizen of Mozambique until he came here and got naturalized as a US citizen. The fact that his skin isn't black seems irrelevant. Ethnicity isn't all about biology and skin color - he grew up in the traditions of Mozambique, its culture, its customs, even its foods. Does one have to have dark skin in order to be African?

Mozambique became independent in 1975. He grew up in privilege, with wealth created from the oppression of black Africans.

This isn't about skin color; it's about colonialism.

 

[BoberFett]

n yusef sound awfully bigoted against white people born in Africa.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: BoberFett
n yusef sound awfully bigoted against white people everywhere.

Fixed.

 

[GoPackGo]

Originally posted by: n yusef

Originally posted by: racolvin
he's African by birth and was a full citizen of Mozambique until he came here and got naturalized as a US citizen. The fact that his skin isn't black seems irrelevant. Ethnicity isn't all about biology and skin color - he grew up in the traditions of Mozambique, its culture, its customs, even its foods. Does one have to have dark skin in order to be African?

Mozambique became independent in 1975. He grew up in privilege, with wealth created from the oppression of black Africans.

This isn't about skin color; it's about colonialism.

Don't forget that it was Black Africans that sold the slaves first.

 

[n yusef]

Originally posted by: BoberFett
n yusef sound awfully bigoted against white people born in Africa.

I have nothing against African-born whites personally. What I am bigoted against, is oppression.

 

[n yusef]

Originally posted by: GoPackGo

Originally posted by: n yusef

Originally posted by: racolvin
he's African by birth and was a full citizen of Mozambique until he came here and got naturalized as a US citizen. The fact that his skin isn't black seems irrelevant. Ethnicity isn't all about biology and skin color - he grew up in the traditions of Mozambique, its culture, its customs, even its foods. Does one have to have dark skin in order to be African?

Mozambique became independent in 1975. He grew up in privilege, with wealth created from the oppression of black Africans.

This isn't about skin color; it's about colonialism.

Don't forget that it was Black Africans that sold the slaves first.

I am not talking about slavery. I am talking about colonialism that ended in 1975. African-born whites and their parents have blood on their hands, and they need to atone for it.

 

[n yusef]

Originally posted by: OCguy

Originally posted by: BoberFett
n yusef sound awfully bigoted against white people everywhere.

Fixed.

This is false. I am bigoted against all people who ignore and are unapologetic towards the oppression they created.

This includes Africans, Asians, Europeans, Middle Easterners, South Asians and those from the Americas.

 

[AndrewR]

I knew this would happen eventually because the term "African-American" was such a ridiculous Jesse Jackson concept that doesn't really have the universal meaning that's applied to it. Heck, some blacks aren't even "allowed" to call themselves African-American, apparently. (interesting footnote to that article is the references to Barack Obama as a "rising star" in the Democratic Party!).

Racial identification can be hilarious sometimes. I know a guy who is essentially a redneck from Kentucky with red hair, but he called himself an Asian-American on his school application because one of his grandmothers is Japanese, which is perfectly acceptable apparently.

Originally posted by: n yusef

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: n yusef
The survey is obviously of ethnicity, not nationality. Colonialists should not claim African, Asian or Indian ethnicity.

He called himself "white african american".

To me he's Portuguese.

So American Indians are really Siberian? That's asinine. I guess we're all really Africans, then, unless there's some arbitrary cut-off date for geographical association.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: n yusef

Originally posted by: BoberFett
n yusef sound awfully bigoted against white people born in Africa.

I have nothing against African-born whites personally. What I am bigoted against, is oppression.

So then you must hate many Africans, because they oppress each other with this more than any colonialists ever have.

 

[n yusef]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
I knew this would happen eventually because the term "African-American" was such a ridiculous Jesse Jackson concept that doesn't really have the universal meaning that's applied to it. Heck, some blacks aren't even "allowed" to call themselves African-American, apparently. (interesting footnote to that article is the references to Barack Obama as a "rising star" in the Democratic Party!).

Racial identification can be hilarious sometimes. I know a guy who is essentially a redneck from Kentucky with red hair, but he called himself an Asian-American on his school application because one of his grandmothers is Japanese, which is perfectly acceptable apparently.

Originally posted by: n yusef

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: n yusef
The survey is obviously of ethnicity, not nationality. Colonialists should not claim African, Asian or Indian ethnicity.

He called himself "white african american".

To me he's Portuguese.

So American Indians are really Siberian? That's asinine. I guess we're all really Africans, then, unless there's some arbitrary cut-off date for geographical association.

This man is from a country that only gained it's independence from Portugal in 1975. There is a huge difference between 1975 and human migration thousands of years ago.