Dear Readers: Last month I ran a letter from “An American in Florida” who objected to the current use of the term “African-American” in describing Americans of color. This reader wondered, “What do black Americans want to be called, and why?” I have read more than 100 replies to this provocative question, and today I present some representative points of view.
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Dear Amy: I remember a press conference in the 1980s when Jesse Jackson and other black leaders announced that “African-American” would replace the terms “Negro,” “black” and “Afro-American.” It was a brilliant move intended to de-emphasize identity by skin color and to help black Americans identify with the diversity of African heritage.
African-Americans were encouraged to celebrate their cultural identity in the same way white European-Americans did. Of course, most African-Americans had no records or nationalistic identity to connect them with specific countries on the African continent. They could not be as specific as the European-Americans were in defining their heritage by country.
Slavery required that cultural, historical and family identities be destroyed to isolate and dehumanize people based on skin color.
Today’s African-American communities are helping to rebuild cultural and family ties, and provide support in the same way the Irish and German and Polish communities did for their own ethnic groups.
– Thom in Chicago
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Dear Amy: I am a black female who finds it offensive to be called an African-American. I was not born in Africa, nor were my parents or their parents.
The only facts that I know for sure are that many of my ancestors are of Native American descent. I know that I have Blackfoot, Chickasaw and Choctaw running through my veins.
I honestly don’t know if I have African blood, as there were also slaves brought to America from the Caribbean.
African-American is a reference to a nationality, just as Italian, French and Chinese are.
I am a part of the black race. Political correctness is incorrect in this case.
– Black American in Illinois
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Dear Amy: “African-American” means what? That you are black? My father was born in Africa, so does that make him or myself African-American? But wait, I am not black! (I am white.) When I brought up this fact at a company-mandated diversity training event, a black instructor scolded me for claiming an African-American identity, as she stated, “You are not black!” (She later apologized.) Many can’t even define what these labels mean until we refer to the basis by which we make them … the color of one’s skin.
I say these sub-American labels serve no purpose but to cover up what we really want to say. We are Americans.
– Philip
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Dear Amy: I am a graduate student in social work, and in our textbooks and readers, “European-American” is the preferred term instead of “white.” We use the terms “Asian-American,” “African-American,” “Native American” and “Latino” as well.
I agree with you wholeheartedly when you say we should respect the terms that others use to define themselves and not impose our own. In seeing how others choose to describe their experiences, we are one step closer to bridging the differences and making us all Americans.
I’m glad to be an “Asian-American” and not an “Oriental.”
– Asian-American
Dear Readers: Several readers wrote in to remind me of Teddy Roosevelt’s quote: “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism.” I went to the source and read Roosevelt’s original speech on this subject, and he makes a compelling point.
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